Calm After the Storm

Today was truly the calm after the storm. The girls were in rare form yesterday and challenged every last nerve, bit of patience and indoor voice I had in me. By about 10 am, Amanda had already had 5 time outs. Abi 3 and no one was in a good mood anymore. Everyone was grumpy, especially mommy, all patience was gone and the girls could not be in the same room without fighting about something. This made grocery shopping oh so much fun! Yes, we had 4 errands to run and I did them anyway.

First stop, the bank. Fortunately it was just to the ATM, so that was fairly simple. Then off to BJ's. This did not go so well. Amanda was challenging every direction I gave her. Then she started talking back, something I have zero tolerance for. I warned her that if she kept talking back and was not respectful and obedient, I would sit her down in the middle of the store for a time out. I could see she was about to say something she shouldn't, so I kneeled down to talk to her. Not only did she shout, "NO!", but she HIT me! What?!?! I sat her down in the middle of the isle (which happened to be the main isle in the store) and told her she was in time out for hitting and yelling at mommy. She looked around, started screaming and I took the time to calmly review my shopping list and map out my path to make this the fastest trip to BJ's in history with 2 small children. As I was looking at my list, Abi shyly looked around and asked, "Mommy, what are we doing?" I calmly said, "We are in time out for 2 minutes. Amanda was disrespectful and now we wait." Her answer was a shy, "Oh. Ok." When the 2 minutes were up, I bent down, talked to Amanda about her time out, she apologized and we were on our way.

Okay. out of BJ's and off to pick up daddy's shoes and the shoe repair shop. Abi at this point understands that I mean business and she is all about being respectful. Amanda on the other hand... OY! While we were in the shop, everyone was fine. Then we started out of the shop. I asked the girls to hold my hands while we crossed the parking lot. A simple and safe request. Amanda shouted, "NO!" and hit me again. SERIOUSLY?!? I picked her up, held Abi's hand across the street and sat Amanda down on the ground by the car. She was in a totally safe place, so don't worry. She was totally and completely protected. I put Abi in the car and bent down to talk to Amanda about her time out. She apologized, eyes swollen red from screaming, and I loaded her up too.

Breathe. Okay. I can do this. One. More. Stop. Costco. I know, I am a gluten for punishment. But I had to get these things done! My life does not stop for a disrespectful, moody 2 year old. We did not even get out of the car at Costco before Amanda started in. THIS was going to be SO MUCH FUN!!!! I had a map in my head already of the fastest path to get all the things on the list. Abi is still pretty good while we were out. Grumpy, but quiet. I don't mind grumpy, just don't be disrespectful. We are all entitled to be grumpy once-in-a-while. We managed to get in and out of Costco without any major drama. Thank you, LORD!

Back too the car and off to home! We got home, got everything unloaded and put away, fighting resumed, lunch happened and naps came quickly after. Abi doesn't always take a nap, but I forced one on her yesterday when she was smug and sassy, making fun of Amanda and mocking the things I was saying to Amanda. She quickly learned that is also not acceptable. Both began screaming, I said, "good night," and shut the door. I didn't hear from anyone for over 2 hours!!! What a blessing to have that retreat in the middle of the day and spend some much needed time with the Lord.

Today I had 2 different children. I mean they were sweet as puddin' pie!! VERY respectful, fairly obedient and they actually played together nicely for hours today! We ran a couple of errands and they could not have been more well behaved. Such a treat for all of us today. And they slept untl almost 7 am this morning! That NEVER happens! AND they both took naps. Another 2 hours to myself in the middle of the day. More time with the Lord. I am so thankful for the calm after the storm.

So, no idea what tomorrow holds, but I DO know that our days are like the weather. Ya just never know what your gonna get :-)