It's been a long time since I had one of 'those' days, and yes, today is totally deserving of a Pandemonium post. My day started out quite smooth, too easy. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." And it was.
Evelynn has been looking forward to school starting for us for several days. I've had everything strewn out along one half of the dining room table, planning as much as I could so that whatever happens in the coming months, her school year doesn't fall behind. She has been eyeing her new books and had to be convinced that we were not starting school on Saturday, Sunday or Labor Day Monday. Holiday weekend past and she was ready to go this morning, really wanting to skip breakfast. Her siblings, however, thought she was crazy. We had a great first day, basically reviewing some things. If you have ever been verbally ambushed by Evelynn, then you know that she is quite the talker. Now picture that in a schooling situation. Here are some blurbs from today:
"I'm so excited to start school today, I just love it. I've been wanting to for a days. I just love my new books. That is such a cute reindeer on the front of that book." That's a giraffe. "Oh, well that giraffe is so cute. I just love it. What is this book?" Math.
"Mom, you know that I get frustrated when I'm learning. It's very frustrating. I can't help it. I will try not get frustrated, but it will happen. I don't like being frustrated."
In the middle of math: "Remember when I ate that apple yesterday?"
Me: "Please let's finish the math problem."
Evelynn: "But my tooth hurts. It hurts because I bit into that apple and bit the nut (seed, she always calls it a nut) and my tooth still hurts."
Me: "Which one?"
Evelynn: "This one in the front." I check and it's a loose tooth. I explained why and she was so excited her body started shaking-- face, legs, arms, hands-- I thought she might hyperventilate. The exclamations of joy, and "I'm so excited! My friends have lost teeth already, but I've been waiting and waiting. I can't wait to tell everybody. My tooth is loose! Hey, Caelan and McKenna! It's loose! My tooth will fall out and I'll put my tooth under my pillow and then the toothfairy comes and leaves me money or a present. I think I just want a present." --- I want to know who told her she was getting a present. Whatever happened to the traditional quarter??-- Okay, back to school.
Reading comprehension is going to be so much fun this year-- yeah, not really. Evelynn has a tendency to seriously zone out. I read a short story and she knew she was to answer my questions and tell me what she remembered. I got the blank stare. This story was only three short paragraphs. Evelynn: "I'm just so frustrated right now. I don't anything about this story. I'm so frustrated I can't think." Her face scrunches up and she produces two full sized tears that fall down her face and onto the table. I've seen this too many times to really care. I tell her to stop and breathe. "I know that's the only way I can get over frustrated. Can you tell me a cheerful story?" Me: "I just did. How about you tell me about it." Evelynn: Well, I'm frustrated, but I'm breathing now, so it was about a tiger and a spider?" Oh, yes... the drama is past. "That part when the spider rode on the tiger's back, that was cheerful. I'm not frustrated anymore." I promise you, I will ban the word "frustrated" before the end of the week. I now know what Mr. Bennett meant when he said "You mistake me, my dear. I have the utmost respect for your nerves. They've been my constant companion these twenty years."
While she is over the moon about her loose tooth, Paxton has at least two teeth coming in right now and he's exceedingly vocal on this. Several naps today. And each time, I turned my attention to him, my two middle children were in mischievous cahoots. They 'tried' to make oatmeal. I found them with three bowls, three packets of oatmeal (two spilling onto the counter and floor) and one in the microwave with water and a spoon. Thank goodness they didn't turn on the microwave with that spoon in there. Cleaned up that mess, sent them packing to their rooms to clean up their messes up there. Paxton chimes in again, and they decided they want PB&J sandwiches, stat. The process was underway by the time I got to them. Ate lunch, and oh, yes, it was naptime. For all children. Fighting breaks out between Caelan and McKenna (hazard of sharing a room at naptime), Evelynn comes down stairs "Oh, Mom, I just woke up from a great nap" and fake yawns. After five minutes? I think not. McKenna fell asleep on the couch. I got school cleaned up, the kitchen tidied, the floors swept and rugs vacuumed. Evelynn and Caelan still weren't sleeping so I let quietly play in Evelynn's room. Paxton was already awake and yelling loudly. He wanted me to sit in his room. Not to hold him or feed him, he just didn't want to be in there alone. I sat in the rocking chair, enjoying the nonsense of Angry Birds and Evelynn and Caelan came in to talk. They tussled over who got to sit in the window, so I sent them out telling them they were going to pull the curtains down. Two minutes later, Evelynn told me Caelan was swinging on the curtains in her room. Yep, curtain down (only a tension rod curtain) and she was back in bed. Evelynn came back into Paxton's room, tried to sit in the window (because she forgot that I said not to) and that curtain came down. Fine, everyone just stay in their beds, in their rooms and it should all be okay. I picked up some toys in Caelan and McKenna's room and see that someone has colored on the wall. The exact same strip of wall that I just painted three weeks ago because they had drawn on it. They both denied it. I confiscated their crayons. And stickers. I just peeled Tron stickers off a door a few days ago. Don't they know this house is on the market?
Everyone was up from naps and mother-imposed time in bed by mid afternoon. Only McKenna scored a real nap. The rest of the afternoon was a blur of playtime and watching the rain come down outside. McKenna came to me at one point and asked me where her panties were. I asked her if she had an accident. She said "No, I didn't. A ladybug did." Well, that was innovative. Kudos for coming up with something different than "She did it." Caelan had shut all the bathroom doors and McKenna couldn't get any of them open. Sigh.
Right before dinner, I had the girls take their laundry upstairs to put away and to clean up their rooms in time to eat. Waffles were on the menu. I made them as fast as they could eat them up. Then I walked past the dining room door to see Caelan stand up in her chair, drop her pants and moon everyone at the table. That was it. I was ready for the day to be over. BEDTIME. No excuses. Crazy kids. They will one day tire of me asking "What were you thinking?" I really was on a roll when I took them upstairs for bed only to find Evelynn's room a disaster area, namely Caelan's clean laundry unfolded and thrown on Evelynn's bed and floor. They are too fast, really. Wish they could clean as fast as they make messes. Talked to Evelynn and Caelan once again about responsibilities and McKenna ended that conversation with a giggly and smug "I not in trouble right now." Well, prayers and then to bed. Good thing days like this are not habitual or daily. We're on the right track, at least, if it only happens once every few months. And it really seems like I'm leaving some things out... :)
