...for making me come to terms with the whole princess thing.
Thank you so much to my dear sweet (and beautiful and talented and kind) friend Elise for sharing this me. She knew exactly how much I needed this.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Darn you, Disney.
Thank you so much to my dear sweet (and beautiful and talented and kind) friend Elise for sharing this me. She knew exactly how much I needed this.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
This one.
I have met my match.
This one challenges me in ways that the other two don't.
Emma is so much like me it's both frightening and maddening.
She has the will of a stubborn mule.
She wants things a certain way. Her way. To the point that sometimes, everything that I do is wrong by Emma. "Mommy, you don't take a shower in the morning, you take one before bed."
And when she doesn't get her way, she screams and throws a tantrum. Which does not end. She can hold out for longer than I can. And that's what scares me the most.
One morning last week, I was taking the girls to school. On the way out the door, both Emma and Rebecca started yelling about wanting the "easy" car seat. (Why on earth, when we buy 3 identical car seats at the same time, does one of the three have a different buckle latch that the girls that can do themselves? Sigh.)
Anyhow, Becca and Emma were physically fighting (actually, I think it was more Becca than Emma) on the side of the car. I got so fed up that I told them Julie got the easy seat.
This did not go over well.
Becca got mad. Emma got mad.
Becca got over it by the end of our street.
Emma continued to scream. So, on one of the streets of our subdivision, I stopped in the middle of the street. (No one else was around at the time.) Stopping made her quiet.
Temporarily.
I shot her a look.
She shot me one back.
Cars were coming, so I kept going. Emma wins this round.
By the time we got out to the main road, she was still screaming. I felt mildly guilty about taking her into daycare screaming, so I pulled into the CVS parking lot, and sat there for 10 minutes with Emma screaming.
At this point, I'm going to be even later to work, so we go. Emma wins again.
I guess I'm getting frustrated that her will is stronger than mine. Or, I'm forced to cave and let her win again. I know it's setting a bad precedent, but ... she is more stubborn than I have the patience for.
She is my payback.
My poor mother.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Mommy Learns an Important Lesson
Sigh.
So, Greg wasn't feeling well this morning and I wanted to let him sleep. I've been working up the courage to take all three of them out with me and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out.
So we went for a quick trip to Target. We got the triple cart (it was already out in the parking lot) and the girls were so amused by the novelty of it that they were perfectly behaved. So far so good.
We get to the grocery store, and I'm feeling confident. So, to get the 3 of them into the car when there's just one adult, I put all 3 of them in on the passenger side of the car, then lift someone (Emma) over the folded-down captain's chair behind the front passenger seat (it kind of acts like a barricade). Get the two in the back buckled in, shut the passenger door, and then go over to the driver's side door to get the last one buckled in behind the driver. So, unloading is basically the same in reverse.
So we get to the store. I throw my purse back over by the sliding door on the passenger's side, since that's where I'll be when I actually get the 3 of them out of the car. Throw my keys back there, too.
Get out, open the driver's side sliding door, unbuckle Emma.
Shut driver's side door. Walk around the van to the passenger's side sliding door. But before I get there, what do I hear?
Click.
Click. Beep.
Click. Beep.
Yup.
Emma picked up my keys, went straight for the fob for the van, and locked all of the doors. Locked herself and her sisters inside. Locked me out.
I started laughing.
She continues: Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Clearly, the beeping is amusing her.
By this time, I've walked back around to the driver's side because if she does happen to accidentally unlock it, the driver's door will be the first to open. With one hand on the driver's door, I start begging her to unlock it.
First, I was trying to get her to pull up the the lock from the inside. I was getting no where.
She smiles at me. But doesn't have the keys.
"Emma, where are my keys?"
She picks them up out of her car seat.
"Good girl. Can you push the button?"
Click. Beep. Click. Beep.
By this point, Becca and Julie are starting to get worked up.
"Emma, can you push the OTHER button?"
Click. Beep.
"The OTHER button."
And finally, she unlocks it.
That child is going to cause me so many gray hairs. But I'll have to say, I'm really proud of her for listening to me and following directions.
I guess the back story here is that the girls have been amused by my keys lately (and anything in my purse). A few weeks ago, Julie was running around with them in the kitchen, and I didn't think too much about it until I could hear the van start beeping. That darn lock button that makes the car beep. It's better than candy.
The girls did fine in the grocery store, and walked through the parking lot holding hands. But I sure learned my lesson about kids and keys.
So, Greg wasn't feeling well this morning and I wanted to let him sleep. I've been working up the courage to take all three of them out with me and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out.
So we went for a quick trip to Target. We got the triple cart (it was already out in the parking lot) and the girls were so amused by the novelty of it that they were perfectly behaved. So far so good.
We get to the grocery store, and I'm feeling confident. So, to get the 3 of them into the car when there's just one adult, I put all 3 of them in on the passenger side of the car, then lift someone (Emma) over the folded-down captain's chair behind the front passenger seat (it kind of acts like a barricade). Get the two in the back buckled in, shut the passenger door, and then go over to the driver's side door to get the last one buckled in behind the driver. So, unloading is basically the same in reverse.
So we get to the store. I throw my purse back over by the sliding door on the passenger's side, since that's where I'll be when I actually get the 3 of them out of the car. Throw my keys back there, too.
Get out, open the driver's side sliding door, unbuckle Emma.
Shut driver's side door. Walk around the van to the passenger's side sliding door. But before I get there, what do I hear?
Click.
Click. Beep.
Click. Beep.
Yup.
Emma picked up my keys, went straight for the fob for the van, and locked all of the doors. Locked herself and her sisters inside. Locked me out.
I started laughing.
She continues: Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Clearly, the beeping is amusing her.
By this time, I've walked back around to the driver's side because if she does happen to accidentally unlock it, the driver's door will be the first to open. With one hand on the driver's door, I start begging her to unlock it.
First, I was trying to get her to pull up the the lock from the inside. I was getting no where.
She smiles at me. But doesn't have the keys.
"Emma, where are my keys?"
She picks them up out of her car seat.
"Good girl. Can you push the button?"
Click. Beep. Click. Beep.
By this point, Becca and Julie are starting to get worked up.
"Emma, can you push the OTHER button?"
Click. Beep.
"The OTHER button."
And finally, she unlocks it.
That child is going to cause me so many gray hairs. But I'll have to say, I'm really proud of her for listening to me and following directions.
I guess the back story here is that the girls have been amused by my keys lately (and anything in my purse). A few weeks ago, Julie was running around with them in the kitchen, and I didn't think too much about it until I could hear the van start beeping. That darn lock button that makes the car beep. It's better than candy.
The girls did fine in the grocery store, and walked through the parking lot holding hands. But I sure learned my lesson about kids and keys.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Today, we failed Parenting 101.
Oh, and Merry Christmas by the way.
The reason that Santa didn't visit our house last night was because mommy and daddy were woefully unprepared. Presents were wrapped, but had no tags on them. And there were 4 major assemblies that needed to take place. Greg got the 3 Cozy Coupes put together while I weeded out some toys, prepped a breakfast casserole that's a tad labor intensive, and cleaned up after a dinner that involved rice (a major undertaking at our house... the girls LOVE rice, but have a hard time getting it to their mouths. I ran the vacuum at least 3 times trying to clean up the mess.) So we're working full steam, making progress, Greg pulls out the kitchen set, I'm about to start helping him with it, and it's around 11pm. No presents out yet. And Julie wakes up. Greg went and got her until I could finish the casserole. Then, I took Julie, Greg went back to the kitchen set, and then around midnight, Emma and Becca wake up. So, that's where it ended. No presents out. And a kitchen set still in pieces.
It made me feel like a complete failure as a parent to wake up on Christmas morning this way. I know they don't know how badly we screwed up. But still, I hate being unprepared. I hate not having things ready in advance. I feel a bit like things have been out of control here. And I know I'm to blame. In a lot of ways, I feel like there's too much on my plate right now to do anything well. And at the same time, I feel like there's so much that I'm not doing that needs to be done. The girls not sleeping through the night is certainly not helping the situation. There is rarely a night where I can get anything beyond the bare minimum done around here. That pile of laundry on our bed from before Thanksgiving? Still there. Different clothes, but the pile's still there. Sometimes we just pull clean clothes out of the pile. And it's ridiculous.
Anyway.
We *barely* managed to pull it together and finished off the kitchen set during nap time - it took both of us. (And yes, we're still married.) Got the presents down under the tree and tagged. Doing the final clean up as the girls were waking up from their nap.
And they woke up and LOVED everything. We got a couple of presents unwrapped later in the day, but they are so excited about the stuff that wasn't wrapped that they spent most of the day playing with the kitchen set, the cozy coupes, the new baby dolls with their stroller and high chair, and the Mr. Potato Heads. There's still a bunch of stuff under the tree, but I think it's a bit overwhelming. We had to practically beg them to unwrap the presents. They can't see what they're missing, and they're just not interested right now.
She literally did a little happy dance when she saw the cars.
The reason that Santa didn't visit our house last night was because mommy and daddy were woefully unprepared. Presents were wrapped, but had no tags on them. And there were 4 major assemblies that needed to take place. Greg got the 3 Cozy Coupes put together while I weeded out some toys, prepped a breakfast casserole that's a tad labor intensive, and cleaned up after a dinner that involved rice (a major undertaking at our house... the girls LOVE rice, but have a hard time getting it to their mouths. I ran the vacuum at least 3 times trying to clean up the mess.) So we're working full steam, making progress, Greg pulls out the kitchen set, I'm about to start helping him with it, and it's around 11pm. No presents out yet. And Julie wakes up. Greg went and got her until I could finish the casserole. Then, I took Julie, Greg went back to the kitchen set, and then around midnight, Emma and Becca wake up. So, that's where it ended. No presents out. And a kitchen set still in pieces.
It made me feel like a complete failure as a parent to wake up on Christmas morning this way. I know they don't know how badly we screwed up. But still, I hate being unprepared. I hate not having things ready in advance. I feel a bit like things have been out of control here. And I know I'm to blame. In a lot of ways, I feel like there's too much on my plate right now to do anything well. And at the same time, I feel like there's so much that I'm not doing that needs to be done. The girls not sleeping through the night is certainly not helping the situation. There is rarely a night where I can get anything beyond the bare minimum done around here. That pile of laundry on our bed from before Thanksgiving? Still there. Different clothes, but the pile's still there. Sometimes we just pull clean clothes out of the pile. And it's ridiculous.
Anyway.
We *barely* managed to pull it together and finished off the kitchen set during nap time - it took both of us. (And yes, we're still married.) Got the presents down under the tree and tagged. Doing the final clean up as the girls were waking up from their nap.
And they woke up and LOVED everything. We got a couple of presents unwrapped later in the day, but they are so excited about the stuff that wasn't wrapped that they spent most of the day playing with the kitchen set, the cozy coupes, the new baby dolls with their stroller and high chair, and the Mr. Potato Heads. There's still a bunch of stuff under the tree, but I think it's a bit overwhelming. We had to practically beg them to unwrap the presents. They can't see what they're missing, and they're just not interested right now.
She literally did a little happy dance when she saw the cars.
R, backing up.
J & R taking care of a new baby doll.
R with Mr. Potato Head. They are more interested in the little pieces than they are in putting them in the potato heads. In fact, Mr. Potato Head's glasses have been on everyone (the new baby dolls, Bear, Monkey, Julie) except Mr. Potato Head. They love those "yassus."
Dusty on her new perch.
Complete chaos. J, E, R.
Becca was the first to find the kitchen set up in the living room (in front of our battle place of a fire place). Emma wasn't far behind.
Mamo went for a ride on top of the new doll stroller.
We also got a simple IKEA pop up tent. The girls love it, though Becca still won't go all the way in it. And the cats love it too, and have already put their marks on it.
Honestly, once the girls got up, we just kind of hung out and let them play. We did some video chats with the grandparents, snacked on some appetizers, and just enjoyed each other's company. In the end, we had a good day and the girls had a blast. Next year will be different, though.
Honestly, once the girls got up, we just kind of hung out and let them play. We did some video chats with the grandparents, snacked on some appetizers, and just enjoyed each other's company. In the end, we had a good day and the girls had a blast. Next year will be different, though.
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