When Oliver and I picked Julia up from school yesterday afternoon she refused to wear her backpack like she usually does. She insisted on carrying it instead, along with everything that should have been in it. When she saw us in the doorway she got up, took two steps toward me and dropped everything – lunch bag, umbrella, jacket and water bottle. Heaving a gigantic sigh, she bent down to pick it all up and when I suggested that she put some stuff in her backpack she huffed, “No, I can carry it all.”
Well then. Rock on, sister.
Watching her try to haul herself up and into the van with her hands full was almost comical. “I can’t get into the van!” she screeched, and I silently braced myself, for I knew then that it was going to be One of Those Afternoons with her.
“Hey, hey,” I said gently as I snapped Oliver in his car seat. “Why don’t you put all that stuff down before you get in the van? It might be easier that way.” By that point she’d managed to get in the van and was busy flinging what she’d dumped on the floor around so she could get in her seat.
“Hey,” I said, a little more sternly. “Julia, chill out a sec, hon.”
She turned around and gave me the kind of look I didn’t think I’d have the pleasure of seeing for another few years. “No, YOU chill out!” she shouted. She paused for a second, startled, I think, by her reaction, then dropped her eyes to the floor and mumbled, “I’m sorry, Mummy.”
As I pulled Oliver’s door shut I paused to look at her. “I think when you get home you can spend a bit of time in your room to cool off,” I said, and she started bawling, but not genuinely – it was more like exaggerated crying, that I just pissed off my Mum so maybe if I cry really hard and really loud she’ll feel bad for me, which, unfortunately for her, had the opposite affect. I got in the front seat and announced that we were going to sit on the side of the road until Julia stopped crying, noting loudly that we would sit there all night if we had to.
“YEAH!” Oliver shouted with gusto from behind me. “We stay ALL NIGHT! You be BAD, Jooweah!”
She started to cry harder. Such supportive little stinker brother.
“Oliver,” I said in my best I’m warning you tone.
“You be BAD! Mummy MAD!” They glared at each other from their respective seats, Oliver in his glory; Julia fighting to keep herself together.
I’d had it by that point. “Oliver,” I said, my voice rising with each word. “Don’t yell at your sister! That’s my job!” – two sentences he repeated triumphantly about six hundred and fifty times that evening.
It’ll be fun times when someone actually asks him what his mother does for a living.
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On a more serious note – please click over to Meanie’s site and read this post. Ladies – stay aware. Stay safe.
33 Comments, Comment or Ping
Love how kids have the knack of picking up the exactly wrong phrase to repeat a thousand times (usually at the top of their voices).
October 4th, 2007
lol – oh the stubborn ones make for the best stories don’t they!
October 4th, 2007
must have been one of those days – grace lost her “pee wee’s playhouse” viewing privelege, which makes me sad, because i love me some pee wee too :(
October 4th, 2007
Awww poor Jooweah…so cute though – Thomas yells at me but has yet to be instantly remorseful. Lately we’ve had a lot of talks about how yelling at Mommy makes her sad. It seems to be working.
October 4th, 2007
I am so glad to read that it’s not just my kids. Although, at my house this kind of thing happens, like, daily…..multiple times.
Sometimes I do feel like yelling is my job. Ugh.
October 4th, 2007
I love the instantaneous remorse. Something, unfortunately, that will pass quickly. Sigh.
October 4th, 2007
Oh my! Hope that she stopped crying quickly!
October 4th, 2007
totally. cracking. up.
that made my stummick hurt, that story.
*gasping*
October 4th, 2007
I haven’t thought of the side of the road tactic, but the music on really loudly tactic? Oh, yeah.
October 4th, 2007
Oh yeah. Been there. The music thing is very effective.
October 4th, 2007
I can totally relate b/c John M. loves to take over correcting his sisters. Things like ‘You MEAN, Anna. And you bad!’. They just love that.
October 4th, 2007
mad skillz homegirl
nicely done.
I just paid someone $45/hr to basically tell me what I could have found out here for the price of broadband.
October 4th, 2007
And you did that whole thing without cracking up at all? Then you’ve won! Bravo.
October 4th, 2007
That story on Meanie’s site just breaks my heart…
October 4th, 2007
My mom could have used a lesson or two from you. She always threatened to leave me by MYSELF on the side of the road, an empty threat that even my five-year-old self knew held no water.
October 4th, 2007
Damn woman, I am the president of the Oliver fan club because that boy makes me LAUGH! (of course I probably would have gone insane listening to the non-stop repeat but hell, reading it is hilarious).
October 4th, 2007
Oh yeah. I’ve told my 2 year old a few times this week that onlyI get to yell at the baby, not him.
sigh
October 4th, 2007
Ahhhhh*sigh*. LOL!
:)
October 4th, 2007
A day of school is exhausting and trying on their little egos.
Brace yoursef hon, she’s gonna be trying on some different coats and attitudes for awhile.
You handled it beautifully and much more patiently than I have been lately.
October 4th, 2007
Isn’t it great when your kids insist on repeating everything you say? Chicky told me to “chill” today, too. For no reason. Just “Chill, Mommy”.
Something in the air?
October 4th, 2007
Heh. Just wait another year and watch J. and O. grow ever more ferocious with each other.
October 4th, 2007
This one made me laugh out loud. Little stinker, that Oliver is.
My two year old yelled at me for the first time last week, when it was time to leave the swimming pool. “Mummy, you ah makin me so MAD!”
It’s hard not to laugh when you hear those words coming out of their little mouths.
October 5th, 2007
Oh, I shouldn’t laugh, but I couldn’t help myself. Laughing with you, of course. Not at you. Well, only a little bit.
October 5th, 2007
That’s too funny. Poor Julia — sometimes this growing up thing is tough, they want so much to be independent but it takes a while for the body and emotions to catch up.
It’s interesting what kinds of parental phrases they love to repeat. I was driving to work one morning and stuck behind a slowpoke, and was crankily muttering “Go, go, go!” Now whenever we’re slowly driving behind someone, Rosie will pipe up “Go, go, go!”
I’m so proud.
October 5th, 2007
At least you didn’t say, “Don’t make me stuff a sock in your mouth!”
You know I’d never say that…..
October 5th, 2007
I remember the 2 km trip from home to daycare taking 20 minutes to complete because I was keeping my promise/threat that I would pull over to the side of the road and wait there until Rachel stopped crying. She’d stop, I’d signal and pull out, she’d start, I’d signal and pull over. Eight times. In 2 km. But it finally worked.
The thing that makes me laugh is that if one of the girls is in the doghouse for bad behaviour, the other one becomes so nauseatingly nice and good, just to rub it in to the one who’s in trouble — “Mom, *I* put my toys away, should I put Rachel’s away too? “
October 5th, 2007
My kids are always asking me when I’m going to get a “real” job. I just keep saying, “That’s a good question.”
October 5th, 2007
Totally hilarious. And sure to bite you in the butt some time in the future.
October 5th, 2007
Oh how I love these stories.
ha ha.
You poor girl!
Have a good weekend!
October 5th, 2007
that.was.awesome.
(and probably because it happened to you and not me.)
October 5th, 2007
*Phew* Oh boy, you are going to have your hands full *LOL*
Although, to Julia’s credit, she did apologize after she told you to chill out. My kids would have waited until I called the Gods down from heaven to strike them with lightening before an apology was forthcoming *heheheh*
October 5th, 2007
Oh dear. It can be tough to hold it together when they say something like that and really, your head is about to pop off. Sounds like you did FINE!
October 5th, 2007
The whole “No YOU chill out” thing cracks. me. up.
LOL! Lord….
October 6th, 2007
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