Another (sigh....) Day.

Spoiler alert: This one has a semi-happy ending :-).

I coerced Enzo into going to tennis today only to discover that tennis was canceled. I had to find he and Olivia to tell them that they had to take the bus home today. I walked the whole school with Lilliana screaming like a crazed monkey on my shoulder - even when we had to actually enter Olivia's art class.

Lilliana head-butted me in gymnastics and both her nose and my nose bled.

I bought new eye shadow (oooo - exciting), but Lilliana smashed it on the pavement when we got home.

Milo broke our bathroom sink (like snapped the pipe off - apparently, playing hide n seek - and not the first time he's done it - doesn't matter - our kitchen ceiling is wet and stained anyway due to years of my boys flooding the bathroom at bathtime).

Lilliana broke my laundry basket - another one no longer useable.

All this in a two to three hour period with constant supervision.

Two things come to mind:

First - that I'm used to all this.... Our dining room table's finish has been ruined and it is covered in crayon - our leather chair has black pen all over it - our carpets in two of the bedrooms are stained with milk, chocolate and Coca Cola (and the one in the TV room has had full bowls of popcorn dumped on it so often, any time you walk on it, despite repeated attempts to vacuum thoroughly, little kernels skittle off onto the hard wood floor - which reminds me - that is on my list today too... for the third time this week) - most of our lamp shades are broken - the carpet in our entryway has been partially ripped up - our back door and new screen door are painted with supposedly washable kids paint - our antique radio is missing buttons and has the front ripped out of it - our antique toy box / bench has chunks of wood missing from it - two shelves in the refrigerator are broken because so many little ones have "helped" me get juice, etc. - OH MY - it hurts to go on. I can remember each of these accidents or incidents as vividly as if they occurred yesterday. So... anyway...

(Deep breath) Second - on the bright side (remember my resolve to always focus on this ;-).... Lilliana does work hard in gymnastics - executes all the tricks - loves her teacher - flies on the trampoline. Milo is fun-loving and physically active - talented kid - creative, silly. Enzo gets to ride his beloved bus today like a big boy (so proud of my kindergartner) - Olivia looked so happy sitting in her art class (the same room she's worked in for years :-), working on a fabulous portrait of Zooey Deschanel, in her uniform, all her friends & classmates around her laughing and enjoying one another - All of our splashy, soapy baths - all of our giggly, messy deck painting sessions - all of our family meals complete with customized mashed potatoes and write-on placemats are.... well... fabulous - just great - beautiful. Wouldn't trade it all for the world.

A LOT of tantrums this week - privileges taken away - hearing myself say with increasing frequency - "Do you think I'm kidding?" I feel intolerant, shrill and walked on. I'm Ok (only a few moments behind closed doors when, stomach aching, breathing shallow, I let the tears roll - only to be jolted back to reality, sometimes seconds into my 15 min of "walk away" time by - "you lost my skinny jeans!" or "i pulled one of your new glass knobs off your dresser, but ..... it wasn't my fault", followed by crying, crying, crying - which is, exactly, what brought me back today - onward....), but...um... does anybody have an aspirin or something ;-)?