My kids have been really good lately. I mean really good. So good in fact I have questioned if they have secretly been replaced by imposters. The other day Anna announced she was going to come and tell me something while I was in the bathroom. Sara stopped her and told her to wait, let me have some privacy. I was so overcome with emotion I swear a little tear started to form in the corner of my eye. They have been getting along very well, sharing, taking turns and generally being nice to each other. Also, the girls have been on an organizing kick. I started calling it "organizing" instead of cleaning and "donating" instead of throwing away. Their whole outlook has changed. I wish that I had come up with this psychological trick years sooner. Chuck says that "deception is the key to parenting"...well said my friend, well said. Their room has never been so clean...and they have kept it up for several days now. Truth be told they have been lobbying to have their room painted purple for a while now and we told them if they can keep it clean and prove that they are "big girls" then they can get their room painted. We are on track to paint it this Friday!!
So to recognize their efforts I have started to say "yes" to many more requests (within reason) to let them know I see how hard they are working. Now, I have met my kids and somehow I should have known this would come back to bite me in the ass. Case in point...
So the girls have been asking to try switching their beds for a night. Anna wants to sleep on the top bunk and Sara on the bottom. I said yes, they were so shocked I relented on this request! So off Anna goes to bed. Sara climbs up and tucks her in...the days of me climbing up there are long gone. We leave Anna to fall asleep. A few minutes later it was Sara's bedtime. We go in and Anna is still awake. No worries, they are both sleepy and should be out in no time. One would think!! So Anna tosses and turns a little before she falls asleep. Sara calls me all worried. She sometimes is afraid of the dark (even though they have a huge fish tank in their room that shines like the Vegas strip) and the noises of Anna moving around above her were making her nervous. I try for a while to calm her nerves...to no avail. Soooo....I have to break it to Anna that Sara wants to sleep in her own bed. The look on Anna's face was devastating. She was so sad. To make her feel like she wasn't getting the sh*t end of the stick, yet again, I offer her the chance to sleep in my bed. She happily agrees. So off we go. Well, that sets Sara off into a crying fit. So after being unable to calm her down I offer her to sleep in my bed too. So the girls are in my bed, Chuck is on the couch and I head into their room and curl up in the bottom bunk. OK we are all tucked in...now lets all get some rest. Yeah, not so fast. So a little while later Sara is still having a hard time sleeping so she comes back into her room and climbs up on the top bunk and finally drifts off to sleep. It is now 10 o'clock!! So I tiptoe out and climb back into my bed and go to sleep. Well you know that isn't going to last. 3 a.m. Chuck comes in, wakes me up and tells me Sara woke up and started screaming when she found out I snuck out. I get out of bed to go see what is going on. Anna senses I am up, jumps out of my bed, runs right past me and hightails it into her room, climbs into her bed and falls right back to sleep. Sara climbs down the ladder and comes back to bed with me. 5:30 a.m. Anna gets up and crawls into my bed...not enough room for all of us so I head out to the couch...which Chuck has vacated when he went to work. Did you follow all that? So all together I got about 13 minutes sleep. Not bad for someone 6 months pregnant!!!! I was a LONG night and an EVEN LONGER next day!!! I thought I was supposed to be getting as much sleep BEFORE the baby comes!!
Another, shorter example....Sara had an appointment with a specialist. It was scheduled for Monday. She would have to miss school...it is her last week and she really didn't want miss a day. She has not had any "issues" in a while so I rescheduled her appointment for the end of July. As my sh*t luck would have it Sunday night she started up with the "issue" that this specialist was set to address. So again, no good deed goes unpunished...I may rethink this whole saying "yes" thing.
Some other random things....
* Anna vacuumed the living room with her toy vacuum...she came and told me
she did it so I didn't have to, that I could rest today. I told her
how lucky I was to be her mom and she said, "I know mom, I am so
flippin' cute!!". I love that kid!!!
* I believe that only one quarter of each roll of toilet paper in my house is used "legitimately" ..I think the rest of the roll is sacrificed to the preschool toilet gods. Seriously we go through a roll of TP a day. That sh*t adds up!! (sorry, I couldn't resist!!)
* Apparently Anna is a medical oddity. The other day she was looking at her arms in a tank top. She kept focusing on the spot where her armpit meets her body. She said, "look mom, I have 3 muh-ginas!" She thinks the little crease between her arm and body look like a vagina. Oh man, was she proud of her crude humor...Yup, that's my girl!!!
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