We had a good, uneventful sabbath morning. Got ready. Went to church. Ate lunch. Zach went to a meeting while the rest of us visited my brother and his wife who live a stones throw away.
The kids had been progressively getting crazier and crazier every hour that passed... but I figured they'd hit a "wall" sooner or later and crash into deep sleep or something. I had started a few projects and let the kids join in. PAINTING is their favorite thing to do... so I tried to be as relaxed as possible... and allow them to have fun while painting instead of nagging them about drips, too much paint, spills and messes. By dinner time I had HAD IT! The cute family bonding time had passed and they were at it again: Making annoying noises, teasing each other, playing tag in the house,fake screaming (as if someone had hit them). Even after a 20 minute break in the back yard, (so I cook make dinner in peace and quiet) they were still WIRED!
More than once, with more than one child, I almost sent them to bed without finishing their dinner. I just kept trying to talk myself into a calm state of mind. After another round of sassy mouths went off... I sent them upstairs to brush their teeth and I revoked our story time privilege for the night. I gave them 4 minutes to brush their teeth and return downstairs to read scriptures and say family prayer.
15 minutes later... while I was trying to do the dishes I could hear MAJOR rumbling and tumbling upstairs. I scaled my stairs silently... although I was taking them two at a time... and ran into my bathroom to catch Lincoln with a HAND FULL OF TOOTHPASTE. He couldn't have looked more like a deer caught in headlights if he had TRIED!!! I have no idea what he was about to do... but I didn't waste a minute trying to find out. I sent them (dirty teeth and all) to bed. NO scriptures. NO prayer. NO hug & kiss. As I shut off each one of their lights and then marched downstairs to finish cleaning the kitchen I could see Satan standing at the bottom with his hand extended out towards me... looking for my high-five. "Way to go Kate! You did EXACTLY what I wanted you to do! You fell for it. ALL of it! How does it feel to be such a sucker for contention???"
Yeah... I'm switching teams tomorrow. Tonight was no fun. And Vegas is hot enough... I don't need to get any closer to Hell.
3 comments:
I totally understand where you are coming from....it must have been in the air (all the way from Vegas). And of all the people I know you are by far one of the most patient moms I know- so I am sure you did try your best (which is by far more than most other moms would do). The best part is that tomorow is a new day and you can start all over again (hopefully that is good news?)
I had a similar night last night. I love your perspective on it with Satan. That's exactly what I'm going to think about whenever I start to freak out at my kids. And by the way, I'm sure you didn't react half as bad as you think you did. We're our own worst critics.
Kate-
I have thought of this post often since reading it a while ago. I love your imagery of the devil and the high-five... parenting is tough sometimes...
dealing with frustration is definitely a huge part of parenthood (well I guess with being human in general... but parenthood seems to kick it up a notch!) You and your kids are amazing...
lots of love!
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