May 8, 2011

  • May 8, 2011

    I told Madeleine today that I thought I wanted a glass of wine, and she said in a funny sort of voice, “It doesn’t get better for you than wine, does it.”  It wasn’t really a question, just a statement, said in a silly voice.  It cracked me up.  And yes, occasionally on a stressful sort of day, a glass of wine is nice. 

    After church we were walking to the car and Madeleine told me she was jumping over the cracks in the pavement.  I said, “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back” as we used to say when we were kids.  And Madeleine scoffed at me and told me, “That’s just a nursery rhyme!!!”  Why yes, yes it is, but I didn’t expect you to know it!

    She also threw a huge fit this morning.  She wanted to make a pony park with the duplos, and we started.  She wants me to help, but everything I do is wrong, so in the end I mostly just sit there by her and clean up stuff and ask her questions to get her to build her own stuff.  It’s all going to be just the way she wants it anyway, and I don’t do any actual help at all.  I guess she just needs the moral support.  But it was time to get ready to go, and I needed a shower.  Since it’s Mother’s Day I thought maybe I could go take one by myself.  But Madeleine was so upset that I wasn’t going to keep doing the pony park with her.  She had asked earlier if she could watch me take a shower, because she can’t bear to be away from me that long, I guess.  I had said okay, but when I actually tried to do it, she was a screaming fussing mess of a girl.  She went into our closet, crying, while I took my shower, but eventually Brian came to get her because she was crying.  When I was finally all dry and dressed she was still screaming downstairs.  She came up the stairs to me, sobbing, and panted out, “I…(huff)… was… (huff)… so… (huff)… worr…. (huff)…. Ied…. (huff)… about…. (huff)… you!!!!  (huff huff huff).  It was like I had gone off into some terribly dangerous situation foolishly, and she was both mad at me for it and so grateful that I came back alive.  Brian had spanked her, which I agree he should have done.  I sent her upstairs to her room for a moment, but then just decided she needed help calming down.  She isn’t very capable of calming herself down after she gets that worked up.  So I held her and talked to her and said I loved her, and she told me she was so sad about something, and I said she was sad because I took a shower instead of helping with her pony park.  But I talked about how people aren’t always going to do what she wants them to do, but it doesn’t mean they don’t love her.  She really loses it when she feels out of control of a situation.  Lately I’ve been trying to calm her down and talk about it, pointing out that I love her so much, but that doesn’t mean things are always going to go just the way she wants them. 

    Anyway, we had a very tense cranky morning around here.  Even Grant got in on the action, and we were all grumpy by the time we went to church.  After church was probably even worse.  But now we’re resting, and life is better again.  For now.