Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2009-03-11 07:33:54 (UTC)

A War Of Wills

I couldn't go to the gym today because Keenan has come
down with a little bug. Nothing major, just a slight
fever, a little irritability and a runny nose. All he
wanted to do was sleep and sleep he did. He slept
peacefully in his swing for a solid 4 hours. Something he
couldn't have done at child watch. Instead of being upset
about losing a day at the gym (which I was for a minute,
but I got over it) I decided to take advantage of an
uninterrupted day at home. I seized the day! I haven't had
a full day at home in over two weeks. So, I put on my yoga
pants and Nike cross trainers and headed downstairs!

For the past week I've been having a war of wills with
Annie. This house is twice as large as the condo we used
to live in and the way it's set up is completely bazaar.
The communal living quarters are upstairs, plus the master
bedroom. Downstairs is where the kids' rooms, the play
room, their bathroom, the laundry room and the cat room
are. Annie's job was to keep her bedroom, bathroom and the
playroom picked up, but that has NEVER happened. I thought
maybe going on strike and refusing to clean it would work.
Nope. It got so bad I couldn't even get down the stairs.
So then I tried throwing away whatever she left on the
floor (or at the very least hiding it for awhile. Gap
jeans are not cheap and that's really all that fits her
well). That made no difference. She had practically
nothing in her room and it didn't bother her one bit. This
past week I grounded her and wouldn't let her go outside.
Her friends beating on my door wanting her to come out was
so constant that I had to post a sign on the front door
letting them know that Annie wasn't available. She even
missed a birthday party. Did that make a difference? Nope.

To make a long story short, Annie won the war. I couldn't
take it anymore. I needed to do laundry and there was no
way I was trudging through the disaster zone of a
downstairs to get to the laundry room. I spent two hours
sorting through her junk, bagging it and getting rid of
her old or too small clothes. I was in the process of
picking up the playroom when she got home from school. She
walked into her room, threw her backpack and jacket ON THE
FLOOR and walked out! No "thanks mom" or anything. She
just plopped down in front of the TV like nothing was
different. I had to do some deep breathing, because I
nearly lost it on her. She's still grounded. It's the only
leverage I've got over her. That and Girl Scouts, but
that's good for her and I can't bring myself to take that
away. I can already foresee the problems we're going to
have in a few years. I'm the queen of this castle, but
she's trying to dethrone me!

I've got two loads of laundry left and I'm done. I
shouldn't stay up to finish, but I know I will. I should
have started earlier today, but I'm a night owl and always
do my best work in the middle of the night :) Since I was
putting clothes away, I just went ahead and went through
all of the children's clothing and got rid of all the
small or worn out stuff. Keenan's was the hardest. He's
gotten so big that he doesn't fit into infant sizes (or
styles) anymore and all of his cute onesies and layettes
had to be packed away. Ouch. It hurt :( Now he's wearing
actual pajamas and regular big-boy clothes (no more cute
footed pants or Classic Pooh outfits). I don't like it,
not one bit. I need to move him to the nursery, but I'm
not ready. He's ready and the nursery is ready, but mommy
isn't. We transitioned Kiki from the bassinet in our room
to the crib in Annie's room when she was a little over 6
months old. Keenan will be 9 months old on the 15th and
has been consistently sleeping through the night since
just under 3 months. It's time. For some reason with Jason
being gone I can't bring myself to do it. At least with
Keenan in the room with me I'm not totally alone. Once
he's feeling better I should just do it. I'll get over it.
I can't keep him an infant forever. I have to let him grow
up.

I feel like taking a bath. Nice and hot with lots of
bubbles :) I've got white tea scented milk bath that's
just waiting to be cracked open. My book, a hot bath and
maybe a big glass of iced tea. Ahhhh... That's exactly
what I need. Ciao.




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