really bad day

[mamajoan]

I failed at today, all over the place. I feel sick. I feel like I should throw in the towel and hand in my AP credentials.

I don't want to get into all the self-flagellating details, so I'll just post about one minor point, in much the same way you might obsess over a single drop of blood staining your carpet in order to avoid focusing on the fact that your throat has been torn out. Or is that metaphor overwrought even for me? ;)

Anyway, when the kids fight over a particular toy (grocery cart) I keep wondering: just put it away, or buy a second one? The former is punitive and against my philosophy...but I feel sure that even if I did get a second identical cart, they'd STILL fight over it! It would be all, "but I want THAT one!!" ugh! I can't win!

Ruthie is generally pretty distractible at this age, but not so much when Isaac is vrooming around the house with the shopping cart going "ha ha Ruthie! you can't have it! it's my turn now!" Argh! He was just horrible today! But it was all my fault. (No, really. It was. You don't have to make with the "now, now" etc.)

ah well...anyway, just glad today is over. and now time to go lie in bed and ponder how much I suck what I can learn from today, a la mofic. Thanks for the Scrabble game by the way. I lost at that too, but at least there I can say "it's only a game" ;)

Comments

[downwardlashes.livejournal.com]

Now, now... no really, we all suck at this sometimes. You get a certain mix of stress and frustration and the kids being their worst... we all get there I guess. :( There was one night when I was sick, Zinnia was up nursing and gassy all the time, and Caspian started screaming his head off in the middle of the night and wouldn't stop. I said something straight out of the "never say this" part of my brain that may have involved curses and threats, and I'm still horrified with myself. Everyone screws up sometimes. You're not the only one!

[ima-omi.livejournal.com]

Oh. One of *those* days. I hope today is better.

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

They will still argue.

Yesterday I was out doing some errands and (long story short) bought Sophie a placemat with the multiplication tables on it. At dinner time I put it at her place at the table, and she WHINED that she didn't need a baby placemat and she hated it and yada yada yada. Eric said, "I'll take it" and picked it up to bring it to his place at the table. Sophie grabbed it out of his hands and brought it to her room.

IOW, it doesn't get easier when they get older. ;)

[mofic.livejournal.com]

Aw sweetie, I'm sorry it was a hard day!

On the grocery cart thing - if it's not very expensive and if they really both like to play with it a lot, I'd get the second one. It won't stop the "I want it because you have it" stuff, as you said, but if the other reasons are there, they might fight less about it. And it's the kind of toy that's fun to have two and play together that they're both shopping or race with or whatever.

I also think sometimes removing it and saying "Let's play with something else now. This is just making you both miserable" is not punitive, but kind.

[evil-macaroni.livejournal.com]

Hope today is a lot less crappy, Joan -