OUCH! It hurts, it really, really hurts!!

For those of you that don't personally know C, you should know that she is working hard to get an oscar for best actress in a drama.  She is the most dramatic kid (yes, I do realize the irony in saying this).  So, tonight, I'm brushing her teeth and the toothbrush slips and gets her in the eye.  She instantaneously starts crying.  It was the kind of cry where she can't breathe for a bit.  Ok, I know that getting jammed in the eye with toothpaste and a toothbrush hurts.  I hug her, check her eye, tell her I'm sorry, try to make her feel better.  She stops crying to talk to her dad then starts crying again saying "I don't want to stop crying."  I help her with her PJs and she, finally stopping crying, says that her eye got an owie from the toothbrush and starts to cry again saying "It hurts, it really, really hurts!"  Then, she says, "Mom, which eye was it that got an owie again?" 

~G

Parenting Fail

Let me start by saying that I think I'm a great parent.  I don't want people to feel badly for me or feel like I don't think I'm a good parent.  That said, let me just say that sometimes, for a moment, I feel like a total and utter failure.  I know that all parents feel this way, though it is rarely talked about, so here you go, I'll talk about it so you don't feel so bad thinking it. 

Ok, so it started out last night.  It was bedtime and A has been struggling with that for the past week.  I told him that if he came out of his bedroom again, he'd lose the Wii.  He came out and I followed through (YAY for me!) and put up the Wii remotes so we haven't used them all day. So, he stays in his room and goes to sleep after that.  However, he is up at 3 trying to come into my room.  I take him back to his room, 10 minutes later he is up again, rinse and repeat for 3 cycles.  By the end of the 3rd cycle, he is crying that he needs me and I am feeling increasingly frustrated and exhausted!  I lay down with him and talk to him for a minute then fall asleep (first failure).  I wake up at 7 with a 48 lb kid laying on me and I'm dripping with sweat because it is so humid outside.  We get up, brush teeth, go potty and downstairs he goes (and his sister as she woke up too).  I go upstairs to lay down for a bit. 

Time goes on and all is well for a bit.  But, by 9 am, there was crying as both kids were annoying one another and A discovered he can't play Wii.  I go take a shower and more crying happens.  Apparently, A hit C and C pinched him in the face.  I talk with both about how it isn't okay, how to respond when someone does something we don't like, etc.  Hitting and annoying each other resumes and I send each kid to their own rooms to calm themselves down while I finish getting ready.  Then, I ask for A to put on his clothes (C already did so).  He starts crying about how he doesn't want to, he wants me to help him, etc.  He finally puts them on (it took 20 min) and we get some lunch. 

It is nap time now for C and I am thoroughly enjoying the lack of crying, not hearing "mom" and just enjoying the quiet. Its been a rough day and it is only 1pm!  Damn this heat because we can't even just go outside to play so we are stuck inside (where at least the fans will help cool us down).  Here's hoping that this afternoon will be filled with laughter instead of tears.

~G

Feeling like a fraternity pledge

Day 5 of, as my friend N puts it, Reality Re-Entry, meaning re-entering the reality of my life with kids.  It has been a particularly rough reentry due to them being gone for 2 weeks.  We have nearly opposite parenting philosophies and schedules and the poor kids are really struggling coming back home.  By day 5, the exhaustion from too late bedtimes with their father are sinking in and the result is lots of tears and unhappiness as they readjust.  I feel like a fraternity pledge; up all night long dealing with ridiculous demands and questions (come sleep with me, I need my doll, I need a drink of water, what are we doing tomorrow?), working during the day, cleaning the house repeatedly as the brothers (or in this case the kids) apparently find it entertaining to immediately destroy the house the  moment they walk in the door so the poor pledge (or in this case me) can clean it all up.  There is food on the floor, empty cups strewn about, and somehow the bathroom floor always gets peed on.  The only difference is that a pledge starts paying monetary dues and the kids require I pay monetary dues (childcare, clothes, food, etc).  Granted, I get intrinsic rewards and the knowledge that I helped create a wonderful adult (hopefully), but damn, sometimes, I think that it would be better to get a monetary reward or at least a keg party out of the deal!

~G

It's awesome and amazing!

The kids have been gone for 2 weeks with their father.  During that time, I was able to sleep when I wanted, eat when I wanted, etc.  I didn't have anyone pee on me or ask me to wipe their behind.  Ah, how much changes when they get home!  I picked them up and all was well initially.  Then, A had a meltdown and said he had a hard time at daddy's house :(.  He cried and I reassured him it was okay and that I was there to talk if he wanted.  We had just gotten dinner and he kept saying "I'm not ready for my chicken yet because I'm crying (said in his best crying voice)."  Followed by, "Don't worry mommy, I'll be ready soon!" is his best crying, but trying to sound encouraging voice.  He stopped crying and ate and all was well.  As we are pulling into our driveway, he says "Oh, our house is so pretty mommy!"  The house looks the exact same but for some reason, he really was appreciative of it upon return.  He ran inside and complimented everything for being pretty.  Perhaps it was because there wasn't food crumbs on the floor, clothes strewn about, blankets and toys accessorizing the floors, not sure, but everything was pretty to him.

Then, in true A form, he remembered that we brought home a treadmill the day before he left and immediately, he asked about where it was and if I could show him how to use it.  So, I showed them both and they both walked on the treadmill then got upset when I told them they needed to stop.  Ah, if only I felt that same way about that treadmill.

Bedtime is a bit of a struggle but everyone goes to sleep. We wake up in the morning and my body rejected the early morning wake up call.  But, the kids were having no part of sleeping in.  Up we got and the day started.  And, my 2 weeks of no wiping butts came to a screeching halt!  Always had one or the other going to the bathroom.  And, now, C says "Mommy, let's look at my poop.  It is awesome and amazing!"  How am I to respond to that?  I can't shatter her excitement and tell her poop is neither awesome or amazing.  And, I want her to keep going in the potty, so I suck it up and like a great mom, compliment her on her awesome and amazing poop.  Yet another thing I never thought I'd say in my life!

~G