They drove me to sketch. Sketch!!!
So I'll be real for a moment. I've been told I give off an intimidating super-mommy vibe. Every time I'm told this, I'm utterly flabbergasted. Do these people know me at all? I believe my mildly manic ADD is being mistaken for something good. Like consistent excellence. =) No friends, it is not normal for a person to cycle through projects. Yes, I bake for about a month. I'll bake all. the. time. And then I stop. I move onto cooking better meals at home (remember my love for freezer meals?), and then I stop. We do awe inspiring weeks of school, and then we stop. Get the picture? There's nothing intimidating in that. I've simply chosen to channel my obsessive tendencies into benign projects lasting a few weeks at a time.
Great, now I sound flaky. I'm not flaky either.
And then we have weeks like this week. It's only Thursday so I'm jumping the gun, but since I only have a day left in this week, I'm calling it. This week SUCKED. So much. So so sooooo much. Kids #1 and 2 have left me exhausted before my day barely begins. There's been crying. So much crying. A ridiculous amount of crying out of one person. Kid #2 should have suffered from dehydration at some point. No one can cry that many tears without throwing off their electrolytes. There's been crying over the dumbest things (sorry baby girl, but COME ON!). Crying over earrings, crying over imagined wrongs, crying because a picture fell over, because her glasses got caught on her shirt, somebody breathing too loudly. Crying because she bumped her head on a tree branch and she's afraid the other kids will think she's clumsy. She wasn't hurt. She didn't want people to think she's clumsy. So she cried. Get the picture?
There have been repeated declarations of the unfairness of life. You know, because I took away screen time for ridiculous behavior or called a kid out for being obnoxious to their siblings. There was even an "I'd leave if I had somewhere else to go!" To which I immediately replied "Where would you go where they'll give you a room, a bed, all kinds of toys and books, take you around to your activities, and feed you well?!?" To which he replied, "NO WHERE! THAT'S WHY I'M STAYING!" And then things got really fun. At one point this particular child, Mr. Inc, and I ALL looked at the door and considered making a break for it. But nobody ran. The biggest reason stopping me was the fact that I was furthest from the door and knew I'd lose that race.
Today was my wall. Have you heard of choice fatigue? Where you have so many options that it actually makes you tired to the point you start purchasing all kinds of extras? You're losing the ability to say no because you're choosing between so many brands, prices, items. It was kind of like that. Except it was kid fatigue. After dealing with so many requests, accusations, questions about when and what we're having for lunch, tattle telling, whines, and complaints, my brain said No. Just no. No more. So I hid under my blankets and went back to sleep. Yes, I did. Kid #3 played Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. Honestly, I'm not sure what kids #1 and #2 did, but they were quiet and alone in their rooms. That was all I needed to know.
And now after lunch, they're happily playing together and have been for the last 30 minutes. I told them that I can't manage their feelings, and they have to work everything out because I'm done for the week. DONE. I will pull out schoolwork for them to do. I banned all screen time. I am NOT baking cookies. These kids pushed me past my normal writing for self-expression and into sketching because I couldn't even come up with the words! I'm not a sketcher. Those are dire days indeed when I start drawing.
Overall, I don't take responsibility for the horribleness in this week. I think by the grace of God I made it through pretty well. Sometimes I can look back on a bad week and see that I'm totally the one to blame, but not this time. Nope. I'm praying the kids have learned something. God, please let them have learned something about grace, love, patience, and boundaries.
So there's my ugly, non-intimidating, not super anything week. May it be helpful, humorous, or "Thank God that's not MY life" inspiring. =)
Great, now I sound flaky. I'm not flaky either.
And then we have weeks like this week. It's only Thursday so I'm jumping the gun, but since I only have a day left in this week, I'm calling it. This week SUCKED. So much. So so sooooo much. Kids #1 and 2 have left me exhausted before my day barely begins. There's been crying. So much crying. A ridiculous amount of crying out of one person. Kid #2 should have suffered from dehydration at some point. No one can cry that many tears without throwing off their electrolytes. There's been crying over the dumbest things (sorry baby girl, but COME ON!). Crying over earrings, crying over imagined wrongs, crying because a picture fell over, because her glasses got caught on her shirt, somebody breathing too loudly. Crying because she bumped her head on a tree branch and she's afraid the other kids will think she's clumsy. She wasn't hurt. She didn't want people to think she's clumsy. So she cried. Get the picture?
There have been repeated declarations of the unfairness of life. You know, because I took away screen time for ridiculous behavior or called a kid out for being obnoxious to their siblings. There was even an "I'd leave if I had somewhere else to go!" To which I immediately replied "Where would you go where they'll give you a room, a bed, all kinds of toys and books, take you around to your activities, and feed you well?!?" To which he replied, "NO WHERE! THAT'S WHY I'M STAYING!" And then things got really fun. At one point this particular child, Mr. Inc, and I ALL looked at the door and considered making a break for it. But nobody ran. The biggest reason stopping me was the fact that I was furthest from the door and knew I'd lose that race.
Today was my wall. Have you heard of choice fatigue? Where you have so many options that it actually makes you tired to the point you start purchasing all kinds of extras? You're losing the ability to say no because you're choosing between so many brands, prices, items. It was kind of like that. Except it was kid fatigue. After dealing with so many requests, accusations, questions about when and what we're having for lunch, tattle telling, whines, and complaints, my brain said No. Just no. No more. So I hid under my blankets and went back to sleep. Yes, I did. Kid #3 played Super Mario Bros. on the Wii. Honestly, I'm not sure what kids #1 and #2 did, but they were quiet and alone in their rooms. That was all I needed to know.
And now after lunch, they're happily playing together and have been for the last 30 minutes. I told them that I can't manage their feelings, and they have to work everything out because I'm done for the week. DONE. I will pull out schoolwork for them to do. I banned all screen time. I am NOT baking cookies. These kids pushed me past my normal writing for self-expression and into sketching because I couldn't even come up with the words! I'm not a sketcher. Those are dire days indeed when I start drawing.
Overall, I don't take responsibility for the horribleness in this week. I think by the grace of God I made it through pretty well. Sometimes I can look back on a bad week and see that I'm totally the one to blame, but not this time. Nope. I'm praying the kids have learned something. God, please let them have learned something about grace, love, patience, and boundaries.
So there's my ugly, non-intimidating, not super anything week. May it be helpful, humorous, or "Thank God that's not MY life" inspiring. =)
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