I love my children, very very much. But some days...some days are just plain hard. Today is one of those days. It builds up slowly through the week, and then that one day hits, the one that I spend every minute after noon looking out the window for Josh's car to pull up so I can hand at least one boy off to him. I feel like I have to occassionally share these days, so someday when the kids are older and they possibly read this, they'll know what life was really like. Not just the fun things, and smiling at the camera, but the other stuff. The stuff that I'll probably block out as they get older.
Gavin, typically, is my easy one. I say that knowing full well that by teenage years the opposite might be true. He's pretty happy just to wonder around the house playing with odd toys, stacking boxes, and going through cabinets. Our only difficulties here is that he still doesn't sleep through the night, and we'll have those odd days that he just wants to be carried ALL day. So really, this post isn't so much about him.
Jayden is what you'd call a
spirited child. Depending on the stage of the phase that he's in, this can be wonderful or overwhelming. Right now, I think I'll call this the Light Bulb Stage. Any of you reading this that has been around Jayden in the last month knows exactly what I'm talking about. He is obsessed with burnt out light bulbs. He could find the light bulb on the back of the tree, a foot back that was burnt out, and he would tell everyone. The first week or so, it was kind of funny. The second week, we were all stocking up on light bulbs to give Jayden less to talk about. By now, it's just getting annoying. Some of the light sockets in our house just don't work. We can't do anything about it, we tell him this, but he does not let up. I know, that sounds harsh, but try going through Walmart with this kid, and you'll see. (He also points out broken floor tiles, broken shopping cart handles, and if he's out of the cart he is facing the shelves).
Jayden is a kid that is always moving, thinking, and talking. He has to see how everything works, and then ask about a million questions, or at least enough questions that he inevitably loops right back to the first question he asked. His emotions are loud, and they can go to one extreme to another in a split second. It's probably obvious, he spends a lot of time in time out. He isn't a bad kid, he just gets wrapped up into what he's doing so much that he loses sight of the rules.
Today, just didn't start out right. It was the day that Gavin wanted to be held to start with, which is fine some days, but today it just wasn't working. Jayden was Jayden time ten. He had a million things to ask and to say, I could hardly start one task without him asking me to do 3 or 4 other things..."Mommy, come here! Want to play a game? Look at THIS! I want more milk."
There were a few times that I had peace. Peace that I paid for. The first time, I was showering, and Jayden and Gavin were playing in Gavin's room with the door shut. The sounds were happy, so I left them to it as I dressed and got ready. Jayden finally came barging into my room with his super loud "Mommy, look at this!!" and then ran back into Gavin's room. I took my time. I knew it was something I wasn't going to want to see, so I delayed it. I made my way into Gavin's room, and Jayden exclaimed, "Look, EXPLOSION!!" Every single toy, rug, book off the bookshelf, and anything else that was within reach was thrown into a huge pile in the middle of Gavin's room. Jayden was thrilled, until I made him clean Gavin's room.
The second time, I had just made Jayden a special snack while Gavin was napping. I had just finished making a snack for Jayden, and hopped on the computer for a couple of minutes. I heard giggling coming from the kitchen, and Jayden occassionally whisper "come here Jasper." Once again, I suspected something, but I really didn't think it was anything too major. Then Jasper came running into the room with an almost empty bottle of green food coloring. I ran into the kitchen to find food coloring EVERYWHERE, on the cabinets, the floor, and Jasper. I was livid. Jayden was promptly put in time out as I scrubbed the floor, fuming, scrubbed the cabinets, still fuming, and washed Jasper. As I watched the green water wash off of Jasper and go down the drain...the laughter started. Of course, as a parent, I've learned NEVER to let a kid see you laugh, so I hid it, dismissed Jayden from time out, and looked out the window for Josh.
I know it wasn't a horrible day, just one of those days. One out of many many days.
