When something inside of me kept telling me to roll back over and go back to sleep this morning, I should have listened. I had already done that once though and Jackie was awake so I ignored the impulse for more sleep and dragged myself out of bed. After taking Ben downstairs and returning upstairs, I opened the door to the kids room to find myself staring at Jackie. She had learned this morning how to climb out of her twin bed. I kept expecting it, yet I kept hoping the day would not come. So today I must stop procrastinating and finally put up the gate outside of their bedroom door. And I think to myself that I need a new plan for enforcing nap time and then we head downstairs.
I began to gather their diapers and clothing for the day so we could all be ready for errands after breakfast. Since I was so tired, I had not thought to bring clothes down for them. So in a sleepy state, I head back upstairs for the third time this morning. Normally Jackie would behave while I was upstairs, but something was amiss this morning. Maybe it was the air hanging limp from the impending heat of the day, or the pride of managing to wiggle from her bed, but Jackie was up to no good. I don't know, that might be a little harsh. For all I know she might have been trying to help when she decided to open the clean diapers waiting near Ben and take Ben's to the bathroom and drop it in the toilet. She might have witnessed Don rinsing a poopy diaper in the toilet in the past and thought she might do the same. Only this diaper was clean; no need for rinsing.
I thought she was playing in the living room since I could not hear any strange sounds echoing up the stairwell outside their door. But as I stepped down towards the landing, Jackie heard me and came running from the direction of the bathroom with a mischievous grin and the water-proof diaper bag (the one for dirty diapers when we are out of the house) in her hands. I knew something wasn't right and as I grabbed the bag from her I could tell her hands were wet. I felt of the bag and it was dry so I went to place it back in the bathroom and that's when I discovered her diaper escapades. There was Ben's clean white diaper pushed into the bowl of the toilet. I was mildly thankful that it didn't appear to have been flushed (I don't think Jackie knows how yet.) And this is the moment I lost the "mother of the year" award. I yelled, "Jacqueline Frances," and I don't think there was a reason to yell as she had followed me into the bathroom. Apparently she was proud of what she had accomplished while I was gone. That feeling did not last long as I let into her verbally. I did swat at her big blue padded bottom in the midst of the tirade and her look changed to one of forlorn sadness as she realized I was very upset.
As I finished rinsing out the diaper, washing my hands and banishing her from the bathroom, we headed into the living room to dress both kids. I was still fuming when I discovered she had been playing with her clean diaper as well and that it had toilet water on it and was now also dirty. By this point Jackie had been told that if she did anything she was not supposed to or had to be asked more than once to follow instructions she would head back up to bed. And she did; shortly after getting dressed, she threw a toy. This is an ongoing battle with us about not throwing things and so up she went after being downstairs for around a half hour. This time she stayed upstairs just long enough to change and dress Ben.
We finally ate breakfast, rounded the kids into the car and headed out on our errands. And then Ben decided to scream the 30 min from our house, through the construction, to Nana's and Papa's house. Apparently he really was hungry when I tried to feed him before we left but playing was more interesting at the time. So the list of errands was rearranged to care for Ben and my nerves were rattled beyond measure. But Ben calmed down after eating and we made it through the grocery store and Target without too many rough patches. Although in the grocery store I told Jackie that I was sorry but she would just have to be upset if something was not the way she wanted it.
And after getting home and having Ben scream half the way back, all during the time I needed to unload the car and put away the cold stuff, my nerves were really frazzled. I changed diapers, fed Ben and gave Jackie her milk, and then finally I fixed lunch. By this point it was three o'clock and luckily Jackie and I had each eaten a cereal bar on the way home from Target. I had bought Jackie Annie's Spaghetti O's while shopping because she had asked for them and I figured it was worth a shot if she ended up eating them. So I asked if she wanted them for lunch and she agreed. I no more got her sitting in her little chair with the bib on and the food on the tray then she threw her bowl to the ground. That was it! No second chance here, it was nap time and it was over-due. I told her to lay down and if she crawled off the bed she would sleep in a crib. Jackie stayed put and within 10 minutes lay sleeping. That is the moment my day finally started to turn around. Ben fell asleep on his playmat and it was finally quiet in the house.
Jackie woke up in a better mood and found me in a better mood as well. It is nice to know that even on bad days things can end well. It is good that toddlers soon forget the bad times with their parents and can show them great affection. It is reassuring that they seem to bounce back and recover their pride so easily. It helps to think that we can overcome our bad moments and build our children up to hopefully be better people than we are. God is very wise to make our children so forgiving of their parents mistakes when they are little. I know that there will be more mistakes to be made, but to also know that as long as I show my children love we will overcome those mistakes is a very promising thing. Now if only our children stayed as forgiving as they grew into teenagers. But again God is wise in teaching our children about fallibility through their parents' short-comings; it makes us strive to follow his will more closely as our children grow.
~Tiffany
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