A peek into the circus that is our life!

A peek into the circus that is our life!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Things I never imagined saying...

I am sure all parents have experienced it:  something comes out of your mouth and you immediately think "I never imagined saying that!"  I seem to encounter those moments every day.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  "Don't eat that dirt."  "Underwear are for bottoms, not heads."  "We don't eat in the bathroom."  We've all said them, most days I've been known to say many!

Back in the day of only two children, when Rebecca was nearly three and Mariah was under a year, Brian and I took the girls to Friendly's.  It is a restaurant back east that served American diner fare and is best known for its ice cream desserts.  Rebecca wanted dessert, so we ordered the Royal Banana Split, thinking we had a win:win situation.  Rebecca would enjoy the 3 flavors of ice cream and Mariah, our fairly new eater, would have a yummy banana to keep her happy.  When the ice cream creation arrived, however, Rebecca wanted the banana.  Out of my mouth, before I even thought about it came:  "No you cannot have the banana, you must eat your ice cream."  Really?  I just insisted that my young daugher eat ice cream in lieu of a healthy banana?  Brian nearly lost it, while I sputtered and attempted to make it sound reasonable that I just said what I said as my 2-year old was tearing up!!!  I can only imagine the looks on the faces of the diners around us if they overheard me!

Yes, we've all said things we never imagined saying, but some are much more memorable than others and provide humor for years to come!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Terrible Twos?

Really, whomever termed it "Terrible Twos" had clearly NOT arrived at the threes yet!  Twos have nothing compared with threes in my family...and today's three is a shining example.  Our three year old has been having some issues, possibly due to all of the changes of being a new big brother and starting preschool, but today is a dozie! 

I thought we were getting off on a good footing this morning:  I was in and out of the shower before Zachary was up, we had breakfast orchestrated and ready to come out of the oven, and he was not fighting me on getting to the bathroom and dressed.  THAT, however, was the end of the pleasantries.  He took one bite of the apple oven pancake put together by his big sister and started spitting it out...noisily...proclaiming his dislike repeatedly.  It was new.  He had tried it.  We offered alternatives.  He began screaming at every offering, thus getting NO breakfast besides a raw apple this morning, before we headed out to school. 

As we dropped off his siblings, Zachary said he wanted to go to Mr. Graydon's party.  I don't know Mr. Graydon, because he AND his house are imaginary, so no going to the party:  more screaming!  Pulling into the coffee shop's drive thru, I ordered my usual half-caf (seriously considered upping the ante this morning, though) and a flavored milk, thinking I could sweeten him up.  More screaming!!!  Fine..."no milk for you" Mr. Three!

Our plan to go to mass and then to the store no longer seemed feasible...three screaming fits and you're out!  Instead, we headed home to the tune of "I don't want to go home!" screamed repeatedly for the entire 10 minute drive at a decibel that surely had all canines in a 10-mile radius howling in misery.  I snickered as I turned up the radio (unsuccessfully trying to drown out the screams) and heard the line "Life is good today" being proclaimed by the Zac Brown Band!  HA! 

We're home & Zachary's in his room...not currently welcome with the general population (Jacob and myself) while screaming (only slightly muffled by the closed door that he is kicking).  Maybe we'll get to feeling that "life is good today" if the shreiking ceases or I find some earplugs.  Terrible twos?  I'll take them anyday over Tremendously Trying Threes!!!