Rough Day

Much of today was difficult.

I woke up at 4:45, and went to the track at 5:50ish.  I walked, and listened to the radio, me time.  I came home a little before 7.  Bertram was awake, so he and I ate breakfast, and he watched one cartoon.

Then I told him we were going on an adventure.  The county parks department puts on this sort of photo scavenger hunt for the summer.  I thought he and I could give it a try, especially since I want him to spend more time outside.  It was going to be pretty warm, so we headed out early, and went to Quicksilver Park.  He seemed amenable, until we set foot on the trail. Then he whined almost the whole way.  He wanted to go home.  He didn't like it.  He was too tired.  We did take some pictures.  But I practically had to drag him.  And, I actually ended up carrying him on my shoulders.  It wasn't very long, maybe .8 miles, nor was it very hilly, but he had a terrible time. So, I didn't have a great time.

On the way home he whined more.  When we got back, I sent him down the street to grandma and grandpa's house.  I cleaned the kitchen, and folded some laundry.  Then showered, and went to get him.  Somewhere around that point he said "oh damn it" for the third time that day and lost all his screen time for the rest of the day.  Then he turned on all the lights, and refused to turn them off, so I sent him to his bed.

We had the sibling class in the afternoon, across town.  So we went in that direction earlier in the afternoon to avoid fighting traffic to get there.  We went to the mall, he wanted to ride in the stroller, which was fine with me.  He didn't do too bad at the mall, I just had used up all my patience that morning.

He had been talking excitedly about the big brother class for almost a week.  When I told him it was time to go there, he started whining again.  He was tired, he wanted to go home, etc.

We drove to the Santa Clara Kaiser, and found parking without too much trouble.  He whined most of the way to the class room about not wanting to be there.

When were we in the class, he was the nightmare kid.  Wouldn't be quiet, wouldn't answer when he was spoken to, didn't follow directions well, didn't participate.  I was very close to walking out the door and talking him home.  But we stuck it out.  (After the class he didn't want to go home, but "somewhere else").

The drive home was awful.  I have no clue how people commute.  The hospital is 9 miles from our house.  It took us an hour to get home.  An hour.  I gave him a bag of Goldfish to snack on.  He dumped most of them into him lap.  We stopped at Maccas to get lemonade (hot day, I'd drank all my water, I needed something cold, and I was cranky).  I got him a small, he drank it as we drove.  Until we were about two minutes from the house, when he decided it would be better to (purposefully) trip the drink upside-down, all over the car's seat.  At that point I lost it.  I kept asking him why he did that.  And then I was crying.  We pulled in, and he went directly to time out.  Aaron cleaned out the car as best he could.  Then while he was in time out, he said oh damn it again, so I sent him to his room again.

I've been dismissing his behaviour, because he's 3, he's tired, he doesn't feel well, whatever.  But Aaron pointed out: how often is he the worst kid in the class? The answer is most of the time.  So I'm at a bit of a loss.  I felt like we'd been disciplining him adequately, but he's just been really defiant.  We'll tell him not to do something, he'll look right at us and do it.  There is an immediate consequence, but it doesn't seem to matter.  There is another class called Parenting the Spirited Child (or something like that), so we'll sign up for that, and hope to get some direction.

Bertram's Awful, No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day.

It started at 4am.  He started to cry.  I let him go for a while, but he didn't go back to sleep.  I looked closer at the monitor, and could see he was soaked.  Aaron and I went in, and he was super wet from chest to toe, and his bed (and favourite toy, Charlie Bear) were soaked as well.  We changed everything out, and he went back to sleep fairly quickly.  He woke up next around 8, and was not too unhappy, but was very poopy.  I got him cleaned up, fed, and then we went out the door to the DMV.  (I told him it was almost time to go, and he dragged my purse over to me, and said "go!").

We were at the DMV for about 50 minutes, fairly short, by DMV standards, but fairly long by 18 month-old standards.  He lost his patience pretty quickly, and kept saying "go" and "slide".  I kept reassuring him, not that it helped.  He was really starting to melt towards the end.

We got in the car, and headed to Willow Street Park.  He was really excited when we got there.  He played on the different things, and then he wanted to swing.  So I pushed him.  (And practically gave him whiplash by stopping the swing to keep him from crashing into a wayward kid(way to go attentive parents)). And he swung for 10-15 minutes, and wanted to keep swinging, but I was getting dizzy from watching him.  So I told him we had to let other kids have a turn (it's true, all the swings were being used).  And when I got him out, he want into full tantrum mode, and threw himself to the ground.  (Scraping his forehead in the process).  He calmed down and bit, and climbed up the equipment.  Wayward kid (probably about 1 year old) and his mom were on there too.  And like a flash Wayward kid had a fistful of Bertie's hair.  I pinned Bertie down, and Wayward kid's mom worked on loosening his kung-fu grip.  By that time, Bertie was in full hysterics and it was time to go.  He'd calm down, then make a pulling his hair motion and start crying all over again.  (That continued the whole way home).

I changed him, and laid him down, He didn't sleep, he'd wet through again.  I changed him, and laid him down again, and he finally slept.  (And so did I).

He was unhappy when he woke up.  Still upset about the hair pulling incident (continuing the hair pulling motion, and pouting), and he was trying to tell me something I wasn't understanding, which upset him further, compounded by the fact that I was offering him yogurt that he didn't want.  Eventually, he was composed, and we went to the grocery store.  Once we were there, he decided he was staving.  I got him some Hawaiian rolls, and he was fairly happy.

When we got home, he was good for a bit.  He demanded to go again, so he and I walked around the block.  He was fairly happy with that and once daddy came home.

His last canine tooth is coming in, so that doesn't help things.  But he was ok in the evening, and went to sleep fairly quickly.

Grumble, grumble

I woke up at my usual 5:30, and stayed snuggled in bed for a while.  I got up to turn on the heat (we set it for 60 overnight).  The thermostat said it was 56!  So I played with it a little, and nothing happened.  Aaron played with it, and managed to make cold air come out.  Aaron said he'd talk to his folks when it was a little later.  After getting dressed in the freezing cold house, I walked to the kitchen, and stepped in a huge puddle of pee, in my sock feet.  ...  I then had to change my socks, and pants (again in the freezing house).  Aaron cleaned up the pee for me, while I went off on a swearing jag.

I went to leave for work, and my windshield was completely iced over.  (It was 27 degrees out then).  I sat in the car, and waited for it to defrost enough for me to drive.  I don't have an ice scrapper anymore, I threw that away when we moved out of Utah.  (Also, I realize it's much colder in other parts of the country, but I live in California for goodness sake!)

Work was fine (and warm).

Aaron got a space heater from his folks, and put both dogs in their sweaters, an closed them in the back to let them warm up.  Apparently, the heat guy came sometime around mid day, and left to get a part (he left his ladder here).  But that was well over 4 hours ago, and it's currently 53 and dropping.  I have the little space heater going, but it's not helping.

I'm just sitting on the couch with Zelda on one side, Moss on the other, and Yoie barking her head off in the other room.  I'm still completely bundled up, but cold.  Aaron was supposed to be home around 5, but isn't.  I'm too hormonal to deal with this right now.

Crummy day.

Mood swings and back pain and weight gain.  Oh my!

I had a 24 week prenatal visit this morning.  I found out I've gained about 28 lbs so far!  I always told myself I would not be one of those ladies who let themselves go.  I wouldn't give into craving, and I'd exercise.  Well, I didn't give into a lot of cravings, but I've certainly been eating.  I haven't been exercising nearly enough.  But I can't believe I'm only a little more than half way there, and I've gained all the weight I'm supposed to gain.  Grr.  Plus I'm worried about gestational diabetes.

My back has been bothering me since about 14 or 15 weeks.  Today it's been killing me.  Nothing seems to help much, except contorting myself into odd positions, but I can't stay in them forever.

On the way home, I went to the grocery store to get some healthier food.  I bought two dozen eggs, because I planned to make some hard-boiled eggs to have to breakfast/snacks.  I got some fruit and veg and yogurt.  I got home and took some eggs out to boil.  The first one was broken.  The next one was also broken.  In fast, all but 2 of the eggs were broken.  (They looked fine from the top, but were all broken on the bottom).  The other dozen was completely fine.  So I boiled those, and left the broken dozen on the counter for Aaron to take back.

Then I started to prep the Tofurky.  We were eating dinner at Aaron's folks house, but I wanted to have lunch for tomorrow.  So I chopped up all the vegetables and got everything ready.  Then I had to get the Tofurky out of it's plastic wrapper, and managed to slice my thumb, because I was holding the knife backwards! Ugh.

Then I had a huge sobbing breakdown.  Somehow Aaron convinced me to calm down and he took the eggs back and exchanged them.

I'm still feeling grouchy and sad (and in pain), but I'm not falling apart.

I should count my blessings.  I have a healthy baby, who's growing well.  A nice home, a soft bed, and a great hubby.