...have a tough start.
It's 8:45 am and I've been in the library with the kids for the past almost-ninety minutes, reading to them...something we usually all love. Before we went into the library, I made them homemade hot chocolate and poured that perfectly warmed brew into thermal mugs for each of them to enjoy while we were reading by turn the novels they'd received for Christmas. We're still all in pyjamas and I made sure that each of us had a warm, cozy blanket to wrap ourselves into while we read.
Sounds great doesn't it?
I thought so.
How could this be a tough start?
I really do try to give the kids a good start to the day, even on days (like today) when I'm sick and would rather be flat in bed.
But there's been non stop grumbling and complaining and shoving and interruption-after-interruption and whining and pleading and pouty lips and reasons-given-why-everything-in-life-is-unfair and I'm frankly sick of it. My patient facade was beginning to crumble around the edges.
So I just sent the kids back to bed. For fifteen minutes. Crying is allowed. Talking is not. I said that we were going to press the reset button on our day and that when we got back up we were going to enjoy a better start to the day.
I've never done this before. Maybe it's just my being sick that makes me less tolerant than on other days.
But something needed to shift. And I don't want to lose my mix with the kids as target.
If this doesn't work, I do believe I'll send us all back to bed again. And maybe then I'll just stay there.
Totally unrelated to this post, but -
ReplyDeleteWOW! You changed the pictures of the kids! And do they ever look older and so mature. Just wait 'til Matthew hits 10 in a few months. That will be quite a feeling for you all. We just hit that milestone this week with C this week, what a feeling!
And Lizzie's hair looks great by the way.
Ellen
Thanks Ellen...and I can't believe you noticed the picture change so fast! I don't know why it took so long to update those photos...they were pretty old ones already and they're grown so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment re: Lizzie's hair...though you wouldn't say that if you saw her today...those same twists, which looked beautiful almost 3 weeks ago when these pictures were taken, are still in her hair - I've redone a bunch of them a few times over, but they're all fuzzy and she desperately needs a re-do! But they did work out well for those pictures...so thanks!
Wow - C is 10 - that incredible! I've been thinking about the 2-digit factor for us and it's huge - I can't believe my baby is going to be 10 and you must feel the same way. Sometimes I wish time could just slow down a while.
Hugs, Ellen,
Ruth
I totally get the hair thing. While waiting for each of my children I would think boy or girl and then start worrying about what I would do with a daughter's hair. My mother's approach with mine growing up was always to keep it short, but then that would cause people to assume I was a boy. So, instead of needing to learn how to do hair for a little girl, I've been blessed with the joy of learning how to deal with a little boy's red curly hair. :-) Winter is not my friend when working with Alexander's hair. And my hair challenges/learning curve are only small in comparison to yours.
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