Well, this morning started early. Really early. To be precise, it started at 4:43 am when Andy woke up. After the usual bottle preparation routine I thought I had him settled back down, but after a few short minutes he started screaming. Not a fussy little whine, but a full-throttle scream. He didn't want to be cuddled, didn't want his binky, he just wanted to scream - obviously he was in some discomfort. After throwing up and receiving a fresh diaper he still couldn't settle, so I gave him some Tylenol. After another half hour as I was getting ready for the day he settled and actually fell back asleep.
In the meantime though, Daniel had risen and wanted a hearty breakfast. Hearty. I don't know if toast and fresh fruit count as hearty, but he can have some oatmeal at daycare shortly to top him up. What he really wanted was pancakes. Sorry, not on a weekday. Definitely not at 5:30 am.
He then proceeded to open his Lego project and began assembling it. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but he wouldn't put it away when it was time to leave the house. I was so tired I didn't even think of using my new guidelines to get through the situation. Ugh. I dread to think of how I sounded as I yelled "get your coat and shoes on RIGHT NOW!!!!"
When we had all piled into the van, Alex made a gurgle. Daniel poked him in the cheek. Alex started screaming again. I felt like pulling over and getting out of the van and walking home. Instead, I asked Daniel what he had done. Of course he didn't want to tell me, he was afraid I'd get mad again. Frankly, I can't blame him. I promised not to get mad, apologised for yelling at him, told him I loved him, and we moved on.
He finally told me that he had poked Andy. I didn't yell, I didn't get cross, I didn't even say "that's not nice". I did discus different ways for him to get Andy to stop gurgling, and what his role as a big brother entails, etc. I'm hoping that I didn't wreck all the progress we've made - it's so easy to fall back into bad/lazy habits. I'm not giving up though - I will keep trying.
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