Hostage Negotiating

Can I get an Amen? Does anyone else ever feel like this?

My really good sleeper (child #3) did not get her nap in yesterday and it was torture on all of us. We attempted to take her sleepy self to my older daughter’s basketball game and it was like wrestling an alligator to get her not to run out on the court or right out of the gym door. I think at one point I was even letting her play with my fingernails (ok she wasn’t playing with them, but more so trying to rip them off) so that she would sit still. You know it’s not going to be a good experience when the toddler goes through her “sit still and be quiet snacks” before the opening tip.

By the time it was all said and done I needed to take Advil for my jaw and she was chewing on her toes. That’s right, she had done the old toddler move… You know the one, when they don’t want to sit in your lap and they arch their back really quick and their head ends up cracking you right in the chin, sending this sharp pain up your jaw line so bad that you see stars. Yep, at that point I handed her off to husband for a moment, and the next thing I see is that she is quiet, yes, but it’s because she’s removed her shoes and socks and is now chewing on her toes…. Whatever! If she’s quiet and still, at this point I could care less… I was really impressed that she could get her toes all the way to her mouth!

The rest of the day was spent looking at the clock and praying that it was closer to bedtime than it really was. As much as I wanted to come home and put her back in the bed, I knew that would mean a late nap and a crazy wild toddler when it was time for bed that evening, so we stuck it out.

Add two older siblings to the mix and that’s really where the crazy comes in. I mean, riding in the car with the two of them in the back seat really makes you rethink what a genius idea it was for limousines to put the partition between the driver and the passenger rows. AND, why has someone not thought to do this in the family SUV… I would pay extra for that!

Even our four-legged child (Duke the dog) couldn’t keep his crazy contained. I won’t go into detail, but when your 140lb Great Dane is in the house while your gone and has a very, very bad stomach issue, all you can do is toss the rubber gloves when you’re done cleaning up and pray that the nice living room rug will make a full recovery and not have to be burned.

Sometimes, I just want to lock myself in the bathroom, eat chocolate and cry… but let’s face it, they’ll find you there too! At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade our crazy for anything else in the world. Sure, it’s hard and they try my patience a lot, but they’re good kids. They have big hearts and dream big so I can’t wait to see what the future holds for each of them. I thank God every day for all three of my kiddos and always ask for strength and wisdom to make it through another day of being a parent. Oh, and yes I thank my parents for putting up with me for so many years.