Cranky Days
Cranky days...everyone has them. Yesterday was our cranky day. My day started out easy enough: Get up, bathe Daniel, breakfast, get ready, playtime. Then I made the day altering decision. Let's go out. Daniel's looking pretty shaggy lately, so I figured today would be a great day to get his haircut. Everything was beautiful about the haircut. It was the decision afterwards that started the fabric of my day to unravel.
"Let's go out to eat!" I enthusiatically carry Daniel across the parking lot to Panda Express (yum!). He just as enthusiatically begins to devour his kids meal. However, this is a child the is still mastering using utensils. I try to stem the tide of flowing rice by "assisting" him, and he tries to stop me from assisting him. Humph. Strong willed child...where'd that come from??? He decides he's finished before I can eat enough of my meal to call it good. I was hoping...praying...that he would just decide to sit for 3 or 4 minutes. Wrong. I wind up with him in my lap, crying and borderline screaming because he can't get down to terrorize the other patrons. Strike 1.
We leave the restaurant and trek back to the car. He's happy again because we're actually moving. We get to the car and all seems well as I strap him in. I get in and attempt to start the car. Yes, I said attempt. Strike 2. The car won't start. I happen to have the most finicky car around. I never know if it will start while I'm out (it's kind enough to always start at home... just not while I'm out). I get out and wiggle the battery cable and it's done the trick. Car starts and we go home. Now I'm cranky.
Once home it's time for naps. Daniel has a complete meltdown when I put him down for his nap. This has been the pattern for the past 3 days. If this keeps up I might just lose my mind. He finally settles down to a nap about 15 minutes later. I figure I'll have a good 2 hours of "me" time. Strike 3. He wakes up after 40 minutes. Now Daniel is REALLY cranky because he hasn't had enough of a nap. I'm cranky because I haven't had any time to get anything done (I had planned on doing a bunch of holiday baking while he was asleep... and cleaning the kitchen while I was at it).
You'd think I'm at my limit with three strikes, right? In a perfect world that would be correct. In my world, it's just a preview of what's to come. Erwin gets off of work at 3:30. I'm figuring he'll be home by 4 at the latest (since he only works 10 minutes from the house). At 4:15 I call to make sure he isn't lost. Nope. Not lost. Just detained. He offers to pick up some milk, which I'm ok with. He comes in at about 4:40. I warn him when he walks in that I need to go out.
"Why?"
"I just do. I need to get out of here for a little while."
Usually my dear husband would get a clue and realize I've had a bad day and send me off to clear my head. Strike 4. Not today. He needs to go back out to Home Depot. He doesn't leave for 30 minutes...he just sits instead. He finally leaves and then I get a call about him picking up gifts at church to deliver. No problem. He's already out, so I'll let him know. I call him and he tells me he wants to come home first. Grrr. OK. He gets home and fixes the door. I try to gently encourage him to go get the gifts so he can come home so I can go out. Hint #2, strike 5.
He decides to heat up some leftovers and eat. Daniel is still driving me batty, getting crankier by the minute and not listening to anyone (and winding up in timeout about 900 times). He finally leaves AFTER 8 PM. By this time I'm in tears. Now he feels bad, but still doesn't get it.
He comes back at 8:53, gifts delivered (strike 6. It could have been done by 5:30 or 6). I'm still crying. Daniel's still running around. He asks me again what's wrong. I reminded him it's been a really crappy day and I just really needed to get out of the house for a little while, but it's too late now. I'm really ticked at this point. Fortunately he sees the need to be the one to put Daniel to bed.
I finally give up and go to bed. Cranky days can't last forever, right? A good night's sleep and I'll be right as rain, or so I pray. Today I woke up with a much better perspective, and I've arranged for a sitter to come so I can get out for a couple hours today.
"Let's go out to eat!" I enthusiatically carry Daniel across the parking lot to Panda Express (yum!). He just as enthusiatically begins to devour his kids meal. However, this is a child the is still mastering using utensils. I try to stem the tide of flowing rice by "assisting" him, and he tries to stop me from assisting him. Humph. Strong willed child...where'd that come from??? He decides he's finished before I can eat enough of my meal to call it good. I was hoping...praying...that he would just decide to sit for 3 or 4 minutes. Wrong. I wind up with him in my lap, crying and borderline screaming because he can't get down to terrorize the other patrons. Strike 1.
We leave the restaurant and trek back to the car. He's happy again because we're actually moving. We get to the car and all seems well as I strap him in. I get in and attempt to start the car. Yes, I said attempt. Strike 2. The car won't start. I happen to have the most finicky car around. I never know if it will start while I'm out (it's kind enough to always start at home... just not while I'm out). I get out and wiggle the battery cable and it's done the trick. Car starts and we go home. Now I'm cranky.
Once home it's time for naps. Daniel has a complete meltdown when I put him down for his nap. This has been the pattern for the past 3 days. If this keeps up I might just lose my mind. He finally settles down to a nap about 15 minutes later. I figure I'll have a good 2 hours of "me" time. Strike 3. He wakes up after 40 minutes. Now Daniel is REALLY cranky because he hasn't had enough of a nap. I'm cranky because I haven't had any time to get anything done (I had planned on doing a bunch of holiday baking while he was asleep... and cleaning the kitchen while I was at it).
You'd think I'm at my limit with three strikes, right? In a perfect world that would be correct. In my world, it's just a preview of what's to come. Erwin gets off of work at 3:30. I'm figuring he'll be home by 4 at the latest (since he only works 10 minutes from the house). At 4:15 I call to make sure he isn't lost. Nope. Not lost. Just detained. He offers to pick up some milk, which I'm ok with. He comes in at about 4:40. I warn him when he walks in that I need to go out.
"Why?"
"I just do. I need to get out of here for a little while."
Usually my dear husband would get a clue and realize I've had a bad day and send me off to clear my head. Strike 4. Not today. He needs to go back out to Home Depot. He doesn't leave for 30 minutes...he just sits instead. He finally leaves and then I get a call about him picking up gifts at church to deliver. No problem. He's already out, so I'll let him know. I call him and he tells me he wants to come home first. Grrr. OK. He gets home and fixes the door. I try to gently encourage him to go get the gifts so he can come home so I can go out. Hint #2, strike 5.
He decides to heat up some leftovers and eat. Daniel is still driving me batty, getting crankier by the minute and not listening to anyone (and winding up in timeout about 900 times). He finally leaves AFTER 8 PM. By this time I'm in tears. Now he feels bad, but still doesn't get it.
He comes back at 8:53, gifts delivered (strike 6. It could have been done by 5:30 or 6). I'm still crying. Daniel's still running around. He asks me again what's wrong. I reminded him it's been a really crappy day and I just really needed to get out of the house for a little while, but it's too late now. I'm really ticked at this point. Fortunately he sees the need to be the one to put Daniel to bed.
I finally give up and go to bed. Cranky days can't last forever, right? A good night's sleep and I'll be right as rain, or so I pray. Today I woke up with a much better perspective, and I've arranged for a sitter to come so I can get out for a couple hours today.
posted by Elizabeth at
9:20 AM
1 Comments:
I understand your pain. I have a large club you can borrow to hit your husband over the head with. It's days like that when I praise the Baby Einstein videos. 9 out of 10 times, it helps occupy him so I can have 30 minutes to do whatever.
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Anonymous, at 1:21 PM
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