just what the doctor ordered
 
it all began with a walk. a simple, no-big-deal walk. i am on this diet/exercise plan and today i was supposed to do two things -- one in the a.m. and one in the p.m.
 
so i suited everyone up, and we went outside. two in a stroller, and then all we needed to do was find lexi’s scooter. which we couldn’t find. ugh. no worries. she said she’d just walk with me. so off we went!
 
10 feet in, grant is screaming. i figured he’d stop. he didn’t. i picked him up, adjusted some things, checked the diaper, etc... all to no avail. then we got to the big hill and lexi couldn’t keep up and grant was still screaming. so i threw in the towel and we headed home. it was to be a bit of a foreshadowing of the day to come.
 
the girls fought ALL day long. about EVERYTHING. if you could think of any conceivable way to fight about, say, a cup of yogurt, they could fight about it. all blissful day long.
 
so at noon, i fed them and put emily to bed. lexi wanted to play outside in the pool, so i waited half an hour to let emily fall asleep and then told her to go ahead. only emily WASN’T asleep. she heard, came downstairs, and had herself a royal hissy fit when told to go back to bed.
 
thus began an hour-long fight -- i mean war -- between em and me about the nap. generally, she doesn’t fight me. but this day, her favorite kid in the world, sophie, was outside skipping HER nap and emily wanted to do likewise. “no dice,” said i, assuming that mom’s word would be law. “no dice,” said she, guaranteeing that my word was NOT law.
 
but i am just as bull-headed as my daughter and i had drawn a line in the sand. so i was standing by it, guarding the stupid line for everything i was worth. up she got. down she went. up she got. down she went. i finally told her if she got up again, she wasn’t going to go outside at all, sophie or no sophie. she got up alright -- to go across the hall to her bedroom window to watch the kids playing. so i told her she’d done it then. no playing outside.
 
hysterics!!
 
you have to understand that emily would spend 100% of her day with sophie. she LOVES sophie. and vice versa. they are two peas in a pod. so to tell her she wasn’t going to get to play with her was a very bad thing. i hated to do it, but i had give her a couple chances. i had given the ultimatum. she blew me off, plain and simple. and she knows that blowing me off has bad consequences.
 
so for the next hour -- literally -- she screamed at the top of her lungs. i opted to just let her have at it. no need to try to stop her. she is bull-headed just like her mom and she would’ve just continued. best to just let her get it all out. so i did. for a solid hour. she eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.
 
so then i tried to paint. but grant wasn’t so happy about that. he has let me paint and do whatever i wanted during em’s naptime since he came into this world. but not that day. he was having none of it.
 
“power through!” said i, thinking i’d just talk to him and bounce his seat a few times to get him over it. it didn’t work. and it was just as well because then my awesome wagner paint machine thingy inexplicably started dripping. (i think due to its cheapskate owner who has reused the roller a gillion times and it’s probably clogged up and causing the paint to drip.) but before i changed it out, i cleaned the whole machine. took it completely apart, washed it out, removed a clog, still dripping. UGH! this had NEVER happened before. i was baffled.
 
in the process of cleaning it, i got paint all over the patio of the house that we’re about to turn over to housing for inspection. great, just great. no amount of scrubbing could get it off.
 
so after all this, scott got home. to a nightmare of a house filled with boxes and toys strewn to kingdom come. to a mound -- no a mountain -- of laundry that i’d tried all day, in vain, to get done. and to a strung out wife who had had enough.
 
now i failed to mention that i had had the chance to take the girls on a fieldtrip to a water park that day. i opted not to thinking i’d better stay home and be “productive.”
 
so scott asks some innocuous question or begins some random discussion only to have me burst into tears. it was quite a sight as a paint-covered me began crying hysterically. i was upset about my crappy day. but i was MOST upset because i had wasted the day. i could’ve spent the day having fun at a water park with my kids but i stayed home to be productive -- and wasn’t in the least bit productive -- instead spending the day as a fight referee and  an enforcer of rules.
 
lexi’s last weekday of the summer before school started and i spent it like this. i was so upset. i had had a chance to be “fun mom” and blown it. i never get to be “fun mom” because i’m so busy being “get things done mom.” dad is fun because he comes home and plays or takes them to do fun things. i do that too, but amid laundry, dinner prep, lunch prep, naps, cleaning, etc... i was crying because the kids don’t know all that i do to keep their lives running. they don’t get that we can’t always have fun because i have so much to do, especially this week as we move. i wanted to be fun for a change and i had blown it for the sake of elusive productivity in the house we need to have ready for inspection soon.
 
so scott did what he does best. he read between the lines and knew what i needed. i was rolling paint on a wall and he said, “okay. you’re done painting for the day.”
 
“but i need to get it done,” i protested.
 
“nope. i said you’re done. go change clothes and take the girls out to do something fun, just the three of you. i’ve got grant and i’ll stay home and pack boxes and get a ton of work done while you have fun. go.”
 
and so we went. to friendly’s for dinner and ice cream. then to “the castle” for mini golf and go cart rides.
 
we had a great time and it was just what we all needed.
 
i really hit the cover off the ball when i married this guy. what a great dude. always able to speak my language and know just what i need when i need it. i am very blessed.
 
 
 
 
Saturday, August 15, 2009