When the last straw has fallen and the camels back is breaking, what do you do? How do YOU react? Today has been that way for me. I have five kids that are ill or are just getting over being sick. They are cranky and tired and have decided that every item in the house is cause for a fight. I didn't even try to count the number of arguments and pushing matches that have broken out. I tried to take it all in stride. I tried to not freak out when 2 or three of them snuck into a bath room to fill the toilet with paper and toothpaste. I even tried to be calm while lunch broke out into a food fight. But now it is nap time. My time, the time where I am suppose to get to relax...read a book or watch a movie while I do laundry. Oh, but not today, today they have decided to try my patience to the very edge. I think they are looking to find where my "critical mass" is. I put the first one down, she was an easy one. Orissa likes nap time she likes to sleep. Yay, I thought to myself, one down and four to go. I made lunch for the rest,and one by one they got up from the table. In my house, the rule is: if you leave the table, you are ready for nap. I got number two down pretty easily too. She isn't feeling well, so nap was a welcome thing. Then on to number three. She went down a lot easier that she normally does. Woot! Three down and only two to go! Then I realized my first problem, I only had one room left for a napper and two nappers! Oh well, if I lay in the bed between them, they will fall asleep... was oozing with confidence. I had Javin all ready to go. He had taken himself potty while I was putting one of the girls down. I put him on one side of the bed, and the last girl on the other side. She isn't much for falling asleep on her own so she cried for about five minutes, and boom she was out! My heart was filled with joy! Only the little man to go. That is when my house of cards aka my confidence failed me. He fought me tooth and nail. He wasn't going to sleep, no way no how. I was starting to get grumpy when he began yelling at me. "Oh, please don't wake up the Bugs," I begged him. He got louder and more determined. He had found my boiling point and was stoking the fire. I carried him out to the living room and laid him on the couch, hoping with all of me, that he would just fall asleep. No such luck, he screamed, he yelled, and pushed and shoved. By this time all his noise woke up napper 3 and she was thinking she could be up too. I calmly, yet forcefully told her nap time wasn't over and she needed to go back to her room. She was less than happy with me, she stomped and she screamed she moaned and she yelled all the way up the stairs. well, the stomping and other noise woke up napper 4, and let me just say, man does she have a set of lungs on her. Oh joy, now more than half were up and yelling..the last straw had fallen, the pot was ready to boil over..what to do? Should I send myself to time out, count to ten, blast my ipod and ignore it all? All I really wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and cry.
Instead, I went to each child, one at a time, laid them in their beds and told them it was still nap time. Some took more persuasion, others just need to cry themselves back to sleep(or in Javin's case to sleep for the first time). Kids are cute, God made them that was for a very good reason, so you don't want to murder them when they push you to the stops. As I write this, the frustration has already melted away, and I am left with the wonderful feeling of calm, and peace and QUIET! All is well, all is well! It is a wonderful thing to have a purpose in life and mother and sister and auntie are all wonderful purposes!