Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Keeping it real

You know how I've been raving about how much I love this stage?

Well, let's keep it real.

This morning D says to me in that tone, "Marcia, please come see the kids" and when I went to their bedroom, they were COVERED in vaseline.

They'd got into the bag inside their nappy bag, Connor opened the container and they smeared the Vaseline on their hair, babygrows and Friday (Connor's teddy).

All I can say is that it's a good thing I wasn't properly awake because I would have flipped properly.

I tried to scrape some blobs back into the jar and then gave up.

I eventually took those cloth nappies and tried to get as much as I could out of their hair and off their hands and faces.

It was terrible.

Terrible.


All through this Connor keeps insisting that he's a good boy and I said, "no, you're a naughty boy".

Then he says, "Connor and Kenna very naughty" which is what D had been saying.

I know I'm going against the parenting books and whatnot (the lady from the course too) by calling them naughty but they are naughty!

Even my boss said, "no, Marsh, they did naughty things" and I said, "NO! they are naughty!" LOL

Do you call your kids naughty?

Oy! So when V arrived we bathed them and washed their hair about 3 times each and it's STILL oily.


Anyway, eventually I get dressed and leave for work.

I'm about a minute from home when I hear this sound to the left of my car.

I thought the passenger door wasn't closed properly so pulled over, opened and closed that door.

Set off again and still hear, "clunk clunk".

Stopped again and this time there were two policemen parked at the side of the road who said, "come look here" pointing to the front of my car.

I had a flat tyre.

Let me stop and say I have never in all my years of driving had ANYTHING go wrong (not even a traffic fine).

Of course I know ZIP about changing tyres so the one guy said they'd do it if I had a spare tyre.

I did and it was flat, so they changed it in 5 minutes and I drove straight to the nearest petrol station.

Can you believe it?!

First, I don't even want to think about what might have been if this had happened anywhere else but a quiet street in the suburbs. I was supposed to take my car to do my church talk last night but took D's because I was running a little late. If this had happened on the highway, I would have missed the talk and maybe even had an accident (we drive fast in Jhb and there's very little time to react to sudden stops). So I agree totally with the one policeman who said, "God blessed you today". Amen to that!

Second, two of this kind of nonsense in one day! Thankfully the rest of the day was good - I ran a meeting well (by accident because the real meeting organiser was late), and felt I added real value in two other meetings.

Oy!

And then...

I just ran my virtual organising workshop. Nearly half way through I suddenly thought to do a separate recording using my own software, not the fancy one I pay for! And I just clicked through and the proper recording's quality is not good. Thank goodness for the 1 hour 8 minutes I recorded but I'll have to record the first bit again to stay in integrity. Uggghhhhhhh - what a waste of time. I'll have to skip gym tomorrow to record it.

Overall score for the day - 6.

Largely due to these two. When I arrived home this evening, this is what I saw.


What was your score for the day?

PS I've been trying and trying and I can't seem to get into a sentence a day journal or even more. But what is working (only for 2 days now) is to rate the day and make a list of a few bullets to justify the rating. Do you journal?

18 comments:

  1. My day was pretty average. Not much happening that was eventful really. Other than my kids' swimming lesson where they are making so much progress. I must be honest I always say "that was a very naughty thing to do"

    It is hard when kids get up to mischief sometimes :-). And vaseline of all things!!! I'll never forget when Bianca was 3 and she was going to her very first ballet lesson and before the time I made her rest for a bit. When I went to wake her up her lips were black. Turned out she sneaked into our bedroom and Terence had a black permanent marker on his bedside table (why would he do that????) and she decided to paint her lips. My goodness! What a struggle to get it off. She had purple lips for the rest of the afternoon.

    Here is a quote for you:

    Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it's the quiet voice at the end of the day gently saying "I will try again tomorrow" - Maryanne Radanbacher

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  2. My guys get into EVERYTHING. I'm so glad we don't have any vaseline in the house LOL

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  3. Today was a strong 5, just average. My wonderful dinner experience was just blown out of the water, I need to post about it.

    As for the Vaseline, I'm not sure what type of hair they have but you could try using Dawn(I'm assuming you have that there, dish soap) once or twice and then go back with a really good conditioner. It should strip everything out of their hair but it will leave it dry. But dry hair won't ruin sheets like grease!

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  4. I think all our kids do that at some stage...I remember my daughter smearing my entire jar of eye cream into her hair when she was little. I remember days where baby powder was strewn throughout the house...what a mess!

    The Lord had His hand over you where your car's flat was concerned.

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  5. Lynette, absolutely! I found myself smiling to myself thinking about it while they changed my tyre.

    I didn't want to be weird otherwise I would have taken a photo :)

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  6. I agree with Lynette. God had his hand over you regarding the flat tyre.
    I laughed so hard regarding the kids and the vaseline and how sweet are those last photos of your kids, standing at the door. So cute.

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  7. I love it! Phoebe got braces and she gave me a hard time on two separate occasions yesterday. Once I got mad and the second time I kept my cool. It's so hard to keep your cool when a 10 year old girl is giving you attitude.

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  8. Oh, Marcia...first, I'm so thankful your flat tire happened how and when it did. You were very blessed on many accounts there.

    And secondly, GAH!!! That vaseline incident must have been maddening!!! My mom told me that I did that once as a kid - not sure how old I was. I remember her saying she washed and washed and washed and she couldn't get it out of my hair. She said she finally resorted to laundry detergent (can you imagine?!). I think that's what finally did the trick. :)

    So...maybe it's a rite of passage, and your two can just mark that off the list?

    I just LOVE those pictures of what greeted you coming home. How incredibly sweet to see them in their jammies, waiting for you!!!

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  9. When scolding the kids I try say that their actions made me upset or what they did was naughty - not that they are naughty.

    There is a fine line here though - personally I dont think the twins behaviour was all that "bad" - yes it was wrong but this is what kids do -they push the boundaries and do things they know they shouldnt.

    I can deal with this kind of "naughty" - its the lying and cheekiness that comes later that I can not handle :-/

    My day yesterday was ok - missed yoga to get to an appointment with a client and she wasnt there :-/ I was annoyed. We had ADT installed which left me more anxious that I think it was supposed to!!!

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  10. Oh my...the vaseline thing cracks me up! (Yes, I believe it's probably a rite of passage and my day is coming!!) Hope the leftover sheen wears off soon. : )

    That stinks about your tire, but I'm glad you were in a safe place and there was someone nearby to help!

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  11. Oh Marcia! Is it terrible that I was *giggling* through the whole vaseline storytelling...sorry but I couldn't contain myself. :) The pictures are priceless....

    I do use the word naughty...and I agree, they were naughty. Funny but naughty. ;)

    Sorry to hear about the flat tire but how nice to have people to change it for you!


    My day was about an 8...nothing to complain about!

    Happy Wednesday!

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  12. Oh Marcia! Is it terrible that I was *giggling* through the whole vaseline storytelling...sorry but I couldn't contain myself. :) The pictures are priceless....

    I do use the word naughty...and I agree, they were naughty. Funny but naughty. ;)

    Sorry to hear about the flat tire but how nice to have people to change it for you!


    My day was about an 8...nothing to complain about!

    Happy Wednesday!

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  13. LOL...I must admit that I had such a laugh at the vaseline episode. I have so been there...Must tell you that this is only the beginning. Keep your moisturisers and toothpastes and make-up and things sealed as tightly as possible and HIGH UP where little hands can't reach. I wouldn't say that they were naughty. They are displaying normal age appropriate behaviour i.e. pushing the boundaries and exploring their surroundings etc. There is something VERY wrong with the 2yr old who is not curious about his surroundings and the objects within his environment, who will walk right past the vaseline without checking it out.
    I don't use that word "naughty" in my house. I say something like "that's NOT allowed" or "that behaviour is unacceptable". In other words, I try to focus on the bad behaviour. However, despite this, Joel uses that word "naughty" quite a bit which leads me to believe that it is being used at his school.
    You are so, so lucky to have had help with the flat tyre. Have not had a flat tyre experience yet and I'm hoping that I never have one.
    And I just LOVE the pics you took.x

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  14. Oh my goodness, the vaseline. That was hysterical! We can't leave the kids alone any more!

    Sorry to hear about your flat, but I'm happy it happened where it did and that you had people to help.

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  15. My Tuesday was ok - but Wednesday was just crap!
    And yes, they are naughty! I agree totally!

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  16. oh, the vaseline...my worst nightmare!

    i love how you tried to scrape some blobs back in the jar though...as if there was any chance of saving some.

    sorry about your tire...that sucks. it happened to me last winter and i had the crazies with me...sucky mcsuck.

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  17. I can just imagine that you must not have been impressed - hahahaha! Those little faces when you got home though, too cute!

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  18. By the way, I definitely think my kids are "naughty" at times!!! But...I like the approach a friend shared with me years ago...I'm just hoping it will work with my girls when they get a little older. She says, "I love you, but I am disappointed in the choices you made." I know every kid is different, so I can't imagine this would work for everyone...but I know as a child, the worst thing my mom could ever have said was that she was "disappointed".

    I do think kids have to be a certain age before they can begin to grasp that concept, though. I recently read it's between 30 and 40 months that a child typically begins to understand a sense of "sorrow" for doing something wrong.

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