Sleep minus 2

Last night we had a BBQ for some of Brian's coworkers. The kids were up late. Do they sleep in? No, of course not (6am). So this was our day with minus two hours of sleep.

First - pottery. The kids are taking a pottery class at the Y. It's for 4-6 year olds, which is perfect because then they can both take it and it fulfills my requirements that Allison be at the older end of the spectrum for age ranges. Last week went pretty well. This week there were more kids and it did not go so well. So I've been requested to stay for the pottery class and help. Bye-bye 45 minutes of quiet book reading time.

Then today was riddled with impulsive behavior from Allison. Like drenching a doll's head in orange juice, throwing a hat and whacking Jacob in the head, and playing a game of Sorry that involved rolling around on the ground in between every turn. What I wish more people understood was that we (as parents) cannot predict nor control behavior on days like this. (trust us - we've tried). There are consequences for her actions that seem appropriate to me - loss of doll and OJ for the day, timeout for 15 minutes in room for hitting, and - well - the last was just a game that went VERY slowly. But not much is really a deterrent. It's more fires and fewer tools in the arsenal.

Today, it wasn't just Allison. Jacob was out of gas by the end of the day, which is his parent/child sports class at the Y. I had to stand in for Brian because I forgot to bring his shoes along. Jacob spent the better part of the class pretending to be a frog. The sport tonight was football. When the teacher asked his favorite football team he said "the blue one." At least he didn't say Packers. He was not as excited about football as he was soccer because he kept trying to kick the football rather than throw it. European football. But it was fun, when it wasn't kindof embarrassing.