A Beautiful Brood : Highs and Lows

So you know that guy who is kind of gross and sweaty all the time, and a total nerd, but if you talk to him is just a sweet and caring person??

Meet Jack.

He is that guy in 4 year old form.

This was taken last night; found him all tucked in with his 36in Darth. Kids pick the weirdest things to grow attached to. On the flip side, the T-rex must be removed each night before we leave his room. He doesn't want it given away though. In fact, he wants to "be a t-rex" when he grows up.

My kids aim high.

Super fun night out last night with my girl Hallie, and some new friends. My biggest take away?? Minivans are not excellent in city parking garages. Talk about sweating.

Today started in a deep dark horrible place for an unknown reason. Repeat offender Luciana woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and whew can that girl be a bag of tricks. In today's fit of rage she told me my "name should be diaper," and "maybe I should get some new clothes".

Awesome.

Kids rock.

This was at about 730 this morning.

And 7:31..

Cleary, we had offended.

At this point I went into Dan's office. Had a good cry as I ignored my five year old I feel I have no idea how to parent successfully, and he came out and took over.

Things eventually settled, she responds much better to him. But not before Dan calmly said every time she said or did a nasty thing something got taken away.

To which she swatted him with her crazy straw.

He took said object and threw it away. Again, always remaining calm. This is key to these moments with her. But oh my goodness. Heartbreak is lucyland. I always hate those consequences that finally hit home with them, but you know it hurts. That's a hard mama moment.

Anyways, through gritted teeth and tearful eyes she proclaimed, "that was the LAST. STRAW."!!

Instantly both parents in the room break eye contact and bite their lips. Lucy has no understanding of the irony behind her words, but man, it's funny. Funnier now looking back on it.

With all of this said, please know that we love her. We are so thankful that she is hard headed and has spunk and is so clearly a leader. It's the love we have for her that makes it so overwhelming at times to parent her. We want to teach her how to channel her strengths and become the best version of her. But, there are just bad days. Days where I am so shocked at what comes out of her mouth I just don't know how to handle it.

Removal of a few more things (including a scheduled playdate- ugh) and a nice long visit with her room greatly improved things. Once she'd calmed down I was able to have a nice gentle talk with her and things were better.

At this point, nobody had even eaten breakfast. Jack was bellowing from the living room that death was near, and he was "just going to make some iced tea".

Only the highest nutritional priorities for Jack.

That was my queue to wrap things up with Lucy and tend to the others. Three kids spreads a mama thin sometimes.

Half way through breakfast Violet interrupts with a ridiculous grunt fest. You know what that means.

Guess we should lay off the bananas.

Next sweet oldest nugget gets some piano time in.

Let's be honest, she's definitely no Beethoven, and I'd most highly recommend an electric piano. Headphones are a godsend.

Sisterly bonding happened for what may be the first time ever.

And then I found the craft Lucy had made earlier. She glued a bunch of trinkets from an event she went to to a piece of paper.

...And also glued the paper to the counter.

After we dropped that silly crafter off at school we had some time to kill. We walked a bit in the sunshine. Tiny nugget learning her new independent world of walking vs being carried.

They're cuties, right??!

Next we did a favorite game. We load up in the car and take turns deciding which direction to go at each intersection. Jack being the only verbal kiddo had full reign.

Left it is!!

This unforeseen event happened next-

Now comes the decision..go home and risk "the transfer" or just keep driving.

Drive it is!!!

It was worth it!

Drove for the entire afternoon, and quite enjoyed myself. The after school chunk of day was certainly better than the morning. Couple icy patches, but all resolved quickly. Jack and Violet bonded.