Smart Girl

I got double-teamed big time today. Neither girl was really especially difficult, they just managed to time allll their meltdowns simultaneously. Plus it kept threatening to rain, so poor Gabba barely got any outside time today (and the kid NEEDS to have time to roll around in the mud every day in order to be entirely happy.)

Naptime was exceptionally frustrating. Normally, Katie naps while I'm getting Gabba down for her nap, but was wide awake today and refusing to ride in the Babyhawk, so I had to tuck one girl under each arm and truck up the stairs. (If you haven't seen Grace lately: Girlfriend is a TANK. She's gonna play middle linebacker on the powder puff Varsity football team.) We got upstairs, and both girls proceeded to ramp up from vigorous whining to balls-out screaming. Grace wanted sit in the glider for stories instead of the bed, a request I tried to accomodate, but Katie was not exactly down with. I tried to move us all to the bed, at which point everyone melted down and there was just absolutely nothing I could do but walk out of the room and close the door. Katie promptly fell asleep, which was great except that I had too much to do to lie down with her, so I got a bit done with her in my arms, and then tried to put her down so I could finish. Nope. Not havin' that. However, she DID decide the Babyhawk was acceptable, so I got a bit more done like that, gave up on the rest, and sat on the couch. Normally, she will sleep thru G's nap, and then be sleeping so soundly when G wakes up that I can set her on the Boppy and go get Grace.

Not today. Oh no. Today, she woke up ravenously hungry just five minutes before Grace did. I really had no choice but to wrangle Grace out of her bed with Katie hanging off me, gulping furiously, while her sister screamed with rage over the unfairness of having to share mama's attention after naptime. She then screamed because I wouldn't give her the bottle of fake butter-flavored oil we put on post-nap popcorn (nutrition WIN!), and again when I only let her shake half the salt shaker over her popcorn.

SIGH.

So, after about fifty years, it was finally bedtime, and even though she had my full, undivided attention, her mood remained foul and screamy. But after the day we'd had, I just....I couldn't just tuck her in screaming and walk out. Not tonight. So when she started begging for the rocking chair, I knew she was stalling, but I couldn't tell her no. I scooped her up and carried her over to the chair, where she told me that she has brown eyes but I have blue eyes and daddy has green eyes and Tatie has blue eyes and we both have noses and then we rubbed our noses like the bears in her book. Then she wrapped her arms over my shoulders, nuzzled her face into my neck, and whispered--

"No no touch fire. Too hot."

And see, the problem there? Was that I could. not. stop. laughing, and my chest was shaking so hard she woke up, saw me laughing, and kept saying it over and over to make me laugh again. BUT, I did tuck her in with no tears, so the day that was mostly a fail, ended a win.

In honor of Mother's Day, maybe let's not be so hard on ourselves for the days that feel like epic fails.