Some days are a Roller Coaster

It has been one of those days. Good and bad all rolled into one.

I didn't have to make Tyler's lunch today, which was great! It was even better since I hardly slept last night thanks to a poor little baby who couldn't breathe. The boys were sweet, for a while. Soon they decided to take a turn. Thomas helped himself to two bananas. What he ate was fine, it was the fact that he did it without asking, then hid the last one from Jerry and didn't want to tell me where it was. Thomas ended up in time out for I can't remember what. While there he decided to kick the door and throw a fit. Nice. When I told him he had lost TV for the rest of the day, for something else, he threw a toy bin and nailed me in the head. Good thing my head was blocking the way to Michael. After a nice trip to his room that involved lots of screaming and fit throwing, we had a talk.

Here is a really neat idea if you are having any issues with your kids. When I was a nasty teen I blew it in a major way and got caught by mom. To earn her trust back I had to earn beans. Every time I did something that showed she could trust me, I got beans in a bucket. If I did something that would lose her trust, beans came out. Once the bucket was full, in theory, I had earned her trust again. Go figure, it became such a habit to do things to earn her trust that we both forgot about the beans and I did it without the reward. We are applying this concept to Thomas. We have been having a hard time with good choices and telling the truth. Now he has a bean bucket and two kids of beans, one for truth and one for good choices. This seems to be doing the trick, so far.

Unfortunately, this evening Jerry was at it. He took my drink, but I caught him before major damage occurred. Potty break, never good in our house. While in the bathroom, Jerry dumped Dr Pepper all over the carpet. Thomas pooped in his underwear. Thomas went into the bathroom. Underwear around 4 year old ankles means poop smeared all around the outside of the toilet bowl, plus the seat from his little bum. Let me tell you how much fun that was! Early bed time were in order, for all of our sakes. I went in the room to get jammas on Jerry, bad idea. Jerry had not only emptied Thomas's dresser a few days ago (still waiting to be re-folded and put away), but he also emptied his drawers. Let me just say I do not like folding laundry. As much as I don't like it, Jerry seems to enjoy emptying drawers. I put it off until it can't be any more, then do a marathon folding binge. I had to go hide in my room, and of course Michael started screaming from below.

Now, here I sit, venting to cyber world and those few who are interested enough to read about my plights and misadventures. Two big boys are in bed, Michael is screaming to be fed again, Tyler is out working on the poor truck again (3 engines, 2 months, and 1 ridiculous amount of money now). I think I deserve a fudge round and another Dr Pepper, don't you? Either that or a meltdown. Maybe both...

Sweet moments
Thomas let me take a nap this afternoon. He played quietly and didn't create any trouble or disasters. He didn't even wake up Jerry.
Jerry gives Michael his pacifier. As soon as Michael starts to cry, Jerry is on his way to the rescue. Funny part is, after a few tries, if Michael doesn't take hold, Jerry just looks at me, then drops the pacifier in Michael's lap. Oh well, he tried.
Michael snuggled and took a nap with me this afternoon. Babies are sweet.

Go figure... the power flashed several times near the end of this posting. Good thing Blogger saves as you go, otherwise I could have really deserved a meltdown. Happy Monday to me, yipee.