Naptime

I love naptime. It’s my favorite time of day. I can work, nap, clean up, read. And, luckily for me, Peanut doesn’t mind naptime either. Experts say that toddlers need between 13 and 14 hours of sleep each day - 11 or 12 at night and a 1-2 hour nap. Until [...]

The kids are not being too crazy whiny or anything today, which is surprising, since they’re still not feeling well. But! BUT! They’re being holy terrors in other ways, getting into shit like crazy. They emptied out an entire cabinet of diapers and then locked themselves inside of it. They unraveled a whole roll of TP in the bathroom - thank GOD they didn’t try to flush it!! They’ve completely trashed the family room, worse than I’ve seen it in … a really long time. They’re all in bed now, and I’m going to take a shower because I feel like a big sweaty pig, running around trying to clean everything up and stay one step ahead of them. Then I guess I’m going to dive right in and start trying to clean up their crazy toy mess. And all of that is fine, really. It’s just fine. It’s the story of my life. Nothing’s changed. I’ve been cleaning up after these monkeys for a long time, and I’ve got years of cleani

Okay, so, never mind. I got Firefox back, and everything was still there. Whew! Crisis averted. The kids are down for a nap - yippee!! Man, the whinees have really taken over the house today. Pablo’s been in time out like THIRTY times, I shit you not. I’ve been taking Bev’s advice regarding screaming and putting him right into time out. Nikki somehow cut her hand - ON THE COUCH. How does one do that? I don’t know, but she’s acting as if she lost a limb or something. She cried WHINED about it for forty straight minutes. Mallory’s doing this weirdly annoying thing where she puts her whole body in front of people so they can’t get past her, quickly maneuvering from side to side, blocking the path. She’s just doing it for the hell of it. Lexi hasn’t annoyed me yet today, so I can’t say anything about her. Ha! I forced Kayley to sit on the couch and interact with the kids for a good hour today so I could do some cleaning in the kid

I don’t know what the deal is today. First of all, I can’t seem to get motivated to get anything done at all. My house is a sty. I haven’t even had my shower yet. And I don’t know if the kids are picking up on my mood or if it’s their naughtiness that’s just bringing me down, but DUDE. I was ready to beat some children come naptime. They fought all morning long. Mallory backtalked so many times I finally had to tell her, “Stop talking now. Just stop.” She said, “No.” Nikki was being such a butthead to everyone - stealing their toys, running away with them, and then throwing them over the baby gate into the Forbidden Zone, also known as the living room. Pablo refused to pee in the toilet - just flat out refused. Then stood there and peed his pants, right in front of me. Lexi kept getting pissed off at everyone - and rightly so, since she kept getting her toys snatched away - but she has the shrillest, loudest, most horrific scr

I use the word Naptime loosely.  I tried to put Crabapple McNasty down like some of you suggested.  He was quiet for about 20 minutes and I did offer him books to read, so I think he was content to do that. So I went to get him after hearing all kinds of toddlerish sounds and here was our exchange: “Did you sleep?” “Nope.” (kisses me) “Are you poopy?” “Nope.” (I check. Not poopy.) “Want to come downstairs and play?” “Yup.” “Did you read your books?” “Yup.” (big smile) “You have a booger.  Let me get it.” (squirming, but I get it out) “There, don’t you feel better with that booger out?” “Don’t you feel better with your finger up my nose?”

As I was saying, time for a new car. I went car shopping today. Not my idea of a good time. In the middle of car shopping, I got a $120 ticket for an expired city sticker. It expired LAST JUNE. How did I miss that? Why didn't I catch it? Why didn't some other cop give me a ticket sooner, instead of today, a gloomy, gray day, in the middle of car shopping? OK, maybe, just maybe, I had something fairly MAJOR going on back then, true. But I should have noticed it by NOW for gosh sakes. It costs $75 for a new one, plus a late fee of $40. I'd have the $75 expense either way, but now I'm down $160 for this little outing. And, it will be time for a new one in June again. I had to take a nap when I got home. It's the only way to deal with such things. I just absolutely HATE not having someone to share days like this with. Of course, if Lou were here, this would not have happened. The car was his responsibility, and he was always on top of things. But so was I, for