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From yesterday:

I want to write down a few of the happenings of this day before it's over and it doesn't seem as bad as it was.

Miraculously, Lars has slept in a crib until last night. He could climb out, he just didn't but last night he decided he wanted to sleep in the bed in the room and put up a fight so in the bed he slept. He was pretty cute and fell asleep with a book. Then when he woke up I heard him thumping down the stairs into our room and he said, "I woke up". I asked him to go to the bathroom and did all by himself. I took a moment to feel a little bit of pride for all the big kid steps he's taken recently.

Then the rest of the day happened.

We've had some fun, busy summer days and he's been tired so he fell asleep on the floor around 10:30AM and had a crazy morning nap. He woke up from this jazzed and while I was getting lunch ready he was running around excitedly and ran into my leg and bit me-hard! I yelled and then I yelled, again. Not at him but just in general, pain & frustration. He laughed. I yelled. I wanted to chase him down and bite him because I could tell he didn't get it but instead I took a moment and showed him the welt he left and tried to explain that biting is, in fact, not funny. He still didn't get it but he said "sahwee mommy".

The middle of the day was ok but there was a lot of "No's" and "I don't want to's"which begin to wear a mother down. Oh yeah and Roxcy is not only crawling but climbing and standing up against things. She is super on the move. When Lars was this age, I don't know where I was but not home because I can not keep her out of all the dirty little crevices of our unfinished house.  The tops of her feet and knees were filthy! So then I began to bemoan the state of my home.

Nap time. He is a great napper but rarely goes willingly so putting him in the crib seemed to get him in the nap zone. Well that nap zone has been broken. I read him books but there was no way he was going to stay on the bed and he climbed out of the crib in hysterics soooooooo I just left the room and told him it was quiet time and would come up later. It was quiet for a few minutes and then the banging started. I think he was running into the door perhaps. I was reminded of a story Liz & Pete have told of putting Mike in his room and him dismantling a book shelf and jamming it against the their lovely hardwood door. Lars and Mike are kindred spirits. Luckily, the door is kind of jammed so he can't get it open on his own. I went up once to let him know he wouldn't be coming down and needed to take a rest. Again, he was quiet for a few moments and the banging started again. I just let him go for an hour because I needed a break from him. Once Roxcy woke up, we went up to see him. He had taken all the clothes out of his drawers and ripped one of his books. It could have been worse. So.....the afternoon began with that lovely quiet time. 

Usually, after he naps we go out for a walk but as we got ready it started to pour outside. Lars got out the door anyway and ran to play in the puddles in the driveway. It was pouring. I was standing in the doorway with Roxcy and I told him it was too wet for us. He was hilarious because he said, "No mama. No wet. It warm." Ha! Once he was sopping wet he came in and wanted to watch a show while I got dinner ready but I told him no show since he didn't nap. I started to do dinner and put Roxcy and Lars in the living room with toys after making sure there was nothing small for her to eat but Lars broke down the gate and wouldn't stay in there and then out came little Roxcy around the corner. Lars started getting into some boxes on a shelf in the kitchen and found some screws and tools. Then all of sudden, he holds himself and says "On No" so I put Roxcy down who I am feeding avacado and grab Lars to run to the toilet. He didn't make it and wet his pants so I sat him there and told him to stay there while I ran the bath. I had maybe been gone a minute and I see Roxcy putting something in her mouth and she had gotten a little screw and nut into her mouth. Luckily, they were actually small so wound't have been terrible if she swallowed them but she HATES people poking in her mouth ( I mean, who would like it?) so I just tipped her upside down and out they came with a mouth full of avocado mush. So into the bath with her too.

So one wet himself and the other nearly ate some hardware. Onto bath time! Lars doesn't like having his hair washed but he put up an exceptional fuss this evening. In perfect tired mother fashion I gave him the choice of me rinsing the soap off his hair with a cup or threatening to get the shower head down (which he really doesn't like) so he freaked out and ran to the other end of the tub, pushing his sister down where she was splashed over with water repeatedly. She was screaming, he was screaming, and I was screaming. It was joyous. So I grabbed her up and him out and slopped onto the bathroom floor. His head was still soapy so I got a cup full of water and tipped it over his head which brought on more tears. I put her back and she exercised her master standing skills even in the slippery bath.

I think the rest of the night went fine. But I had a bit of a tired out breakdown myself on the couch. Lars came over and very sweetly asked, "What happen, Mama?", gave be  nice hug and kiss and waited until I seemed better. That made me feel less useless because he's quite sweet and empathetic, my boy. Things would not have been as bad if Mike was around but he was working hard to get an apartment ready for new tenants to move into so I was flying solo on what felt like the worst parenting day I have had yet. Lucky my kids are beautiful--no, for real.