I am writing this from my sister's house. All 6 Johannsen grandkids are asleep here (or in bed, at least) and all the other grownups are at the wedding. I guess I'm on duty, of sorts, but it's actually just that I'm glad to be done with the day. I probably shouldn't hash over the details again because I'll just get agitated again. It was full of exasperation, exhaustion, some regret, gratefulness, but mostly just feeling overwhelmed with responsibility on top of a headcold and a short night of sleep. Since Travis was sick this week, it seemed like he and I had almost no communication about the weekend, and it's just impossible for it to go completely smoothly without that. There's always the mismatch of expectations that's inevitable, even if most of the time we can correctly assume what the other is thinking. When we miss, it's sucky. I guess I'll just let it go and try to get more out of him next time. Ugh.
Audrey had a frustrating accident today - she sat on the potty to poop, and everything was going great, and when she stood up, it became apparent that she hadn't quite gotten her dress up over her bottom. Poor girl! The regret that I mention above was that I didn't figure that out immediately and get excited that she had actually done everything just right - i thought it was an accident. It wasn't, it was just... misfortune?? The gratefulness that I mention was to Travis's family, for helping me with the girls after the ceremony and through the reception, and to Jenny for providing me with everything I needed after I discovered that all the things the girls needed for overnight had been left at home, carefully packed but left on the porch. It was a rough weekend, but it would've been impossible without them!
As glad as I am that Audrey is potty trained and doing great for the most part, now we are to that weird phase where she will only use HER potty. I've gotta take it everywhere with me, including to the hotel where the wedding reception was tonight - awkward! I guess I'll go back to the OhCrap forum and ask how to get out of that. I'm hoping she'll get so confident that she'll think it's fun to try peeing other places, but so far she's a hard sell on HER potty if it's located in a new place. It's not as exhausting as the initial step, but still a lot of logistics to manage.
I've started planning Emily's 4th birthday, with a Frances theme, for obvious reasons! I cannot believe she's going to be FOUR. That's such a big number!! I rememer drowning in the terrible two's and Jenny would tell me that the hard work of parenting is up until they're 4, establishing the boundaries, and for a while after that, you just nudge them back into place as needed. It was so hard to believe her that those days would ever come, but for the most part, I'd say she's right. Emily is a lovely girl, especially compared to a few (nonfamily) children I was around this weekend - yikes. She'd be lovely even if she wasn't so well-behaved, but she really, really is. There's just a few things that exasperate me, like her intention to finish what she's doing no matter how hard I try to verbally direct her otherwise. Screaming STOP or NO or MOVE or DROPIT or anything like that has no effect whatsoever if she's intent on what she's doing. She'll finish, and then look up at me like, "okay, now what was it you needed??" I needed you to move so I don't drop a pot of hot water over your head on my way to drain these noodles because I'm trying to make supper so you'll stop whining at me!! GAH! I can physically stop her, and when I do, it's apparent that she did hear me because she freaks out about it. I guess if I'm left with one major challenge for age 4, I can be glad, because those other kids - yikes. It wasn't their fault, though; when they were around me, they responded instantly to some of my parenting techniques, and it's obvious that their parents could do the same and save themselves a lot of heartache. Life's too short to be mad at your kids all the time!
It's also too short to have such a rotten personal day on what should've been (and hopefully was) a fantastic day for two very wonderful people, and their family and friends who love them very much.
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