This morning I had to leave the house relatively early, with all the children in tow, to go to an appointment with my nutritionist—which I guess I passed (yay!) so I don't have to go back (yay!) which means that I'm back down to only one doctor's appointment per week (yay!). We managed to get out of the house on time, which was quite the accomplishment considering yesterday when I suggested before ten o'clock in the morning that we go to the library we didn't manage to leave the house until four o'clock in the afternoon!
These little munchkins were driving me bonkers yesterday! So much fighting! So much defiance!
They wouldn't even get dress and yet proclaimed they wanted to go to the library.
Yes, they really were driving me bonkers.
"There go more italics! But a few italics really do relieve your feelings," quoth Anne (of Windy Poplars) because—guess what?!—I found my book! It was in a forgotten diaper bag since late 2014 probably.
That was part of our problem yesterday morning. Once the kids were finally dressed I had them go through their books to make sure we had them all. Ordinarily this is a simple task because everyone has their own card and so we look to see how many books are checked out on each card, count through any given stack, and only have to go looking through if the numbers don't add up. Usually they do.
The last time we went to the library, however, "we" didn't. Andrew went with part of the kids and I stayed home with the other part and he forgot to take my set of keys (that has all the library cards on it except his) and brought his keys (that has no library cards on it at all). Fortunately, his library card was in his wallet so he just checked out the maximum number of books on his card and then sorted the books into whoever's book box when he got home.
There's a box for picture books, a box for Miriam's books, and a box for Rachel's books.
In theory the girls are allowed to removed one book from their bin at a time, read it, record it, and exchange it for a new one. So no books ever go missing, in theory. Also, "in theory communism works. In theory."
This time things didn't work out that way. I had to read through the list of fifty books and have the girls sift through their piles to find the books, which was a slower process than our usual one already, but then three books turned up missing and I was writhing inside. I hate missing library books, so I made the children clean before going so we could look for the books.
"But I know I put it back in my book bin! Someone else must have taken it out! I read it and put it right back!" the girls each protested in turn.
Two of the three books turned up while we were cleaning—one on top of the dresser (and under a pile of stuff that was also on top of the dresser) and one in Rachel's reading corner (that she'd clearly been reading there personally). One book is still MIA...so I renewed it (as one does) and we went to the library where I set the girls loose to find their own books while Benjamin played in the kiddy corner.
I stayed at the library, basically hiding from my children—"No, no, dears, it's not time to go yet! You can keep reading/playing/getting a thousand drinks from the drinking fountain,"—as long as I could (which means we left when Benjamin started pointlessly pulling books off the shelves and throwing them on the ground).
Our outing was a great way to relieve some stress from all the conflict we'd had at home earlier (even though I'm still a little upset about that missing book, which I'm sure will turn up (we can renew four more times before we have to pay the piper so that buys us some time)).
Today, though, was much better. The kids were determined to not have Crazy Mommy on their hands and were thoughtful, helpful and obedient most of the day. We even managed to get to the Museum of Life and Science. Benjamin suggested at breakfast that we go.
"Aster me sinish my breaky, maybe us can go moo-see-um lice and science? Maybe? Maybe?" he asked, little bits of oatmeal spraying out of his mouth.
And who could say no to that, really? So I told him that we couldn't go after breakfast but perhaps we could go after lunch. And that's what we did. And the museum was packed with school groups; it was insanely busy (it probably didn't help that it was a drizzly day so everyone was avoiding the outdoor exhibits). I was hoping to find a quiet spot for the kids to play so I could call my sister-in-law, who just had a baby, but I don't think a quiet place existed anywhere so I texted with her instead.
Just as things started clearing out and we had half a hope of finding an uncrowded spot to play Benjamin started throwing fits about everything and we decided to call it an afternoon. But even ending our outing on that unsavoury note, our day ranked way higher than yesterday!
These little munchkins were driving me bonkers yesterday! So much fighting! So much defiance!
They wouldn't even get dress and yet proclaimed they wanted to go to the library.
Yes, they really were driving me bonkers.
"There go more italics! But a few italics really do relieve your feelings," quoth Anne (of Windy Poplars) because—guess what?!—I found my book! It was in a forgotten diaper bag since late 2014 probably.
That was part of our problem yesterday morning. Once the kids were finally dressed I had them go through their books to make sure we had them all. Ordinarily this is a simple task because everyone has their own card and so we look to see how many books are checked out on each card, count through any given stack, and only have to go looking through if the numbers don't add up. Usually they do.
The last time we went to the library, however, "we" didn't. Andrew went with part of the kids and I stayed home with the other part and he forgot to take my set of keys (that has all the library cards on it except his) and brought his keys (that has no library cards on it at all). Fortunately, his library card was in his wallet so he just checked out the maximum number of books on his card and then sorted the books into whoever's book box when he got home.
There's a box for picture books, a box for Miriam's books, and a box for Rachel's books.
In theory the girls are allowed to removed one book from their bin at a time, read it, record it, and exchange it for a new one. So no books ever go missing, in theory. Also, "in theory communism works. In theory."
This time things didn't work out that way. I had to read through the list of fifty books and have the girls sift through their piles to find the books, which was a slower process than our usual one already, but then three books turned up missing and I was writhing inside. I hate missing library books, so I made the children clean before going so we could look for the books.
"But I know I put it back in my book bin! Someone else must have taken it out! I read it and put it right back!" the girls each protested in turn.
Two of the three books turned up while we were cleaning—one on top of the dresser (and under a pile of stuff that was also on top of the dresser) and one in Rachel's reading corner (that she'd clearly been reading there personally). One book is still MIA...so I renewed it (as one does) and we went to the library where I set the girls loose to find their own books while Benjamin played in the kiddy corner.
I stayed at the library, basically hiding from my children—"No, no, dears, it's not time to go yet! You can keep reading/playing/getting a thousand drinks from the drinking fountain,"—as long as I could (which means we left when Benjamin started pointlessly pulling books off the shelves and throwing them on the ground).
Our outing was a great way to relieve some stress from all the conflict we'd had at home earlier (even though I'm still a little upset about that missing book, which I'm sure will turn up (we can renew four more times before we have to pay the piper so that buys us some time)).
Today, though, was much better. The kids were determined to not have Crazy Mommy on their hands and were thoughtful, helpful and obedient most of the day. We even managed to get to the Museum of Life and Science. Benjamin suggested at breakfast that we go.
"Aster me sinish my breaky, maybe us can go moo-see-um lice and science? Maybe? Maybe?" he asked, little bits of oatmeal spraying out of his mouth.
And who could say no to that, really? So I told him that we couldn't go after breakfast but perhaps we could go after lunch. And that's what we did. And the museum was packed with school groups; it was insanely busy (it probably didn't help that it was a drizzly day so everyone was avoiding the outdoor exhibits). I was hoping to find a quiet spot for the kids to play so I could call my sister-in-law, who just had a baby, but I don't think a quiet place existed anywhere so I texted with her instead.
Just as things started clearing out and we had half a hope of finding an uncrowded spot to play Benjamin started throwing fits about everything and we decided to call it an afternoon. But even ending our outing on that unsavoury note, our day ranked way higher than yesterday!
I still remember the day that I was determined to ask about applying to work at the library. It was the Terry Fox Library. I only had Patrick with me because everyone else was either in school (or not even thought of yet, let alone born, in Josie's case) and Patrick was AWFUL at the library that day. Not only was he throwing books on the floor, he was taking the wood chips out of the plants and throwing them around, too. But, undeterred, I asked; they gave me an application despite my little holy terror. A few weeks later, they called me for an interview and I have been a library worker somewhere or other ever since. Nice to look back on--at the time, I was mortified and upset. But it turned out okay in the end. And Patrick outgrew that behavior too. He is happy just to throw frisbees around. And volley balls.
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