My Life is like a Royal Rumble

So I’ll just go ahead and say this without any reservations – Charlotte has entered the phase where she hits me.  And I’m not talking about little pats on my arm when she’s annoyed, I’m talking about full emotional meltdowns where she will come up to me and backhand me like she’s Rocky Balboa in the ring.  At first I was starting to worry that she was some sort of toddler demon who was hitting because I failed at some juncture in my parenting journey, but it turns out that it’s pretty common for toddlers to beat the shit out of their parents.  I read up a little on it and you’re supposed to basically hold their arms down and calmly explain that you’re not allowed to hit and just let them scream it out instead.  So every time she gets annoyed at something and is coming over to slap me, I basically put her in a body lock, which, if I’m honest, just infuriates her more.  However, yesterday when we were at a restaurant celebrating my baby cousin’s baptism, Char got mad that I told her to stop running back and forth like a bull (the nerve of me, right?) and instead of hitting me she came over and put her finger over my lips and said “shhh mama be quiet!” and went back to running.  So maybe she didn’t listen to me right away, but she didn’t punch me in the face!  So that’s a win, right?