Monday, April 5, 2010

Tomorrow is a New Day

Tonight was horrible!! After an amazing weekend of sun and fun, tonight was NOT a stellar parenting night. UGH!

The family joined me for lunch at work which made my week! It was so fun to sit outside and munch with my favorite people.

Sam reported that they both slept well in the afternoon and that everyone was in an amazing mood.

But I walked in at 5:30 and from that moment on, it sucked.

(Sorry Mom, I know you hate the word 'sucked' and suggest that I use the word 'stinks' as it 'it stinks' but seriously? Tonight was just sucky).

Wyeth had a fit and fell in it tonight. He had his first FULL blown tantrum. (A milestone! 16 months yesterday!) He couldn't calm down. He was throwing food off his tray. He had snot running out of his nose, drool cascading down his face due to new teeth that have bugged him all week and was just a mess of tears. I had to take him away from the table and take him outside to calm him down. We managed to get him back to the table but he didn't eat much.

Seren was quiet.

Dinner 'ended' and we all decided to take a family walk. But Wyeth likes to walk up the street. And then down. And then get in his cozy coupe. And then get out. Which is fine and good and a good time. But there is an older sister who would really like to GO please!! Around the block! With gusto!!

Our backyard was our safe haven until a backhoe dug up our sewer this winter. We knew it would be bad but we didn't think we wouldn't be able to play back there. We can't. It is just a mud pit that used to resemble our backyard. So...the front yard it is. Which, again, is fine, if you don't have two toddlers going in opposite directions, at different paces.

So Wyeth was fine but Seren? SHE. MELTED.DOWN. Oh! She took off running down the block ignoring flat out my lame ass cries of "RED LIGHT!!!"

It was mortifying to me. Not only is it not safe but seeing a mother yelling and sprinting after her near four year old is pretty much a neon sign of "ineffective parent". It is not pretty. It isn't good for digestion. All I could think of was our neighbors in their quiet homes drinking wine while the Angus family is out screaming and crying. I can just hear it now, Bobby Sue looks at Thomas over a glass of wine and says, "Geez, the neighbor is going to hell in a handbasket."

So Seren ran away from me not once but TWICE. That is TWO sprints down the street.

We got her inside and gave her a timeout. Cue the screams.

We regrouped post bath and everyone went to bed ok. Seren is still taking good naps (2hours) but this means that sometimes she goes to bed at 8;45 and still wakes up at 6. Just a LONG ass night for us when she is up requesting things like cold milk, baa-baa the stuffed sheep and anything else she can think of.

Blah. What a night! To top it off I paid bills. Or, some of the bills. The great news is that Sam got his part time teaching job back! Yeah! So that is wonderful. This will all work out.

Just a long night.

Tomorrow is a new day.

4 comments:

Jessica {Team Rasler} said...

Yeah, I'm with you. "It stunk" just wouldn't have done it. Truly a sucky evening. I'm so glad for you that it is over and that tomorrow will almost certainly be much better. P.S. You are not an ineffective parent. Only a parent who *didn't* run after her kid who was sprinting down the street would be ineffective. Every parent has been there, and everyone else can just shut it.

Julie said...

Whoa, that sounds pretty sucky indeed! It is emotionally exhausting when you have these moments in public. I can always feel eyes of judgement on me, although I agree that anyone who is a parent has been there. HUGS to you and hopes for a better day tomorrow!

Beth said...

No one was judging you--at least no one who has kids. Hopefully today will be better! Hugs.

LauraC said...

You have just described MANY weekends/weeknights around here. Me yelling off the deck "Get up here NOW NATE!" and him screaming "I don't want to!!!" and then me carrying him up the steps while he screams at the top of his lungs.

Don't worry. I was working one afternoon with the windows wide open when my next door neighbor threw away the 8 year old's baby doll. She was screaming "NO DADDY!" and he was yelling right back at her "I told you a million times I would throw it away if you did that again!" All of this happened right under my window! I think it is life with kids!