A Very Thin, Very Strong Thread

What I feel I have learned as a mother...the list is so long...here's today's topic of choice:

I seriously believe that the "toddler/preschool" age is THE HARDEST PART OF PARENTING (I'm hoping) especially when you've got 2 kids going through it. There is no logic or reasoning with a toddler, they selectively listen, they selectively follow directions, they can do something one day but not 5 min. later, and they don't stay put where you put them (like those cute little babies they once were). They have VERY strong opinions, very loud voices, sharp fingernails, the smelliest poops that never end up in the potty, unending amounts of energy and the ability to grate on every last nerve without even knowing it. I think this time period must miraculously evaporate from parents' minds who have older children. I regularly experience parents of older children, including my own parents and in-laws, looking at me with questioning gazes or moderate annoyance while my child is in the midst of a CODE RED temper tantrum and I am trying every Parents magazine technique for getting a handle on the situation. They seem to forget I'm learning as I go and that I really have no clue how to "make it stop" but I am trying my hardest to raise a good child who feels feel to voice his concerns but also has respect for his elders and isn't spoiled, but doesn't feel restricted or denied, etc. etc. etc. It really is such a thin thread that keeps us, the entire family, from a complete mental breakdown most of the time. But amazingly enough that thin thread must be really, really strong because it hasn't broken yet.