I've been back to work for two weeks now. I'm slooowly getting back into the swing of things. I had a huge amount of anxiety and just dreaded going back to work. My job is super intense-long hours, emotionally exhausting, and you have to be on your A-game every day all the time. I texted a few co-workers a couple of days before I went back to work to try to prepare myself for how it would be, and they said that things were slow and manageable. But I swear, as soon as I walked in the door things got crazy. Multiple people were on vacation and two people had deaths in their family and unexpectedly left for several days.
As much as I appreciate a return to routine and to a schedule, it was really difficult leaving the kids. Little Man has really struggled since I've been back to work, and that has been hard. He's much more needy and just off. He has really been struggling with having to be "first" and in charge of
everything. He will literally cut in front of Little Miss when we are just taking a walk, or they are walking through the house, or in any situation that he possibly can. If Little Miss is doing something, Little Man has to be doing it also-and he has to make sure that we know he is doing it bigger, better, faster, or louder. He won't share his toys with her and if they are playing, they have to use his storyline or he refuses to play. He's like a little sheep dog just trying to herd all of us and make us go in the direction he wants us to-which isn't generally where we need to be going. Super frustrating and annoying! However, the flip side of this has been that we can really see how important it is that Little Man has really consistent, intensive, and engaged parenting. I told Cori the other day that although I wish Little Man was having an easier transition time, it's gratifying to know all the work we have done with him is working! And he can feel free to return to his sweet, easy going self any day now!
He drew a picture a couple of nights ago and the conversation we had just cracked me up. I asked him about his picture and he thought it was HILARIOUS that he decided the monster in the picture was me. He added blue hair to the monster so it would have long hair like mine and then he took it further and wrote, "The monster is mom." Then he wrote, "The volcano is Little Man." He had already written, "The monster is looking at the volcano." He was giggling so hard it was making Cori and I laugh too.
The other day the kids and I were helping Cori deliver a catering, and we were talking about floating (tubing) down the Poudre River next year. Little Man kept asking us what the "Poudre" was and we kept trying to explain that it was a river and we thought it was just not clicking, because he kept asking what the name was. He finally said, "It sounds like somebody pooed in it!" He got a belly laugh going and just could not believe that was its real name. It was so good to hear him just laughing and laughing like a carefree little boy should. It is so fun to see his sense of humor shining through more and more often!
Little Miss is, generally speaking, what I call more "energy intensive" than Little Man (meaning, she requires about seven times more energy to handle). She's a challenge, parenting-wise, so we are always trying to figure out how to meet her needs and what works with her-if you ask me on a bad day, I will vehemently declare that nothing works! There are many, many days that I do not feel I am up to the challenge of figuring it out. She's much more unpredictable than Little Man and much more strong-willed. The face below is quite common around here--and quite cute, obviously I couldn't resist the picture!
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| This was because I added sugar then milk to her "brown cereal" (Chocolate Malt-o-Meal) instead of the other way around. She insisted that I always add the milk first and I was doing it wrong. |
Since they are so close in age and in the same grade, it's hard to remember she is younger and not as mature as Little Man. And of course, they are very different kids just by nature so things will be different between them. Anyway, we have seen less difference with Little Miss than with Little Man as I've gone back to work. The exception to this is that she has been challenging Cori much more often. Usually she won't test him, but lately that has gone out the window and she is purposely pushing his buttons. Yesterday she kept lying to him and told him that she didn't think he should discipline her for lying. As she buckled up in my car right after their conversation, she admitted she was just saying that to make him angry. Well, mission accomplished. I'd love to hear ideas about how other parents have handled issues with honesty/truth, etc. It feels like we have tried everything, but I'm sure someone has a great idea we haven't tried. I know it's also just the developmental stage she is at, but it's still frustrating!
I worked a lot with her this summer around our relationship and engagement and investment between us, and I think we have seen positive results. She's been super funny lately (even when she's being so naughty!!) and at least once a day she has me laughing pretty hard. Sometimes it's after I'm done being upset, but still... A couple of days ago she and Little Man were arguing over a plane, and I told them that if they couldn't work it out, the plane would go to timeout. Little Miss immediately told Little Man he could have it, then turned to me and winked!! I have no idea what we will do with her when she is 15. Last night we were running errands and we had to go into TJ Maxx. Of course, she was wired and struggling to listen, and of course, they have super breakable stuff all over that she cannot resist picking up and handling. I finally knelt down, held her hands in mine, and was talking to her about her behavior. She looked up at me, and in a fake wobbly voice, said, "Please don't hurt me Mommy." Let's just say our shopping trip ended abruptly. We had a little talk about that later and she said, "But you hurt my feelings." Umm hmm, right...
Later as she was getting into bed, she looked at her bedside lamp and told me she was going to pray to Heavenly Father to fix the lamp (it needs a new light bulb which I've been avoiding because I feel like it's too bright for her to sleep with). I told her that was a good idea and she needed to realize that even though He
could fix the lamp, He might not, and that sometimes He uses other people to answer prayers. She asked if I would listen to her prayer and so I did. I was feeling pretty good about her understanding our little talk when she prayed that He would help me to remember to fix the lamp. After her prayer was over, she said, "Mom, just in case that didn't work, I also prayed to the Spirit of the West!" It was pretty funny. And, as a co-worker pointed out today, referencing Rango, the Spirit of the West happens to be Clint Eastwood. Um, concept lesson fail.
Little Miss has been very into having her hair be curly, and I've figured out a way to make it curly but not crazy using sponge rollers. Her pose below is typical for her when she wants her picture taken. She must have watched some crazy amounts of America's Next Top Model before she came to us-that girl knows all the poses! Sassy little thing!
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| The dog apparently wanted to be in the picture too. |
We finally got some family pictures taken recently. My mom bought a package and we went and got them taken a couple of weeks ago. We don't get back the official ones until later this week, but here is one that my mom snapped with my phone afterwards. It's not great, but it's the best one we got :)
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| August 3, 2012 |
