It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas indeed, as the snow we got last week has yet to melt. In other words December has arrived. And with it, some frigid temperatures that have kept me housebound. I'm in need of a good long run but it's too cold outside and I have no indoor substitute - no treadmill, no gym membership, and no indoor track that I'm aware of.
Christopher has been teething and as a result has become extremely clingy and light in his sleeping. Monday he got all of 30 minutes in daytime sleep. As a result his wakeful time was quite irritable and fussy. So, Tuesday when I got him to sleep I held him long enough to ensure he was really out, then carried him over to the swing and began to lower him down ever-so-gently when POP! went his eyes. I quickly retreated to the couch and sat with him, where he fell back asleep and we were one flesh for 2 hours. I was so glad that he slept that long, but was frustrated that I was rendered unable to get any of the household things done, and they need done badly as I've been sick and let a lot of things go while trying to recuperate from this nasty sinus bug.
My other beef with the temps is that our dogs have been indoors for a week and are beyond squirrely. Sometimes they wrestle to get out their energy, but that is LOUD and not exactly the safest with a baby crawling around. Consequently, I feel like I am shouting "No!" all day long and trying to divert their attentions to other pursuits.
I've been wrestling with parental guilt too as Kelsey and Colton have gotten into some bad habits of late, and I find myself wondering at the end of the days what I have done to foster such whiny, selfish, and disrespectful behaviors. I know that a lot of this is them being cooped up too - indoor recesses for a week due to the cold - as well as me being sick and thus not sticking to our routines, but....sometimes having an understanding doesn't always help the experiencing much.
I've been trying to find more activities to engage them to try and curb the insolence and I'm getting mixed results. I had the kids make salt dough ornaments with me last weekend and we painted them together when we were done, which was fun. They've been helping me out more with cooking - just last night they helped me fill and roll enchiladas for our supper and they really seemed to enjoy it. But the bickering and the obstinence over daily minutiae (what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, not following directions etc.) continues. Kelsey's sensory issues seem to be popping up in the nature of her fits at home, so I'm having to re-discipline myself into making sure there's structure and interjecting little ways for her to receive input here as school has pretty much determined that she's compensating well enough at school and thus there is no need for them to intervene - something that I agreed to at the beginning of the year as things were going really well.
So...pity party for me, lol. It's been a hard few weeks, and I sometimes forget that "This too shall pass."
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