Perhaps the biggest mystery of parenting is how life can be spinning so rapidly and out of control that you feel like screaming while time simultaneously drags on second by second as if each minute is an eternity. As you can probably already tell, this season of life has been trying for me. Nothing is going on of any importance to cause the "trying", it's just life. We are busy. Wee ball, swim, dance, Pumpkin turning 4, new puppy, work and trials and deadlines and expectations. Oh my. The funny thing I have realized about stress is that it is self-perpetuating. It brings out the ugly in you. You get upset about the ugly; red hot angry upset. That turns to stress. More stress. It's maddening. All of this is particularly true when you have a 4 year old who is just like you. She feels my stress. She reacts to my stress. She pushes back against my stress and then I meltdown. Then she melts down. Then I feel awful, embarassed, angry and...stressed. It isn't fa