If you will humour me with a "vent" post today, I promise that I will try my absolute hardest to produce something more positive the next time I write. Pinky swear? I'll get it all out of my system today and the next blog post will be all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Thanks.
Today I did not shine as a mother of three. I'm not being too hard on myself. I'm not into self-flagellation or self-loathing. Honestly. Today I just plain didn't have the necessary skills to keep it together.
We've been hitting the pool every morning for lessons. While this looks really good on paper and in theory, is the BEST way to see any progress with swimming skills, it involves a lot of busy mornings and repetitive hours at the pool for all of us. I can pack snacks, diversions, surprises- but sometimes this is not enough. Today nobody really wanted to swim. We missed Monday already due to a flu bug in the house, so I was pretty adamant about not throwing away any more of our money on missed lessons. The kids had other plans.
Jack chose this morning to stage his own "coup d'etat" if you will. He threw a tantrum. He threw pencils. He threw trucks. On my hardwood. Sigh. (As an aside here, the term "hard-wood" is somewhat of a misnomer because that stuff sure dents up a lot easier than it should!!!). Once he had gotten his message across, it was Sydney's turn. She threw a tantrum. Her version involved throwing all of her clothes around her room and then promptly throwing herself on to her bed without any clothes on. I waited this one out. Tried to be patient. Eventually she came around and we loaded up the van. I know what you're thinking...yes, she did put clothes back on!!! We're not that crazy around here!
By this time we're going to be late. We tear out of here like a bat out of hell, slingshot through the new roundabout...we're making record time! Yet, everyone is still yelling. I mean YELLING!!! So, I tried an old trick that I learned from my dad. I tuned them out by turning up the volume on the car radio. I cranked that puppy just loud enough to drown out the screeching. I'm feeling overwhelmed and desperate at this time (and disappointed too because I know I cannot possible drive this mini-van of terror through the drive-thru at Starbucks along the way for more caffeine). The song lyrics I pick out in the midst of this noise and chaos are No Doubt singing "Get, get in line and settle down". Suddenly this is all so comical to me that I start laughing. And then Ava's yelling at me for laughing. Because she thinks I'm laughing AT HER!!! Hilarious, I know.
We made it to the pool in time. The kids had their lessons. Everything turned out about as good as it could have given the circumstances. No one drowned. I think I might have caught them smiling at one point. Maybe tomorrow they will be more excited about this outing? Just a few more days to go. And then one more week until school starts. I think I can hold it together until then. Until that day, I will let No Doubt sing to me and let the lyrics help me focus and be strong:
"I'm a rough and tough, i'm a rough and tough
And nothing's gonna knock this girl down"
Did you hear that sweet children of mine? Nothing's gonna knock your mom down! Now get in line and settle down!!!
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