rotten day

Despite the long holiday weekend (and a shortened work week for Mike), this week has dragged on. I am tired, and my ears are ringing. The kids have been hyped up, Cameron's been a nut and Fletcher has been so darn crabby. He's perpetually teething, but this week has been worse than usual. He's cranky, whiny, demanding, full of grunts and shrieks and frustrated fits. He clings to my legs, and wants to be carried around all day (sitting down holding him is just not good enough). He's waking a little earlier than usual in the morning, and taking a nap that's about half as long as it should be (on a good day). This leads to a very moody, miserable boy, and a downright unpleasant home environment.

I'd just about had my fill today. He screeched and cranked all morning, and whined and shrieked through lunch. He spent our playdate writhing around on my lap, pulling on my shirt, banging his face into my chest. I put him down for nap and he proceeded to sleep for ONE HOUR. That's, like, 1/3 of his usual nap. Sigh. I got him up eventually, and as soon as he was down here he was throwing little fits over everything...not getting a snack, not being able to play in the pots and pans cabinet, running out of water in his sippy. It was 2:00 and I was losing it...Cam woke from all the noise, Fletch went back to bed, and I hadn't even sat down to have my lunch yet.

The Cranky One did not go back to sleep, but once Sid was up I brought them both down for a fresh start. I had spent naptime finishing up and storing some bean soup that had been cooking all morning, and making new playdough. I set the dough on the floor and called them over--in true crabby-Fletcher fashion, he was not an eager participant. At first.


I rolled some balls and tried again.


That piqued his interest.


He lifted it.


He squished it.


He tore it apart and yelled, "OHHH!"


By the end, he was loving it!


Not to be forgotten, Cam made cupcakes (which looked like little balls...first time he has attempted balls on his own!).


So, we had about 20 minutes of happy squeals. We all took deep breaths and smiled and laughed and got our hands a little messy squeezing some tension into the playdough. Fletcher is back to being moody and cranky, despite every last effort on my part to improve his attitude (snuggles, reading some books, an orange for snack...), but it's almost dinnertime...hopefully that will give us another few minutes of peace before bed. :)