The mighty have fallen! I have gone from perfect to a nag in just three days. How does this happen? I will tell you how; I made the mistake of taking both Aly and Avery with me to the mall yesterday. Aly needed to pick up some special cleanser she uses and I thought it would be nice if we all went. Looking back, I can say for sure that there were intermittent "nice" moments, but for the most part I was screaming in my head wondering what the heck I had been thinking.
Avery does not really like shopping, and she absolutely does not like trying things on, so when she found something that she was interested in I recommended that she try it on. Here is how that went, Avery said "I do not want to" I said "Avery, you do not want to get home and find out it does not fit". Avery then said something about me making her do things she does not want to do, and then Aly who thought she was helping started to comment on this topic and then they each began suggesting to the other that they "Shut up!" In the mean time Avery is up tight, because what I handed her to try on was the wrong length, so I got the right length and she was annoyed all over again about trying it on. Finally, Avery had an item catch her eye and I once again insisted she try it on, (I am mean like that). She tried it on and liked it and she decided to buy it with her birthday money. As we were leaving however we came across the same item but a lot nicer, but the thought that she would have to try it on made Avery decide to stick with what she had already bought…until we got home. Now we have the item sitting in the bag with the receipt and the prospect of another shopping trip.
In the middle of all of this Aly decided to also mother Avery and she was busy telling her what to do and now she was not only bugging Avery, she was bugging the heck out of me too! By the time we got home I was wondering if Aly was thinking of adopting Avery, since she was so busy parenting her and snapping at her. Honestly, between the two of them I was thinking summer vacation was way over rated and perhaps I should find a year round school for them. By about 6:30PM last night I had had enough. My cork blew and I let them both have it, here is a rough idea of what I said to them.
"It is going to be a long summer, so keep these things in mind. If I say jump you both will say how high! I do not care if something is not your "JOB" if I ask for it to be done do it. FYI, I am the only Mom here. This position is filled and will remain that way, so stop trying to do my job! I can make or break your summer for you, so do not push me because when I push back it will not be pretty. I do not care if one or the other of you likes, hates, or is mad at the other at any given moment, we are all family. I do not have a favorite, I do not want to be in your fight and decide who is right or wrong!" That was it, one was mad and the other was crying and I did not care. My foot is down and I have drawn my line in the sand.
As I contemplated this situation this morning I came up with a possible solution to the sibling bickering, which by the way swings back and forth with one minute being a hate festival and the next they are best friends forever. My solution is Sumo wrestling suits. If they start fighting, I tell them to put on their big puffy Sumo wrestling suits and go outside and go at it. No one would be hurt and by the end they would be laughing. At least that is the pretty picture I have in my head. Like I said at the beginning though, the mighty have fallen, and some of my perfection has worn off. This could mean I am not thinking clearly. Guess what? So what! If it means I am never perfect again I will give it up for a few days here and there this summer, where my kids are scared enough of me to not bicker in front of me. Ahhhhhhh, the thought of that sounds delightful.
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