Ages and Stages

With three kids drifting in and out of stages constantly I have finally come to the conclusion that the next stage won't be better and it won't pass quickly. I remember when they were babies and taking them to restaurants around 18 months old and how horrible they acted. Didn't want to sit in a high chair, threw food, screamed bloody murder etc. I remember thinking then, "OH if I can just get through this unfortunate stage every thing will be OK." From there we moved on to more independance which leads to more challenging stages. The experts have print outs on the appropriate stages for each age and I swear most of them sugar coat the heck out of reality. I have seriously decided that I will never ever be in the clear with smooth sailing and NO attitude. It doesn't help that I have three kids. With so many opportunities for different ages and stages it is virtually impossible to avoid having at least one if not all of them hitting a rough patch. At the moment I have one that is just plain MEAN, one that is stubborn with her head in the clouds and the other is a Hannah Montana wanna be complete with the celeb attitude! I am of course wrong in every attempt I make in any which way about everything. I know that is the job of a mom, to be wrong, but good golly I wish for once they would all three smile and be happy at the same darn time! I know I can keep on wishing but the stages will continue and probably get harder and more complicated to deal with. Each one is like a rite of passage in the growing up process. The other,more important, thing I keep telling myself is that as hard and frustrating as all these different things are to deal with when they are grown up and are out on their own I will miss every single hideous horrendous stage that we have to muddle through.