Living with a two year old...

The thing about living with an almost two year old is that it is like living with a mentally imbalanced person...They can't really communicate what they need and you walk around on eggshells wondering when they will next explode. It could be that she wants a cookie right before dinner, or maybe she wants to climb on something not appropriate for climbing, it could be anything at all that sets it off, and once it happens, there's no stopping it...The screaming, crying, kicking, did I mention the screaming? It can last for 2 minutes or 1 hour, you just never know...The books say to "distract" them. Has that ever worked for anyone? Not with my kids. They have a one track mind. I try and remain calm and wait it out, but sometimes it just gets to me...I have taken a "time out" of my own by locking myself in the office with them banging on the door...That is when I start to feel like a failure as a parent. What kind of person locks herself in a room to get away from their kids?? Me. And you know what? It is better for everyone. Because if I did what I wanted to do(scream back at them like a mentally imbalanced person) it wouldn't help anything...And don't even get me started o n the 4 year old tantrums....NO ONE warned me about those(or they probably did, but I couldn't hear them over the screaming)