"Grandchildren

......are the parents' reward for not killing their own kids."

I've heard this several times and had to remind myself of it this morning. I almost lost my reward already! (not really.....I didn't really consider offing a kid, but they did really push.....)

Baz is working on transitioning to his big boy bed, so bedtime was a little drawn out last night. He didn't fuss or cry, but he did have a lot of trouble actually sleeping in his new bed. So for over and hour, George and I took turns going in every 10 minutes or so to put him back in his bed and tell him to go to sleep. All in all, it wasn't as hard as it could have been, but it was up there in aggravation factor. THe end result was that he slept in his bed and didn't even wake up during the night, but he was up and at 'em at 5:30- ack!

Anya woke shortly after that, so mommy couldn't catch up with some sleep on the couch and the day began. We only had a couple of little scuffles to start with- nothing huge, but getting Anya dressed was a battle (as the routine has become). She easily picked out an outfit that matched and was weather-appropriate. The issue was her footwear. Since she had chosen a skirt, she wanted "high heels" to go with it. In Anya's book, high heels are any dressy shoe that don't have laces. Today she wanted her plastic Disney Cinderella or Aurora shoes. Nope- no way can those be worn outside the house except to Disney World. ANd the tears began. I offered her several other choices (mary janes, sandals, sneakers) but none were good enough.

Her next choice were her flower girl shoes from Sam & Emilie's wedding- 2 years ago!!! Nope again....no way her toes would make it through a day of those shoes- 2 sizes too small. After a looooong time out in Baz's room, we opened discussion again. (Meanwhile, George is tackling Baz to get him dressed- another struggle.....) SHe agreed to settle on her Princess Cowgirl boots. But no socks. OK- she really just wants to fight! I offer her 2 or 3 choices of socks (with tiny seams, which is the root of the sock issue). Neither is good enough, so the tears continue. Luckily, we started this early enough that we really weren't rushing to leave yet. She then insists on tights. Not my first choice because it's supposed to be pretty warm today AND we went down this road the other day and the tights have a worse seam than the socks!

Sure enough, after a few minutes of silence as she dons the tights and boots, the tears and sobbing start again. Now it is getting late and we've gotta go....in comes Daddy and manages to talk (threaten?) some sense into the kid and she puts on the socks I originally gave her that worked fine the other day.

Whew.....now I get the car, 2 kids, myself, 2 diaper bags, bookbag, sippy cups, waffles, etc all packed in the van and we're on our way. At least we got the tantrum over before the car ride today.....it's always fun hearing Anya crying about her issue du jour and Baz responding with "don't cry Anya", then Anya paying him back with a smack or kick so that he can join in the crying.

After dropping them off at Colleen's, I head to the office and get a call on my cell. It's George, so I figure he's calling to check on how the kids are doing. Nope....it seems that I grabbed his keychain instead of mine so I have the only key to his car. AAARGH! And of course, it's the only day that he has office hours in the morning, so he HAS to get going. Since I already had patients in the waiting room, I really couldn't leave to drive a half hour each way, so THANKFULLY, Keila was willing to make the trek for us.

The rest of the day was less eventful, but still challenging. I had to stop at AC Moore and Target on the way home and both kids mostly behaved. A small incident where Baz casually tossed a package of cranberry juice bottles into the back of the cart (where ANya was sitting) turned into 2 sobbing kids, but that subsided fairly quickly. Anya went for a bonus tantrum as we went down a toy aisle looking for kites and saw kid-sized shovels. Her love for worms and slugs immediately drew her to it, but $10 for a device that encouraged her to dig up bigger holes in the yard? No thanks....tantrum ensues..

Eventually, we did make it out of the store and home, where the kids and I played in the hot tub for a bit. I even convinced Anya that she "owed" me a bubble session for all the grief she gave me today! And now, both kids are sleeping (Baz is back in the crib for now, but I don't care as long as he sleeps ok!)...what's next?