Out of Practice

I used to be very good at taking notes during the day of things my children would say or do that would make for interesting writing when I sat down at the computer at night to write.   I used to be diligent at making sure I had things to put here.  Lately, I've felt a little like that chicken who had her head cut off and was running around, not sure what to do because, well, she'd lost her head. 

Who came up with that saying?  It's a terrible a thing for a child to have to imagine.   It was confusing when I was young, what that might mean, so my parents explained it to me.   That only made the mental image more horrifying.   Whether it's true or not, about the chicken carrying on even without a head, the mental image is enough, thank you very much, I don't need to know more. 

So, what did my children do today?  After my daughter's fit from yesterday, she came downstairs all sweetness and light, centered again after having some time in her room to reflect.   She is having a very hard time with tone, barking at us and getting angry when we don't snap to and cater to her every whim.  I don't think we ever catered to her every whim, so I'm not sure how she thinks being commanding with us is going to work, but she hasn't given up trying—at least for now. 

Perhaps it's part of a growth phase.  Her brother, possibly not without coincidence, seemed to be similar in his attitude towards us close to a year ago.   It also got him nowhere and now he seems to have mellowed. Hopefully, my daughter will get the memo that being rude and commanding doesn't work to her advantage.   If she would only ask politely without whining or going into full martyr mode, I think she'd be surprised at the results. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been coming downstairs every morning and finding me so he can give me a hug.  A real hug, like he actually wants to hug me.  Even as I write this I have a confused look on my face because I don't know what caused the change over the child who hated anything even close to a hug.   But it's nice.   I tell him how much it means to me. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My children are at Nana and Papa's house tonight.  My daughter didn't want to go initially because sometimes she needs to be alone to recharge, and last time we made a mistake and sent her with a dead iPad and she didn't have anything to listen to.   Tonight, she has an iPad with a new audiobook.   I'm looking forward to when she can read fully contracted braille more easily.  That will open up the entire world of books to her and I think she's going to love reading.