Truce?

J's been out of town this week on a business trip. Typically the first day is really rough when he travels and then the boys and I get into a decent routine. Most times, N is the one that is really thrown off since he is exceptionally attached to his daddy.

This time, J left Monday AM (said good bye to everyone so we wouldn't have the drama we did last time he left on a trip too early to say good bye in the AM), the boys had a non-normal school day in that their school was having its annual Wheel-a-Thon. I had planned to leave work early to go to it. The event started at 12:30 so I scurried over there and yet it was pouring rain as I was driving. I kept thinking I'd get a call telling me it had been cancelled - but no such luck. When I got there, I had to park quite a ways a way and walk over to the school and it was raining and I didn't have a jacket and the umbrella in my car had disappeared. Ugh. I got to the school and it was pouring and yet some of the kids were still riding their bikes, scooters, etc. around in the circle. I couldn't find the boys but finally spotted them under a tent with E, soaking wet, eating their lunch. Then it started hailing. Still the event wasn't cancelled. I was so grumpy at this point. I finally told the boys and E that we were just going to go ahead and head home. The boys took a good nap. I tried but couldn't (I'm guessing I was stilled worked up about the darn Wheel-a-Tho). We had a rough evening. The boys were pushing each other's buttons, I was yelling a lot, etc. When it finally came time for bed, they would. not. go. to sleep! I took their flashlights away. They kept talking and coming to get me to tuck them back in again. S wound up in N's bed and I made him go back. They finally went to sleep around 11PM! Ugh. I couldn't sleep that night either.

Next day, I was definitely extra cranky cause I was sooo tired. I had a very short fuse. The boys fussed cleaning up their Bionicles, so I sent them to their separate rooms, cleaned up the Bionicles and promptly put them in my room for time out (for 2 days!). I kept them separated at dinner. I'm sure they wound up in the room again for something else. At bed time, I told them they had 10 minutes and then if they weren't asleep I'd take their flashlights. After 10 minutes, I went in and they just handed me their flashlights. Then they kept talking. I yelled some more and warned them to go to sleep and let S know if he wound up in N's bed, I'd move him to the other room. Sure enough, around 10, I caught S in N's bed. I moved him to the other room. Lots of tears. He was scared and sad. I was angry. N finally went to sleep. I told S I'd move him back if he was asleep by the time I went to bed. I went in and I'm thinking he might have been pretending (I'm still not sure 100% either way). Moved him to N's room and then they were quiet. It was 10:30. Another late night for me. And, S woke up in the middle of the night crying cause of a nightmare.

Wednesday AM, when I woke the boys up before heading off to work, I told N that we had a rough night and that I was sure tonight would be a better one. N smiled, shook his head no and told me "only for Daddy". What?! I told him I'd be cranky and tired and yell a lot if things didn't improve and I could get some sleep. Did he want me to yell all the time. And he said yes. Wow, that little pep talk sure didn't work so good did it.

Wednesday afternoon, however, things started to improve. The boys got along a lot better. We played together (I'm sure that helped things) cause I decided to not cook dinner and just order pizza. We went outside and played with the neighbors (fresh air is such a great thing!) and the boys rode their bikes. We had a great dinner. One time in the afternoon, I raised my voice and S looked at me and told me he was sorry they were giving me a hard time. Wow. I'll take that. Otherwise, I didn't have to yell, raise my voice, etc. The boys got into bed and S decided voluntarily to move to the other room and have me move him back once he was asleep. GREAT! N went to sleep pretty quickly and didn't even get out of his bed. S called me a couple of times to find out why I hadn't check to see if he was asleep and move him. Finally he came out crying that he was trying so hard but he couldn't sleep there. I calmed him down, moved him back to N's room (where N was sound asleep) and then he was really quiet. That was 10. Not amazing but definitely an improvement. No peeps after that and I finally slept well.

I'm hoping we continue our trend today. Just this one more night. We all can't wait for daddy to get home.