Yes, I did. This morning, Jose left for work. Yes, on a Saturday. Which is abnormal for us, because the normal work week is Monday through Friday, but because of the holiday, his employer would only allow them to have the Friday of Thanksgiving off if they worked today. So, it was just me and the kiddos to fend for ourselves.
I did what any parent would do, invited other kids over to play. Four kids are better than two because they entertain each other, right? Hmm...my kids were atrocious. I am certain that their primary objective today was to teach the two little girls how NOT to behave.
Shortly after 'Bria and 'Nessa arrived, we had lunch. An easy, Carla kinda lunch: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, chips and dip, and leftover green beans. Juice to drink. Isa did her fake gagging thing when she ate the first green bean, demanding to know how I made them taste so awful. Teo just threw things on the floor: his spoon, his sippy cup, chips, green beans.
Afterwards, I asked if they all wanted to go lay in Isa's room and watch Toy Story. All four kids said yes. So, I followed them up, made sure they were all situated. Four lil' people, sitting on her bed, cups of dessert (cereal puffs) in hand with sippy cups (except Isa had a real cup). Within five minutes, I had made at least ten trips to the steps for intervals of kids "needing" me. About ten minutes after the movie started, I had them coming downstairs. Every time I sent one up, two came down. So, they didn't watch Toy Story.
Instead, I put on Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakel. And I put Teo in his room for a nap. It was around noon. Each of the girls needed a toy to lay/sit with. Each time I gave one a toy that they requested, the others wanted it. They had a nice time trading the Barbie, the baby doll, and the stuffed duck. Then, Isa wanted to brush my hair. So they took turns brushing my hair. Teo refused to sleep. After about the tenth time of yelling up the stairs, "Teo, go to bed!," the girls had it figured out. Every time they heard footsteps upstairs, I had a chorus of lil' ladies screaming, "Teo, go to bed!" It was kinda cute...until Teo slammed the door behind himself, consequently locking himself out of his room. So, when the chorus of "Teo, go to bed!" rang out, he burst into tears because he couldn't even get into his bedroom. I was in the midst of having salon style makeover, so I sent Isa up to help him. All I heard was her bossing and yelling at him in the hallway. She got a timeout.
He still refused to sleep. No one cared about Alvin, except me, which is awful because I have seen the movie approximately 4,207 times. By that time, Jose returned home. While Isa was having a breakdown and in trouble. While Teo crept down the stairs and screamed, "NOO!" every time you said, "Teo, go to bed." And while the two children who were not my biological offsprings behaved like angels.
Jose got Teo to bed. And he never came back downstairs. After about a half hour, I went to find him. He was in the rocker in Teo's room. Red-eyed. But he swore that he wasn't sleeping. He came downstairs to appease me.
The girls decided to play blocks, which was fine, until one knocked over Isa's tower on accident and a block went flying. Isa went to timeout. She adamently declared that it was an accident. The block accidently left her hand as she swung it overhandedly and nearly missed 'Bria's head. Fortunately, it was a foam block. Either way, Isa was sent to her room.
After the screaming and stomping and hooting and hollering settled slightly, I went to talk to her. I told her she could only come downstairs knowing that after the girls left, she had to go to her room and lie down. So, she returned downstairs until the girls got picked up, which wasn't long afterwards. When they were gone, I told her she had to clean up and go have "quiet time" which is code for go lay down, watch a movie, don't play with anything, and hopefully you will fall asleep time. She did every possible distraction: use the bathroom, needing a drink, puppy dog eying daddy, cuddling, crying, falling down and hurting herself. Finally, she went upstairs. For about five minutes.
This only takes us to about 2:30 PM. By 5:00 PM, I was in tears. It was just one of those kinda days. The evening calmed down after they pushed me to crying. I believe Isa began to feel guilty and Jose realized that he was being a jerk and Teo was just being Teo...we went to dinner, did our grocery shopping for the week, and returned home. Put the kids to bed, unpacked groceries, and watched a movie. I finished up a PainTin that will be sold to its new owner tomorrow (it was the third in a set of three) and now, I'm off to bed myself.
Mommy needed a nap today too. Only, Mommy never got one.
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