Another weekend nearly over; man, they go fast these days. The weekend is pretty much a blur - returned to LR on Friday night, and pretty much went straight to bed. Yeah, exciting times here. We spent Saturday buying a Christmas tree, running a few errands, and hanging out with friends. Sunday was spent putting up the Christmas tree (only lights, the tree is still sans ornaments - I haven't had the fortitude to brave our attic just yet), doing some cleaning, taking naps, and going to a Christmas program at some friends' church. Of course, there are still all the things that didn't get done this weekend (grocery store run, Christmas shopping, bathroom cleaning, exercise, etc.).
Really, though, it was a very fun, frantic weekend, but I hit my limit on chaos and noise yesterday afternoon. When I travel and I'm not around the kids for several days, there is a honeymoon period when I first get back. They are thrilled to see me, I'm thrilled to see them, and it's all puppies and rainbows for a little while. And then real life butts in and things get back to normal - see: whining and bickering. Actually, sometimes things get worse before they get back to normal, like yesterday afternoon. Don't get me wrong, the kiddos and I spent some good time cuddling on the couch watching Christmas movies and Sponge Bob, but my patience allocation for the weekend had pretty much run out by the time we got ready for the Christmas program last night.
I made an ill-advised decision to take longer than usual getting myself ready for the program (d'oh!), and things snowballed from there as we scrambled to get out the door and on our way. My girl had a complete and utter meltdown about her socks (No, you can't wear your dirty socks. No, I don't know where your Christmas socks are. No, you can't go barefoot, it's 35 degrees outside. What's wrong with these socks??? Ok, fine, I give up, we're staying here). In the midst of the screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth (not all of it mine), I resolved about 5 times to just stay home with she-who-could-not-quit-crying. I changed my mind each time, though, because we'd made a commitment to go, and her temper tantrum wasn't a good enough reason to back out. Although I really, really wanted to.
We all piled into the car half an hour late, the girl still sniffling from her tantrum, me ready to jump down anyone's throat who dared cross me, and J yelling at the boy to get strapped in. GOOD TIMES at our house, lemme tell you. As we got buckled in, I noticed a wrapped plate of homemade cookies that we'd left in the car the night before - a gift from a friend. I picked it up off the dashboard so it wouldn't get thrown around during the drive, and it caught J's eye. "Everyone gets a cookie!" he shouted. So I passed the plate back to the kiddos and they each took a cookie, basking in the unexpected treat and immediately in better spirits. I offered the plate to J, saying I wasn't hungry (which I really wasn't). He stopped the car, looked at me, and said ominously "EVERYONE gets a COOKIE." Apparently hunger wasn't a factor here; I was going to eat a cookie, whether I wanted it or not. And you know what? I think it worked. We managed to make it through the evening without making a spectacle of ourselves. I'm not saying we get Family of the Year or anything (*snort*), but if a few homemade cookies can turn around a potentially calamitous evening, well - bring on the cookies. Mmmm ... cookies ...
5 comments:
I can't stop laughing!
I know - you can just picture it happening, right? And since when does anyone have to tell me to eat a cookie, anyway? I think the universe was just off balance or something last night...
If it makes you feel any better, we had a similar incident with K. She was desperate to go out in the cold. I finally said yes and told M to put on her shoes and socks. I gave him one white sock and one pink sock as that was all I could find without going upstairs. Next thing I hear crying, the gate and then M up and down. Only to find out that K was refusing the mixed sock combo! Seriously? She went out for 2 seconds...it was "cold"!
When I traveled more I was always amazed at the honeymoon period when I got back and dealt with the kiddos. For me it usually lasted 3 to 5 days which was pretty good considering I was usually fight some 4 to 6 hour jet lag.
As for cookies, don't you know by know that cookies make everything better.
Lee, you'd think I'd know better by now, wouldn't you? Although I think dark chocolate and a good red wine might make even trump cookies in the "makes everything better" category.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that notices the honeymoon period. I always sort of feel like a jackass when it's over, though, like I should've been able to make it last a little longer or something.
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