Well, it looks like the boys survived me today. I wasn’t in a bad mood, but man! The control freak in me was very….controlling. Captain Earthquake lost his very first tooth (at 5! Is that too young? And it looks like there’s still something there where is tooth was. Possibly the root? Should I be worried??) and I made the mistake of telling him that he might want to be careful about eating crunchy food for a day or so until he got used to it. He immediately swore off food for eternity and announced he wasn’t going to drink his milk either.
Now I could have just smiled and let him get hungry and change his mind but nooooooooo. I had to insist that he trust me and try to drink the milk NOW. So, I made him drink the milk. He did, and discovered to his great joy and surprise that it didn’t hurt. Just like I told him. Who woulda thunk it?
I also bugged the big boys, but managed to limit myself to just being stern when I could have made things fun. I can tell we’re close to the end of the school year because I’m about out of patience. We’re definitely better off compared to a year or even two years ago. Hopefully this summer will find us doing more fun things and set a better stage for 5th grade.
So. We finished up school and I retreated to the shower. The afternoon was busy with various tasks and several cute boy moments. I have basically recovered. And yay! Weekend tomorrow. Phew.
What about you? What do you do when you’re having an off day? Any good tricks for a faster recovery? Maybe I need to buy some practical jokes or something. Gotta find ways to laugh sooner. You know what I mean?
Earnest Parenting: help for parents who need to stop being control freaks.