Porridge and Patience

Andrew's not online, so I can't chat to him...but I can complain here...and I will...because, YIKES, Rachel is driving me nuts. Even though she "doesn't nap time," I think she will have to today.

We just finished reading The Magic Porridge Pot. As soon as I closed the book Rachel crumpled onto the floor and started wailing, "I eat porridge...so bad! I eat porridge...so bad!"

Have I mentioned she leaves out verbs a lot. Either the main verb or the auxiliary verb--apparently it doesn't matter which, she just leaves out verbs.

"You want to eat porridge, so bad?" I asked.

She climbed back onto my lap to snuggle. "Yeah...I eat porridge, so bad!" she wailed.

I told her about how oatmeal is porridge and so that's what I would be making if I were to make porridge.

"No not oatmeal! Porridge!"

I told her she could call it porridge, but it would still just end up being what she formerly knew as oatmeal. She was okay with that answer.

We went into the kitchen and I put some water in the water-boiler. While I did that I sang Pease Porridge Hot. That was a mistake because it sent Rachel into a tizzy again. She threw herself on the floor screaming,

"No not make peas! I don't peas! I eat porridge...so bad!"

By now the water has had more than ample time to boil and I'm sitting here typing about how frustrating being Rachel's mother has been for me the past few days while "taking deep, cleansing breaths" and trying to ignore her.

She's playing nicely (finally) and insisting that she's "Soooo happy!" every few seconds, even though she is still on the verge of crying.

She always insists she's happy when she's threatened with nap time. I think she'll probably end up having a nap after we eat our non-pease porridge, anyway, because I don't think I can handle one more fit today. I just can't. I have been dealing with fits every 5 minutes for the past several days and I'm going crazy. I need some more patience.

What's that saying? Grant me patience, but make it snappy!