Good morning everyone,
Overall, this week has been better than last, I think. The kids seem to be settling into a new 'routine', and Ash and I have become a bit more realistic about what we can accomplish in a day. (Vic, I'm really sorry, but cleaning is not ALWAYS something we accomplish!) Manimal has taken to shouting again (he was doing this some weeks/months ago when he knew fewer words, and it was stressing me out so much I think I gained 5 lbs a week in beer consumption). I'm not sure why it has started again, except that we can't always give him immediate attention, and he's figured out that if he screams, we'll all yell, "STOP SCREAMING, JACOB!" in chorus. And no, the irony of that is NOT lost on me. He will do short stints in the Pack-N-Play, though, so that has been awesome, since I don't have to pick up the entire contents of my pantry off of the floor at the end of every day. Also, we finally bought latches for the cupboards. I know, I know... you're very impressed with our parenting.
The Mouth, on the other hand, has alternated between being the sweetest angel on earth and making me want to put her out on the back porch in the Ceciltucky wind because of the incessant whining. I'm not sure if you all are familiar with my ancestry, but there is actually a string of DNA specific to a Hodgin that contains the codon 1-NOWHINEAACCGGR-9. I think it means that when we hear whining, we start internal combustion at a cellular level. I can't take it.
So, when The Mouth started at it yesterday, she needed a distraction, stat. Ash gave her safety scissors, and told her that she could play pretend 'salon'. I was working when all of this was happening, but when I got up to reheat my coffee, I thought to myself, 'Wow, that's a lot of doll hair on the floor," and promptly ignored it. When I got up for lunch, the house was littered with pink curls and blue fluff. One of the beneficiaries of my daughter's new skills:
The Mouth was happy. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We finished working, took a walk, had dinner, and started to clean up the playroom before bed. Ash picked up the steps to the ball pit, and handed me this, while simultaneously laughing and looking horrified:
Yeah, they weren't safety scissors. So grateful Manimal has locks to spare.
Hairs to you all- stay sane, the weekends coming!
The Pilkertons