Reunion

It was a pretty good day yesterday. At least looking back on it. I woke up so, so tired. As I do every day, I prayed for strength. I crawled out of bed and knew that my energy was just not there. What do I do? There is no choice. I put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

Cy and Liv have been gone visiting Grandparents and I knew they were coming home yesterday. Clean up had to happen. Maybe not for Cy and Liv, but definitely with my in-laws coming over. How I wonder, do bathrooms get so dirty so quickly? When will I get good at remembering to move the laundry to the dryer? Why did all of this used to seem so easy?

A-round-a-bout noon I started to feel more awake. I moved slightly faster on the chores. Absentminded cleaning got replaced with slightly more focus.

Chi had a pretty good day, so that helped. He did a lot better with the screaming as I have been working hard on that single issue with him for the last several days.

If he screams to communicate he sits down for awhile. Period. I don't negotiate the who, what, where, why, or how until after he sits... quietly. When he screams it's rarely from actual trauma. 99% of the time when he screams he is frustrated about something. I have yet to have a single event over the last 4 days make me say, “Yeah, I guess that's worth screaming about.”

Then when he did really hurt himself on something he didn't even scream. He just showed me his bleeding toe and asked for a bandage, but I digress. So, Chi has to sit, and then after quiet sitting we talk. He has shown improvement since the zero-tolerance screaming policy has come into play. He backslid a little when Cy and Liv got home. He was thinking that maybe he could at least still scream at them.

Obee is a happy boy. He has been like a lost puppy following me around for the last several days since the kids left. He just did not know what to do with himself. He has been driving me just a bit bonkers with his extra clingy, slightly rebellious, whining for everything, boundary pushing behaviors over the last 4 days. Cy and Liv came home and happy, secure, Obee came back. I suppose my boy just likes his family close.

Even Zee was in a better mood after the big kids came home. Zee's crib is in Liv's room. He wakes up to the sight of her nearly everyday. She plays silly games from her bed for him just to make him laugh. She has been missing. I wonder if that is why he has been waking up crabby? He saw her today when he woke up from nap and bubbly Zee was back.

It's these little things that remind me that my Littles are probably still carrying a lot of insecurities. They do better when we are all together. Our crazy family-life represents stability for them and they want every person in their place. I agree with my Littles, life is better with Cy and Liv around.