This has been the summer of tantrums—tantrums specifically directed at Andrew. When he came home from Ghana and it became obvious to the girls that he wasn't going anywhere they got a little antsy. Andrew was home five days a week, going into work at Quiet Way on Tuesdays and BYU on Wednesdays. Other than that he worked from home—long hours from home, but home nonetheless—and the girls weren't used to having him around so much.
Rachel became quite antagonistic towards him, saying things like, "I wish you'd go back to Ghana and never come back!" and "Get out of our family!" and things like that. She stopped asking for him to tuck her in at night and would instead request that I ask him not to come in to say goodnight at all. I could give more examples of her meanness, but I won't. In short I'll say that she was breaking his heart.
He went back to school full time this week, which is kind of lame since classes don't start until next week, but he's a Sherpa (peer tutor) for the newbies in the program and was helping with orientation. He also taught some excel classes and took some others. He had several meetings for his position on the MPAA student council thing as well as with individual professors. He presented at the staff and faculty retreat and has done a whole bunch of random stuff. In short I'll say that he has been pulling eleven to twelve hour days—he leaves the house at 7:30 in the morning and gets home at 6:30 or 7:30 at night.
Now when he comes home the girls' faces light up. They yell "DADDY!" and run to greet him at the door. They request stories and fight over who gets to sit by him and ask for him to come in and kiss them goodnight. And they do whatever he asks them to do without talking back—pyjamas, brush teeth, clean room. It's awesome.
I guess having him home so much kind of threw off the girls' groove and now that he's back to being gone all the time they're happy to have him around when they get him. It's like some magical switch was hit and now we can all be happy again. I'm sure it won't last long—soon we'll be bemoaning our schedule and longing for the relaxed atmosphere of summertime—but for now we'll enjoy getting back into a routine.
Rachel became quite antagonistic towards him, saying things like, "I wish you'd go back to Ghana and never come back!" and "Get out of our family!" and things like that. She stopped asking for him to tuck her in at night and would instead request that I ask him not to come in to say goodnight at all. I could give more examples of her meanness, but I won't. In short I'll say that she was breaking his heart.
He went back to school full time this week, which is kind of lame since classes don't start until next week, but he's a Sherpa (peer tutor) for the newbies in the program and was helping with orientation. He also taught some excel classes and took some others. He had several meetings for his position on the MPAA student council thing as well as with individual professors. He presented at the staff and faculty retreat and has done a whole bunch of random stuff. In short I'll say that he has been pulling eleven to twelve hour days—he leaves the house at 7:30 in the morning and gets home at 6:30 or 7:30 at night.
Now when he comes home the girls' faces light up. They yell "DADDY!" and run to greet him at the door. They request stories and fight over who gets to sit by him and ask for him to come in and kiss them goodnight. And they do whatever he asks them to do without talking back—pyjamas, brush teeth, clean room. It's awesome.
I guess having him home so much kind of threw off the girls' groove and now that he's back to being gone all the time they're happy to have him around when they get him. It's like some magical switch was hit and now we can all be happy again. I'm sure it won't last long—soon we'll be bemoaning our schedule and longing for the relaxed atmosphere of summertime—but for now we'll enjoy getting back into a routine.
Does this mean I can make my kids love me again if I start working full time outside the home 12 hours a day :)
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