A new day
Today had some rough spots, or more accurately, one really big rough spot.
Peanut is in camp from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and while she LOVES it, it tires her out. Despite that, I promised Loaf we'd go to the playground this afternoon so around 4 p.m., I packed them up and off we went.
Big. Mistake. Kimberly.
Things got off on the wrong foot immediately when Peanut learned we were going to the "small" rather than the "big" park. She grumbled and complained, so I told her we'd go to the "big" park tomorrow, but that I'd already promised Loaf a visit to the "small" park today.
She whined all the way there - which was all of five minutes, but might as well have been five HOURS from my perspective. Whining is one of those things that drives me completely insane.
Things did not improve much when we got the park. She continued to whine. She refused to come to me. She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest when I spoke to her. And worse of all, she was being mean to Loaf - chasing her and threatening to push her down. Now, I need to say, this is highly uncharacteristic of Peanut. She and Loaf usually play beautifully together, so I know she was acting out of pure exhaustion.
But regardless, we had to leave after only half an hour.
When we got home, I sent her straight to her room telling her to stay there until she was feeling more in control. She lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. I started dinner and about 20 minutes later, she peeked her head out of her room - smiling. My usual good-natured Peanut was back.
After dinner, we sat on her bed reading from a vintage Sesame Street book. She leaned against me, hand resting lightly on my arm. I kissed the top of her head and watched as her eyelids drooped, then finally closed for good.
I lay her back gently on her pillow and brushed the hair off of her forehead. Her cheeks were pink and there was just a hint of a smile on her lips. She looked like an angel.
"Good night," I cooed to her. "Tomorrow we start fresh."
She sighed deeply-peacefully-in her sleep, as if to agree.
Peanut is in camp from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and while she LOVES it, it tires her out. Despite that, I promised Loaf we'd go to the playground this afternoon so around 4 p.m., I packed them up and off we went.
Big. Mistake. Kimberly.
Things got off on the wrong foot immediately when Peanut learned we were going to the "small" rather than the "big" park. She grumbled and complained, so I told her we'd go to the "big" park tomorrow, but that I'd already promised Loaf a visit to the "small" park today.
She whined all the way there - which was all of five minutes, but might as well have been five HOURS from my perspective. Whining is one of those things that drives me completely insane.
Things did not improve much when we got the park. She continued to whine. She refused to come to me. She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest when I spoke to her. And worse of all, she was being mean to Loaf - chasing her and threatening to push her down. Now, I need to say, this is highly uncharacteristic of Peanut. She and Loaf usually play beautifully together, so I know she was acting out of pure exhaustion.
But regardless, we had to leave after only half an hour.
When we got home, I sent her straight to her room telling her to stay there until she was feeling more in control. She lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. I started dinner and about 20 minutes later, she peeked her head out of her room - smiling. My usual good-natured Peanut was back.
After dinner, we sat on her bed reading from a vintage Sesame Street book. She leaned against me, hand resting lightly on my arm. I kissed the top of her head and watched as her eyelids drooped, then finally closed for good.
I lay her back gently on her pillow and brushed the hair off of her forehead. Her cheeks were pink and there was just a hint of a smile on her lips. She looked like an angel.
"Good night," I cooed to her. "Tomorrow we start fresh."
She sighed deeply-peacefully-in her sleep, as if to agree.
Labels: Adventures in Parenting, It's all worth it
posted by Kimberly at
9:27 PM
7 Comments:
Tiredness does tend to get the best of them. Glad the day ended on a sweet note...
We get the end-of-the-day meltdowns over really silly things, where it's SO hard to handle the whining and redirecting and go-rest-in-your-room-ing because the parents are tired too! Ah well, I suppose this phase passes too.
You are such a good mom, Kimberly!
That is a beautiful thing!
How you can explain discplining in such a beautiful way is wonderful..
Your kids are very lucky.
Maybe a wee nap right after camp will make the afternoons better?
Oh so glad the day ended sweetly.
The whining drives me nuts, too. And my daughter is full of it these days.
It can really grate at your sanity.
Very sweet ending to a tough few hours.
I still have meltdowns. Probably because I don't have kids to melt down in front of me to distract me from my own stuff.
Thank goodness I'm old enough for wine. It takes the whine off!
;-)
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