It's is like crazy mad chaos around here.
Don't believe me?
Think I am exaggerating?
Talk to my family in Michigan.
We attempted to Skype Sunday night.
I seriously couldn't hear a word they were saying.
I could just see them laughing at us all.
I mean, I don't blame them.
At one point I moved the camera so they could see
Little Man wailing on the floor
(Mad because I didn't pick him up when he wanted back up the 20th time)
Tigger jumping on the couch
(The kid gets air, folks.)
Miz N sitting next to me making crazy faces.
(That's all she and my niece do while we Skype.)
I did get an email from my mom the next day
Telling me she was praying extra hard.
Hmmm....
In an attempt to get the Littles
(I've GOT to stop calling them the babies!)
Acclimated to the house
To the rountines
To the rules.
To me.
Miz N was going nutty.
With just her,
We just went, went, went for three weeks,
And then
Boom.
Nothing.
House bound.
Eventually,
I tried
Walmart.
Then Sams.
Then Fry's.
Then the Splash Pad.
And today,
A community pool.
I am doing them with just me and the kids.
I've got to figure out how to balance this.
How to do this.
How to manage this.
All went great
And fun was had,
Yet,
All were chaotic and contained meltdowns
Of some kind.
From some one.
(Not from me, yet...but I am sure it will come.)
But through it all,
I am learning.
I've learned to take the stroller on outings
Because then if a certain almost 3 year old
Decides to refuse to walk
When it is time to leave
Then I can strap in the 14 month old
And pick up the jellyfish toddler.
I've learned to take snacks.
Lots of snacks.
And water bottles.
And extra sets of clothes
For a Little Man who seems to fill up a diaper
(Yes, even Huggies)
Faster than the average bear.
I've learned to begin leaving at least 30 minutes
Before I want to be out the door
Because,
Good grief,
It takes forever to get three kids,
Two of which are toddlers,
Out of the house.
I've learned to skip the shoes on Little Man
Because he always just pulls them off
And I already can't find one set of a pair.
I've learned that
Little Man is adorable.
Seriously.
I LOVE opening his bedroom door in the morning
And being greeted with the widest smile
And outstretched arms.
But,
Little Man is also 14 months old.
He walks.
He grabs.
He pulls.
He bites.
He pushes.
He throws.
He pinches.
He screams.
He slaps.
He rolls around the floor.
He doesn't take NO for an answer,
Ever.
Not when I tell him he cannot stand on the rocking chair.
Not when I tell him he cannot slap the TV.
Not when I tell him he cannot bite his sisters.
Not when I tell him he cannot empty the dirty diapers out of the trash can.
It's exhausting.
He thinks "NO" is a game of...
I'll watch you watch me,
And when I think you are not looking,
I'll do it again,
And then scream bloody murder when you move me away again.
Yeah.
Cute, but oy.
I've learned that
Tigger....
Oh, Tigger.
Love this kid.
Love her spirit.
But,
Struggle with her stubbornness.
(She can seriously scream/cry for 25 minutes
About absolutely nothing
And then instantly turn it off when she decides she is done.)
Love her giggle.
But,
Struggle with her whine.
(Oy. This kid had a whine of "eh, eh, eh" that makes you about crazy.)
Love the fact that she never stops talking.
But,
Struggle with getting her to sleep at
Because she talks,
And talks,
And talks,
And talks.
(About EVERYTHING and NOTHING.
I hear our names pop up into the conversation,
And then the rest is a bunch of random language
That she uses on me all of the time,
That I have never heard of in my life.)
Love her energy.
But,
Struggle with her overall volume.
She is SO loud.
And I mean loud.
She must say my name
(Usually a form of Maryann - that's what Miz N calls me,
But also a mixture of Mom, Mommy, Mama, and occasionally Daddy.)
A million times a day
And the pitch of it is right up there with a sonic boom.
(Now imagine that voice, screaming bloody murder over something.
So not pretty.)
I've learned that Miz N
Needs
Demands
Requires
A lot of one-on-one reassurance time
That she is special to me.
That she is loved by me.
That she matters to me.
Jealously rages it's ugly head at times over my budding attachment with the Littles.
I am careful to treat her like an 8 year old,
Even when she wants me to "do that to her", like the Littles.
(No, I am not going to play the Itsy Bitsy Spider
On your naked stomach
Like I did to your brother when I changed his diaper.
But I will scratch your back and read you a book.)
And that I have to be careful to give her the affection,
Like I do to the Littles,
But in an age-appropriate way.
And that I have to help teach her to be the big sister
To help, to love, to play, to enjoy
And for her not to be the little mommy
No disciplining, no yelling, no decision making for me.
Overall,
I've learned that I have no clue what I am doing,
But I kind of love it anyway.
No,
Not kind of.
I just love it.
Even when I don't love it.
I love it.
(Doesn't make sense to me, either.)
Praise Reports -
--The kids' mom and the Littles' dad met us at Chuck e Cheese on Sunday. It was great getting to meet them, but pray that I can begin to build a relationship with the mom, like I had/have with Miss M and Ms. O.
--One of my "roses" tonight, which Miz N thought was weird, was that Tigger only was sent to time-out three times today and that she stayed on the rug the entire time, only screamed for the two minutes, and then stopped screaming when the timer went off, and went back to playing after saying sorry. Seriously....it's a huge praise for me.
--We went to the community pool. We survived. Success. I felt like Super Woman. (Well, until it was time to leave and Tigger wouldn't come and then screamed all the way out and all the way home. I just was praying I didn't get pulled over. The cop would have thought she was being tortured or something. We had the music blaring at 20+, Little Man was asleep, and Miz N was in the back with her ears blocked.)
Prayer Requests -
--I am still waiting for the official paperwork for Tigger so she is "officially" in my care, which means I officially get the daily stipend for her. This will also allow me to sign up for WIC and get much better rates for all the milk, bread, juice, fruit, etc. that we are going through. The kids have been eating everything I've made for them, but my grocery bill had gone up a lot. There is no diaper subsidy any more, so the extra help for the food costs will be a huge blessing.
--I start back to work officially on the 29th and I am starting to freak out in my mind because I am not ready at all for the new school year. It hasn't even been on my radar which is SO not like me. I am already worried about balancing it all. I am going to start the Littles in daycare part-time next week so we can start practicing/establishing our weekday morning routine, and I have got to get in my classroom and start setting it up and decorating it and PLANNING!
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