Today was one of those days that makes me feel really jealous that Trey gets to leave the house for 8 hours every Monday through Friday. Most of the time I'm incredibly grateful that I get to be home with the kids. And most of the time I really enjoy it.
And then there are days like today. Perrin started the morning by painting himself with yogurt. When I insisted that he take a bath, he threw a temper tantrum that lasted nearly an hour (no kidding. An HOUR. Of screaming. My eye is twitching just thinking about it.)
Once he was clean and the sniffles finally subsided, he spilled milk all over my carpet--no biggie, it happens--but then at some point while I was distracted, he managed to glue a piece of paper to our dining room table. Then he flushed an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet. I managed to fish some of it out with the toilet plunger before it all disappeared down the hole, but the toilet was definitely making some gurgly noises this afternoon. Then Perrin found my Kindle and promptly destroyed my expensive leather cover with built-in light by breaking off the metal contacts (this is actually the second time he's broken one of these... you'd think I'd find a way to keep it away from him, but honestly, this kid is so resourceful that nothing is truly out of reach).
By the time Trey came home, I was seething. "Take. Your. Son. NOW." Trey, being an intelligent and observant man, could tell that I was a teensy bit upset. He let me lock myself in our bedroom for 30 minutes while he and the boy had a little chat and my blood pressure returned to somewhat normal.
Perrin came up to me later with his sweetest little voice and said, "Sorry Mama. You forgive me?" The truth is, I was still angry. I was exhausted. And I had a choice about how I was going to respond--I could do what I felt like doing and lock myself away for the rest of the night. Or I could do what I knew I needed to do, and what I knew Perrin needed me to do, and give him a hug and tell him I love him no matter what. I chose the latter.
I tucked Perrin into bed a few minutes ago. Perrin looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes and said, "I want to pick dandelions tomorrow and bring them to you." My heart melted. What an angel.
