The Various Ways They Are Trying to Make Me Crazy

1. For the past few nights, Jemma has woken up approximately three hours after we put her to bed (so, between 10:00 and 11:00 - right as I'm going to sleep) to scream, "Momma! Mommeeee! Momma! Mom! Mommeee!" for fifteen to twenty minutes. The first night, I went sprinting in there, thinking something was seriously wrong. I scooped her out of her crib, held her in the rocking chair, and tried to figure out what could be wrong while soothing her. She pulled away from me and began happily, energetically poking various areas of my face. "Book?" she asked. I think she just wants to play, and I'm having no part of it. So at bedtime, I explain to her that Mommy and Daddy aren't coming in until morning, everyone is going night-night, etc. She crumples her little face up until I can hardly stand it, then goes immediately to sleep when I turn out the light. The neurotic mother part of my brain, however, is always wondering . . . does she have an ear infection? Is there something really wrong with her?

2. Annie is having a very, very hard time listening to anything we tell her (disciplinary or just regular directions) on the first time. Or the second, or even, often, the third. I am really losing my patience with it and have been making more of a concerted effort to warn her once, then provide a consequence if she doesn't listen instead of repeating the instruction over and over. Today I had asked her several times to wash her hands before lunch and was walking toward her to physically take her to the bathroom myself when she stomped toward me in the hallway, pointed her finger at me, and yelled, "Mom! I'm going to PUT you in a HOLE!" Um, what?

3. Our week up north last week was, understandably, filled with an uncommon amount of treats, most given by the grandparents. Annie and Jemma now follow me around the kitchen for 80% of their day, asking for things that I am definitely not going to give them. Annie, particularly, feels that she could live for weeks on a completely nutritionless brand of fruit snacks called "Gushers." Also this week, I discovered that my children, who reject 95% of the various normal, healthy food I put in front of them on a daily basis, will eagerly eat A CORN DOG and Spaghettios. Since these are both on my list of Foods I Do Not Eat Under Any Circumstance, I feel that I have somehow failed as a mother.

Other than going a little crazy, it's been a great week. Annie started a mini dance class (three weeks only for the summer) with her beloved Miss Amy, we spent some time at the pool and I managed both girls there alone, we had the Pellow family over for dinner, got caught up with the neighborhood, took a couple good nighttime runs, had a picnic with Heidi and Jonathan, and I escaped to Holland for a haircut, too. Now, we're gearing up for tomorrow's neighborhood Annual Pulled Pork-Off and keeping our fingers crossed for good weather!