Battle of Will

Yesterday was not pleasant. The Husband got home very, very late. Hours after the kids had gone to bed. At the end of the day, I regaled The Husband with the tales of my day. (first you should be aware that the twins have been on a hunger strike for weeks now) Squirt didn't want to finish her sandwich. Or even touch any part of her lunch. Bunny ate all of hers and so I gave her "dessert." (cubed cantaloupe) Squirt screamed and yelled- demanding she also get dessert. I decided to choose my battles. I'm a fan of picking your battles. I wanted Squirt to eat, I also didn't want to start a huge issue before naptime. I need naptime. So I gave in and gave her some fruit.

It is at this point that The Husband pointed out what a pushover I was.

I am so not a pushover! ... Right? So I demanded he tell me how he would have handled the situation. The Husband does not pick his battles. Everything gets a time out. Weekends tend to be really long... and full of discipline. So I decided to prove The Husband wrong.

I knew Squirt wasn't going to eat all of her chicken nuggets. I did not expect her to refuse to eat one bite. But that's how she was. They were both being seriously obstinate and ornery today. And I got a call that The Husband would again, be late.

So I put the "bad cop" routine to the test. Bunny got applesauce after lunch. Squirt did not. She would not eat any of the tasty lunch placed before her. So I started a timer. After the beep! beep! it was to be naptime. If she wasn't finished before then, no applesauce would be had.

That's when The Squirt really started with the theatrics. Standing up in her chair, almost tipping herself over. Thrashing around and screaming in a pretty high decibel range. It hurt my ears.

The timer went off, I wrangled her upstairs, into her bed, and shut the door. I could tell naptime was going to be a beast. And it was. But Squirt didn't hold out as long as I had predicted. Within the hour she was asking to be tucked in, and took a nap. Dang Husband. Being right.

*** Now is the time to tell you I wrote this upper part yesterday. I didn't finish. It seemed so whiny. And I was sure the girls were going to turn over a new leaf after naps, or at least the next day. No. It got worse, so I am continuing the whiny naughty children rant ***

Being the wonderful mother I am, I decided to take them somewhere where their eyes would gloss over in joy after naps. Not my favorite place in the world, but theirs. Cici's, a super-cheap slightly inedible pizza buffet. The girls love that place. They LOVE it. They eat multiple slices of pizza and a plate full of salad. They are always huge eaters at Cici's. I assumed a belly full of cheap pizza was better than an empty one!

Well, no. It was disaster. Bunny has cemented her newly found fear of...  chairs. CHAIRS, people! SHE'S SCARED OF CHAIRS! She stands during a movie rather than risk sitting on the theater seats that fold up. Her chair at Cici's was slightly, almost un-noticeably wobbly, and deemed unsafe... by The Bunny. I took her food away and demanded she sit down. No. She just cried and fussed the whole time- standing. Begging for her "matoes and mac and cheese pizza."

I wanted to die.

The rest of the night proceeded in the same fashion- continual meltdowns. I was going BER. SERK. Completely berserk. So I slept in this morning. I refused to get out of bed when the girls woke up this morning. I waited. And I waited. The Husband got the picture. He was on his own.

Then I heard it. (from upstairs in my cozy bed) The shrieks of the disobedient. It was happening all over again. Squirt refused to eat her cereal, so Husband refused to let her watch Curious George. He put her in timeout. Still not willing to eat. He had to put her upstairs in her bed for 15 minutes of wailing before she'd agree to come downstairs and eat one bite. I am on the computer now- I'm not looking back. I'm pretty sure she has stuck to just eating that one bite. (but The Husband has migrated upstairs to get ready for work) It's all my problem once again.

Why are my children trying to torture me? Why? Why can't I have ONE tantrum free day?