A Whine About Whining

Yes, you read that title correctly. I am about to whine about whining. You, however, are very lucky. If you don't want to read my whining you can click that awesome little red X at the top of your screen and *POOF* the whining goes away. Unfortunately for me, kids don't come with that handy little red X. There's no magic button on a child to make them stop whining. Believe me I've tried to find one.

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (if you've never read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day you should definitely check it out). It started out okay. Jillian was smiling and laughing which never fails to put a smile on my face even early in the morning when I'm still clearing sleep crust from my eyes. Ben was cuddly and happy. The three of us snuggled on the couch to watch Handy Manny (which is much less annoying than Caillou).

Then the whining started. First it was for a snack. No problem, he'd eaten breakfast and was still hungry. I don't let him have junk early in the morning so I suggested some healthy snacks. This resulted in him yelling "No mama" over and over again until I wanted to grab the nearest kitchen utensil and puncture my ear drums. I finally got him to agree to a cheese stick. *Score one for me and the Polly-O company* He inhaled the cheese stick and then played for a while. I made the mistake of thinking all was good.

It was time for the baby to nap and even though it was early yet Ben was ready to nap as well. He wanted me to lay with him so we all snuggled up in his bed and I nursed Jillian. She fell asleep and he was almost asleep. Then she woke up after 2 minutes which got him all irritated. I took her to the living room and he refused to stay in bed. Fine. I nursed her some more and she was sound asleep...or so I thought. She suddenly popped her eyes open and turned her head towards me and smiled as if to say "haha Mommy I fooled you."

Ben finally napped and Jillian continued to refuse. I fed her and fed her and she was still fussing. I finally decided to try some brown rice cereal. This was pretty much her first time having solids. Well she scarfed that stuff down like you wouldn't believe and was much happier afterward. She fell asleep for about 20 minutes and was then wide awake again.

Ben had speech therapy today and it went well at first. He fell apart the last 15 minutes though. Even his therapist noticed his total attitude change. So he spent the last bit of therapy time in his bed crying because I sent him there. The whole afternoon just went downhill from there. Everything was a battle that turned into a fit of whining.

When Jeremy walked through the door he barely made it to the living room when I said "Hi, I'm clocking out for a break. If anyone so much as touches the bedroom door I may have to divorce you." I laid down and was asleep in minutes. I needed that.

The evening didn't go any better. Even Jeremy, who is Mr. Laid Back, had lost his patience with Ben. We finally sent him to bed at 7:45 which is early for him but we just couldn't take it anymore. Jillian was good this evening though. I gave her a bath which is one of her favorite things. She just lays there staring up at me and smiling. Ben has already woken up whining once. We'll see how the rest of the night goes.

I think I'll move to Australia. (again read the above mentioned book)