Whining and fighting and complaining! Oh my!

Well, we failed miserably on our goals from last week: to sleep all night and to not complain.  Caroline and I got sick this week with a nagging cough that has made sleep short and not restful.  She sounds far worse than I and it always sounds worse coming from a little one anyway.  She did get a pillow in her bed for the first time tonight in hopes that her head will stay elevated and she'll cough less.  In the past I had always put blankets under one end of her mattress to help elevate her head.  However, every time I did that she would inevitably sleep the wrong direction, elevating her feet and totally defeating the purpose.

Caroline's cough has also somehow made it to her voice box and caused it to be incredibly whiny.  Every time I ask her to do anything, she says in a very whiny, defiant voice, "No! Mommy do it." or "No! Mommy get it."  That and wanting to be carried everywhere, I'd say it has been a rough week.

"Hi, my name is Caroline.  I am not a happy camper this week, but I do love my fabulous red glitter shoes that are several sizes too big.  I wear them all the time and usually on the correct feet (but not today!)."  :)

The boys seem to be fighting more with each other as well.  It started small on Monday as they fought over a bag of baby carrots.  Henry held the bag and handed them out one-by-one to Josiah.  They ended up eating a bunch of baby carrots but I think it was mostly because they were determined to each get the most from the bag.  I finally had to take the bag away from them just to end the feud.  And ironically, when I put 3 baby carrots on their dinner plates they act like they cannot eat all 3.  "I ate one, can I have dessert?"  By the end of the week they were fighting over everything.  Henry seems to think that he can muscle toys out of Josiah's hand instead of merely using his words to ask for said object.  That is our issue with all the kids.  If they would only use their words FIRST instead of grabbing things out of their sibling's hand this would be a much more peaceful house.  I know one day they'll do it.  They will probably be 25, 27, & 29, but it'll happen.  One day.

We brought out a classic and did a little fishing.  Then this pleasant scene turned ugly and now this game, with only one working fishing pole remaining, belongs to Caroline ONLY.

Monday we had workmen come to reattach our bathroom sink to the countertop (under mount sink).  All the kids were fascinated to watch them work.  This contractor man has come over before and is very friendly and nice.  Due to detaching the pipe from the sink bowl, it produced a foul odor in the bathroom to which Josiah announces that the men smelled.  Then he said they were making a mess and it wasn't nice.  So we had manners lessons a lot this week.  (And they even cleaned as they fixed, too.)

Josiah was able to complete his Awana book this week.  At least his leaders signed all the pages.  I, however, have held out on signing his last page because he has to accomplish five days of picking up his toys/clothes, coming to dinner when told, AND NOT COMPLAINING.  He didn't have an issue with any of the items on the list except for the complaining one.  He's going to earn those two remaining non-complaining days and I'm going to love having a couple of non-complaining days around here.  I've contemplated on keeping his last jewels that he'll get on Award night until he completes the book to my satisfaction.  Some may consider that too harsh, but I am not a fan of complaining.  And I do not want to raise a complainer!  This week is Awana store where he gets to spend all the points he's earned this spring.  Being that this is our first time to do this, we have no idea what to expect, but he is super excited.

Josiah has also been humming the Star Wars theme all week long.  He's dressed up as Darth Vader for many of the days as well.  Then he likes to hold out his hand as if he is lifting me up by my neck (from a distance).  I am then to dramatically grab my neck and get on my tippy toes as if he were picking me up with "the force."  Then he tries to move me left or right by moving his hand.  I tell him he doesn't have that much "force" to do that.  I am no ballerina.

This picture brought to you by "Mommy has run out of creamer and NEEDS to have some decent coffee."

Finally, we began the house hunting process this week.  I was so looking forward to looking at houses.  We talked to the boys about proper house hunting behavior: stay with us, don't run, don't touch their furniture, don't get on the beds, don't close doors, look with your eyes, not your hands, etc.  And then we walked into the first house.  All three kids went wild.  They ran all over, opening and closing every door, yelling in excitement, touching the very breakable goblets on the staged breakfast nook table, up and down the stairs again and again.  It was too much.  So after that house (which we didn't care for anyway), we had a long talk as we drove to the next.  House #2 they did much better.  Caroline didn't quite take our conversation to heart, but at least we understand she lacks a lot of self control.  The boys did well until the end when one boy decided to open the homeowner's hutch in the dining room which held all their expensive, breakable China.  By house #4, Todd and I took turns looking around individually while the boys looked longingly at the house from the car window and Caroline shouted "Stairs!" because we all want "stairs!"

House hunting has become our obsession.  It seems Todd and I are on the websites constantly looking for houses, seeing if any new ones are coming on the market.  We are making ourselves crazy and frustrated even though it really has only been a week of looking.  This could have made us (me) slightly less pleasant to deal with which may have had something to do with all the fighting around here this week.  Maybe a little.

So, we are standing by our original goals again: sleep all night and no complaining!  I think I am going to start using the phrase, "use a pleasant voice" a lot.  "Did you talk to your brother with a pleasant voice or did you rip the legos out of his hands?" "Did you use a pleasant voice or did you use your foot to kick his face?" (yep, we had that this week)  Henry has muscle power.  Josiah has agility.  And they each know how to use it to their advantage.