The Boss

I have told a few people that sometimes I want to set up a video camera in my house for an entire day just to show what goes down in my house on a daily basis. I feel like noone understands what its really like on a "bad" day in the Fine house. Or maybe this goes on in every house. Mark seems to think its me because the kids aren't like this when I'm not around. Apparently I am just really fun to be bad for. So the new thing is Max just bosses me around all day long. Literally from the second he gets up until the time he goes to sleep at night with a break for when he naps during the day, he is yelling commands at me. Sometime between 2 and a half and 3 and a half, I became his slave. Here is kind of how it goes, beginning with him getting into our bed at 6:30

MOMMY I WANT MY BOOKS
NO MY NEW BOOKS
READ IT REEEEADDDDDD IT
I WANT TO GO DOWNSTAIRS
NOOOOOWWWWWWWW
I WANT JUICE AND CHOCOLATE MILK
NOT THIS CUP IN THE BUZZ LIGHTYEAR CUP
YOU DIDN'T PUT ENOUGH CHOCOLATE IN IT
WHERE IS MY BLUE CHAPSTICK
WHERE IS THE ORANGE LION KING
WHERE IS THE BACK OF MY BLACKBERRY
WHERE IS MY PHONE
WHERE IS THE BACK OF MY PHONE
LOOK FOR ITTTTTT
LOOK FOR ITTTTT
YOU'RE NOT LOOKING FOR IT
MALLORY IS PLAYING WITH MY ______
SHE CAN'T PLAY WITH MY______ (goes over and grabs whatever mallory has and hits her over the head with it)
MOMAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY MOMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

and that goes on and on all. day. long. Sorry for the all caps but that is the best way to explain what it sounds like. It's a yelling whining mixture. I end up ignoring alot of it and then following some of it because its the only way he'll stop. I'm sure I've touched on this before but Rachel brought it to my attention recently that the thing with Max that might be "different" than other kids is that he doesn't really care about what I think. I know that when I was little, I wanted my parents to be happy, I wanted to be a good girl and make everyone proud of me. Max is not trying to impress me or make us happy. He's trying to do the exact opposite. Literally. So the whole "that's a rule", "that makes me sad", "big boys don't do that" thing, does not work with a kid like him. And that is why I laugh at people who say things like "oh well hes not allowed to do this this and this and this". Max isn't "allowed" to do those things either. But that doesn't mean anything to him. When Rachel and I were talking about it she said said something like when you don't have something to hold over their head that they care about like a rule, or a prize, or being happy/proud, etc. then you have no control. That is exactly it. I have no control over alot of my day and it is HARD. I've tried ALOT, read books, done charts, given prizes, taken things away, time outs, ignoring, etc. Its still hard.

Then again I just had a very nice bedtime routine with him where I read a book and we played footsies in his bed and were both cracking up. So the sweet little boy is there, its just this monster that comes out during the day sometimes. I don't get it.

He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping

Anyway...just when I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel, we have some regression that reminds me it's always going to be something! Any suggestions??

In other news. Mallory can count to 10. Kind of...




She's doing lots of things...saying more words, playing with more things. She's also doing some things that I don't love like completely ignoring me sometimes, throwing tantrums, eating things that aren't food. We had our mommy and me class again today and she spit up in the gym. So she has had some kind of throwing up experience in 2 out of the 3 times we have been there. This wasn't like last time but it's still very strange. There was no salt involved this time, just alot of running around in the gym. Maybe I need to feed her less before class? Or maybe she is feeling alot of peer pressure and has some anxiety when she gets to school. lol.


Her biggest fear is not getting a second helping of star of david cookies. Either that or that the teacher will yell "Zoom" too loudly during zoom gali gali. She cried today because she got scared of that song and I actually tried it out at home and she got scared at the same part of the song-where you whisper and then yell at the end. Maybe being 3 months shy of 2 years old is just a really stressful time in her life!