One step forward, 37 steps back

Yesterday started sweet – my 4yo armed my 2yo with crayons and she went on a bender. Walls and sheets and toys and me asking in a raised voice what she thought she was doing. It went south from there.

What I should have done was tell her to not arm a baby with means of destruction. What I did do was ask what she expected to happen in such a way that it caused her to know I was angry. Things went downhill from there.

This wasn’t a big issue, but most things aren’t. The crying started at 6:50 am and it would keep going until 9:14am. I got to enjoy a drive to her school with a screaming and crying 4yo, she couldn’t calm down and got worse at school, and as such had to go through yet another half hour drive back home during rush hour traffic.

At over an hour and a half of this I abandoned the good parent wanting to be in the same room with her and letting her know I was there for her regardless. There’s only so much crying and screaming from a child that’s as loud as most opera singers one can take.

I put her in her room and closed the door and that’s when she totally lost it. I reached screaming as well. Not a day I’m proud of. By 1pm things were normal. This had gone on on and off for seven hours although the first two were the only ones that particularly mattered.

The day sucked. Hard it sucked.

Day two started off great, she went into school laughing at 7:50 and by 9:08 she’d already ticked her teachers off to the point they called me. I’m literally scrubbing decks today at work, which is something I was going to be doing yesterday but I couldn’t bring a screaming opera singer. I had to pass her off to mom.

By 10:58 we were on the second call. This time she’s claiming she’s exhausted but won’t lay down on the mat, claiming she was awake all night despite camera on her room indicating otherwise.

It’s gotten to where it feels like she may go more time between explosions but damn if they aren’t worse than the 90 minute ones she used to have five times a week.