PART 2 CHILDREN MISBEHAVING
Lately with all the stories of misbehaving child drama we have had around our house, people keep telling me I should write a book. I'm considering the idea. Why not turn our crazy, chaotic, sometimes very funny life into a book. Husband and I are mulling over the idea.
In the meantime, here is the next chapter of our When It Rains It Pours drama.
Last week, after we got the car back and Vacation Bible School was over, it was back to our regular routine. Since we had missed a week with VBS there were lots of chores that got neglected while we were all living it up at VBS each morning. In order to catch up we put Mommy School on hold, I thought for a day or two, while we caught up on our To Do list.
Monday was CHORE day. We cleaned, tried to catch up on laundry, and cleaned some more. We didn't even run any errands, although we really needed to make a grocery store run. We worked hard. All of us. The children pitched in helping clean their room and put their clothes away. John David did some vacuuming (he loves to vacuum) and even helped me sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Monday as a GOOD day. We got a decent amount accomplished. We weren't all caught up by any means, but at least we had made a dent in the work. And then Tuesday happened. Tuesday had to be one of the worst, hardest, most trying days of my motherhood experience.
Mishap #1
The trouble started with Ella breaking husband's collectible, Saks Fifth Avenue Tulsa snow globe. For those of you who aren't aware (and I wasn't before I met husband and we lived in Tulsa) but Saks used to create a collectible snow globe depicting the skyline and highlights of each city where they had a Saks store. They no longer do this but while we lived in Tulsa we acquired a Tulsa snow globe. On Monday afternoon the children had been admiring the snow globe and we had a discussion about how it was breakable and they weren't to play with it, etc. Tuesday morning Ella comes to me in tears telling me how the ball broke. When I asked her what ball, she told me the glitter ball. I knew exactly what she meant and raced downstairs to find the snow globe in pieces in the middle of the den floor. This resulted in the first call of the day to husband. Since it was husband's snow globe I made Ella tell him what happened and apologize.
Mishap #2
A huge mess made by none other than, you guessed it, Ella & Harrison. The twins were supposed to be in their room playing with puzzles while I was making homemade applesauce, per their request. John David had decided to go play outside in the backyard. A good decision on his part. I had checked on the twins multiple times since they aren't completely trustworthy. Obviously I didn't check on them often enough. Harrison's contribution to the huge mess was to empty out drawers full of dvd's, cd's, miscellaneous cable cords, spare change, etc. Ella had found the bottle of liquid Vitamin D that we give to Ava since she is breast fed rather than formula fed. Apparently breast milk doesn't have as much or enough Vitamin D so our pediatrician recommends the supplement. Anyway, Ella had poured almost the entire bottle of brown, foul smelling Vitamin D all over the carpet in my bedroom and then chewed on the dropper attached to the lid. There was a big, sticky, brown disgusting mess all over my bedroom. This isn't the first time Ella has gotten into Ava's vitamins. Ella found and drank the entire first bottle we had. Don't worry. I called poison control and since there was no iron in the vitamins they said not to worry. They said she might have an upset stomach but other than that she would be fine. And wouldn't you know, Ella with her iron stomach was fine. No ill effects what so ever.
Mishap #3
Then came rest time. If you will note, so far all the trouble had been caused by either Ella or Harrison. John David had been an angel that day. Until now. He wouldn't calm down and be still or quiet during rest time and was keeping the other two keyed up. I sent him into the guest room to sleep/rest. Instead of resting he pulled part of the veneer off the bed and a small cedar chest. I was not pleased and this resulted in the second call of the day to husband. I just needed to vent a little. I mean, John David knows not to do stuff like this. Obviously he wasn't tired and didn't want to take a rest. After finding the veneer pulled off the bed I made him lie down on the couch in the den while he "rested" so I could keep an eye on him.
Mishap #4
After naptime was when things really got bad...or at least mommy got to the point where she couldn't handle anymore. I am lucky....very lucky. I have it "scheduled" out so that most days all four, yes all FOUR, children are napping AT THE SAME TIME. It is amazing, I know. It truly is a life saver. It gives me a little quiet time each day where I can get things accomplished without any help or interruptions. I try to get dinner all prepped during this time of day, or clean the bathrooms, or write my blog. Some days, I will admit, I am on pinterest looking for new projects to start, or on facebook catching up on what everyone is doing, or sometimes just surfing the web. It is ME time and I love it. I know John David is pretty much to the point where he won't keep napping every day and I am ok with that. Even if he doesn't sleep I am going to encourage quiet time where he can read books of play with puzzles ON his bed. Anyway, back to the after naptime drama. Everyone had woken up and was downstairs in the den playing. I was feeding Ava when first the twins and then John David disappeared upstairs. They have started doing this when they want to watch television and they will go into my bedroom, shut the door, and turn on the TV, usually PBS kids. I called upstairs and asked them to come back down and got no response. I figured they were just watching television and wasn't too concerned. BIG MISTAKE. When I finished feeding Ava and still had gotten no response from upstairs I went to investigate. I found the three 'big kids' had gotten into the box of cleaning supplies stashed in the linen closet and were spraying the walls, the floor, and themselves with furniture polish, hardwood floor cleaner, and a spray bottle of a mixture of a surface cleaner (like pine sol or lysol) and water. Thankfully they hadn't touched the bathroom mildew cleaners. Thanks to the furniture polish the upstairs hallway was like an ice rink it was so slippery and the children's hair, particularly the twins, was all clumped up and greasy. This prompted the third call of the day to husband with the demand that he come home immediately. I put all three children outside on the screen porch and called my mother, bawling, that I had done something wrong because my children didn't know how to behave. My mom's words of wisdom..."Sarah, you haven't done anything wrong. They aren't horrible. They are three. You can't let them out of your sight." So very true.
Mishap #5
While outside on the screened porch Harrison had a little accident in his pants. I guess he didn't want to tell me he needed to go to the bathroom so he just went in his pants. And he wasn't just wet, which we discovered when husband got home a few minutes later and we called all three of them inside to have a little chat about their behavior. Husband was not too pleased about the "present" in Harrison's pants and sent him upstairs to the bathroom to clean them out in the toilet. HUGE mistake. Harrison, being three and not really understanding what husband meant by cleaning the underwear out, instead just flushed them down the toilet. Ooops!
Five mishaps in one day. I told you it was one of the hardest days of my motherhood career.
Stay tuned for the last installment of When It Rains It Pours - Lost Things
The trouble started with Ella breaking husband's collectible, Saks Fifth Avenue Tulsa snow globe. For those of you who aren't aware (and I wasn't before I met husband and we lived in Tulsa) but Saks used to create a collectible snow globe depicting the skyline and highlights of each city where they had a Saks store. They no longer do this but while we lived in Tulsa we acquired a Tulsa snow globe. On Monday afternoon the children had been admiring the snow globe and we had a discussion about how it was breakable and they weren't to play with it, etc. Tuesday morning Ella comes to me in tears telling me how the ball broke. When I asked her what ball, she told me the glitter ball. I knew exactly what she meant and raced downstairs to find the snow globe in pieces in the middle of the den floor. This resulted in the first call of the day to husband. Since it was husband's snow globe I made Ella tell him what happened and apologize.
Mishap #2
A huge mess made by none other than, you guessed it, Ella & Harrison. The twins were supposed to be in their room playing with puzzles while I was making homemade applesauce, per their request. John David had decided to go play outside in the backyard. A good decision on his part. I had checked on the twins multiple times since they aren't completely trustworthy. Obviously I didn't check on them often enough. Harrison's contribution to the huge mess was to empty out drawers full of dvd's, cd's, miscellaneous cable cords, spare change, etc. Ella had found the bottle of liquid Vitamin D that we give to Ava since she is breast fed rather than formula fed. Apparently breast milk doesn't have as much or enough Vitamin D so our pediatrician recommends the supplement. Anyway, Ella had poured almost the entire bottle of brown, foul smelling Vitamin D all over the carpet in my bedroom and then chewed on the dropper attached to the lid. There was a big, sticky, brown disgusting mess all over my bedroom. This isn't the first time Ella has gotten into Ava's vitamins. Ella found and drank the entire first bottle we had. Don't worry. I called poison control and since there was no iron in the vitamins they said not to worry. They said she might have an upset stomach but other than that she would be fine. And wouldn't you know, Ella with her iron stomach was fine. No ill effects what so ever.
Mishap #3
Then came rest time. If you will note, so far all the trouble had been caused by either Ella or Harrison. John David had been an angel that day. Until now. He wouldn't calm down and be still or quiet during rest time and was keeping the other two keyed up. I sent him into the guest room to sleep/rest. Instead of resting he pulled part of the veneer off the bed and a small cedar chest. I was not pleased and this resulted in the second call of the day to husband. I just needed to vent a little. I mean, John David knows not to do stuff like this. Obviously he wasn't tired and didn't want to take a rest. After finding the veneer pulled off the bed I made him lie down on the couch in the den while he "rested" so I could keep an eye on him.
Mishap #4
After naptime was when things really got bad...or at least mommy got to the point where she couldn't handle anymore. I am lucky....very lucky. I have it "scheduled" out so that most days all four, yes all FOUR, children are napping AT THE SAME TIME. It is amazing, I know. It truly is a life saver. It gives me a little quiet time each day where I can get things accomplished without any help or interruptions. I try to get dinner all prepped during this time of day, or clean the bathrooms, or write my blog. Some days, I will admit, I am on pinterest looking for new projects to start, or on facebook catching up on what everyone is doing, or sometimes just surfing the web. It is ME time and I love it. I know John David is pretty much to the point where he won't keep napping every day and I am ok with that. Even if he doesn't sleep I am going to encourage quiet time where he can read books of play with puzzles ON his bed. Anyway, back to the after naptime drama. Everyone had woken up and was downstairs in the den playing. I was feeding Ava when first the twins and then John David disappeared upstairs. They have started doing this when they want to watch television and they will go into my bedroom, shut the door, and turn on the TV, usually PBS kids. I called upstairs and asked them to come back down and got no response. I figured they were just watching television and wasn't too concerned. BIG MISTAKE. When I finished feeding Ava and still had gotten no response from upstairs I went to investigate. I found the three 'big kids' had gotten into the box of cleaning supplies stashed in the linen closet and were spraying the walls, the floor, and themselves with furniture polish, hardwood floor cleaner, and a spray bottle of a mixture of a surface cleaner (like pine sol or lysol) and water. Thankfully they hadn't touched the bathroom mildew cleaners. Thanks to the furniture polish the upstairs hallway was like an ice rink it was so slippery and the children's hair, particularly the twins, was all clumped up and greasy. This prompted the third call of the day to husband with the demand that he come home immediately. I put all three children outside on the screen porch and called my mother, bawling, that I had done something wrong because my children didn't know how to behave. My mom's words of wisdom..."Sarah, you haven't done anything wrong. They aren't horrible. They are three. You can't let them out of your sight." So very true.
Mishap #5
While outside on the screened porch Harrison had a little accident in his pants. I guess he didn't want to tell me he needed to go to the bathroom so he just went in his pants. And he wasn't just wet, which we discovered when husband got home a few minutes later and we called all three of them inside to have a little chat about their behavior. Husband was not too pleased about the "present" in Harrison's pants and sent him upstairs to the bathroom to clean them out in the toilet. HUGE mistake. Harrison, being three and not really understanding what husband meant by cleaning the underwear out, instead just flushed them down the toilet. Ooops!
Five mishaps in one day. I told you it was one of the hardest days of my motherhood career.
Stay tuned for the last installment of When It Rains It Pours - Lost Things
Mishap number 4 had me laughing, but number 5...Bless your heart! You have to write a book, for sure!
ReplyDeleteSo very familiar! This reminds me of my own experiences raising my 6 children. Like when one day while helping my 4 yr old daughter get her hair fixed for preschool ... Something very strange was sticking out of her ear. I tried to get it, looked like a string or something but no way to put my fingers on it. After a bit of frustration trying, she started crying and told me that last week she was playing with the beans ... Yep! A dried bean had sprouted and was growing out her ear. No school that day, just a doctor visit to get it out. Then the time she got a pencil eraser stuck up her nose ... And the time she was playing on the porch and got her head stuck between the wrought iron railing ... The list goes on and on. And that was only 1 of the children.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry dear, it will all turn out alright. Be thankful you have mom and husband that you can vent or cry to, and you will cry plenty! And when they are older in the teen age years, you'll cry more. You might even wonder where your children are! Usually around age 13 or 14 you send your little girl off to bed, and in the morning, a totally different person walks out of that room. You might not know that person for a couple more years.
My little girl came into the kitchen yesterday, her birthday. She's 40. I still can't believe it! Her daughter and grandson were here to. My daughter pulled up a chair at the table and sat down with me to drink a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Her grandson came running over and she picked him up to sit on her lap. Just as soon as he sat down, he proceeded to stick his whole hand in her cup of coffee! She grabbed his hand and wiped it on her blouse ( no, he wasn't burned) and tears filled her eyes. She looked at me with that same bewildered and helpless look in her eye that I know so well ...
But you know, these things are instances, steps of learning as we go. They learn, we learn. But the joy outweighs the frustration. Enjoy them now, take and deal with things as they happen but don't agonize or doubt yourself. You'll get through it and do a fine job of it. You really won't know if you did a good job of raising them or not ... Not until they come home with children or grandchildren of there own. Then, you will know.
Well, all 6 of mine are grown, 5 of them have children, and 2 of them have grandchildren. I spend lots of time with my grandchildren and now with my great grandchildren. They are lovely, they are kind, they are caring, they are smart. Yes, my questions are answered, I did just fine.