We went to the beach last week. Everyone had a blast.We were down at Hilton Head with my parents and my sister's family. The kids had a lot of fun, but not a whole lot of sleep. It's what happens when 6 kiddos are crammed into a pretty small space.

And when you combine not much sleep with a lot of activity--the pool, the beach, and loads of fun...well, you reach a breaking point.

Lil Bit reached her breaking point when we told her that it was time to leave the pool and go back to where we were staying. She wasn't ready. We don't have regular temper tantrums, but when we do, it tends to be a doozy. We loaded up the van, with her still having a major fit in the way back of the van in her car seat. The babies still face backwards, so they were both watching the...show.

I had to wait on my sister to get ready to go, so we sat in the van as the fit continued.

If you are a parent of a child older than one, you have experienced this feeling. It is the feeling that your child is out of control, and that you are an awful parent. Even though she was contained in my van, not hurting anyone, and learning an important lesson in self control and obedience, I still felt awful. I was trying to find something to redeem the situation.

And then it happened.

The silver lining.

A little girl piped up.

Sweet Pea, to be exact.

For the first time in her 16 month life, she said a three letter word.

Clear as a bell.

Her big sister's name. All 8 letters.

She was trying to get Lil Bit to calm down, too. Some teamwork between the littlest and the biggest members of our little family helped calm everyone down.

I don't think she'd have said such a difficult word (or name) without a big catalyst. Like a major fit.

A good thing to remember while parenting...look for the bright spots.