Fighting Temptation

Today was a temptation day. From the moment I picked up the kids, I knew it was going to be a struggle tonight. Not to mention I've been up since 1am and BJ has golf tonight. I heavily prayed that I could keep my cool but, man, it was tough.

Oliver was in time out when I picked him up for wrestling with his friends. He started crying when I asked him to apologize, I kept my cool and eventually he did. He never told me why it was so hard to apologize.

We don't even get to the car and he and Brynn are fighting. Once again, I try and keep my cool and get them to talk to each other but it gets us nowhere. At least I tried.

We get home and I have them play outside and try to soothe a cranky Nora that only wants to be held. Looking outside, I see them playing in the bucket of water to clean their toys that BJ repeatedly told them not to do. I again, keep my cool but not as tightly because there was yelling involved. Then I get the bright idea to take them for a bike ride. Nora enjoys the walk and the kids are getting better at controlling their bikes.

I repeatedly tell Oliver not to go too far in front of us. I repeatedly tell him to look both ways before crossing the street. I REPEATEDLY tell him and tell him and tell him!!! Brynn is playing her damsel-in-distress acting like she can't pedal, Nora's crying because we are stopped, and Oliver is swaying in the streets while cars are coming. I thought I was going to lose it!

I kept thinking to myself, "How will I get this through his head that he needs to be careful"? They say repetition gets into the heads of kids but obviously my repetition was having no effect on him so far.

We finally made it through that chaos and it was supper time. Which, to my surprise, they actually did really well with. Nora on the other hand wasn't having any of it. She didn't want noodles, she didn't want chicken, she didn't want her sippy cup (what's new?). She wanted potatoes, but no more than two potatoes! She has gotten so finicky lately with food that I don't know how I'm going to keep her full!

Finally, she (or I) had had enough and it was bed time. Just past 6pm and I was putting that girl to bed. Normally, she goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 but tonight it wasn't going to happen. The poor girl has such a bad diaper rash right now and I don't know what it could be from but you can tell it's making her uncomfortable. I'm debating on switching her from whole milk to soy. What gets me is that she's had whole milk for a few weeks now and hasn't shown any signs of discomfort with it until recently. Was it too much to soon?

I have all three in bed. Not asleep, but at least in bed. And just as I say this, little miss Nora is awake....

Dear God, grant me peace of mind to fight temptations and keep my cool with the kids. In reality, if I freak out, they freak out. Amen