Day 106 & 107: A Case of the Mondays, and A Lot of Meetings

Day 106: 

Shadows of daisies on the kitchen counter.

Wow. This was a tough day in the parenting realm. William is such a puzzle sometimes, and today he proved particularly difficult to piece together. Just randomly, Taiya picked up a ball that belongs to William and tossed it. Nothing aggressive, nothing intentional, just picked up a ball and tossed it. This set off a two-hour-long anger fit that I had to deal with. He kept chasing Taiya or running into the room where she'd set up her doll and doll furniture in order to smash it. I refuse to let him hurt her or break her stuff, so while for minor fights I let them sort it out themselves, in times like these I have to intervene. Jeremy was, of course, on the phone for a meeting for work while all of this was happening, so basically I just sat in the rocking chair on the porch, with William held tightly in my arms so he wouldn't hurt Taiya or ruin her toys. I tried to make him laugh, to distract him, tried to take away privileges (this used to work, but it hasn't lately), but he would always return to trying to hurt Taiya. I asked him why he was so mad: "Is this all because she touched your football? Really?" "YES!" was his reply. He smiled a little, as if he kind of knew how out of proportion this reaction was, but it didn't change how he was acting. He told me he hated me, that our house was stupid (he has started defiantly saying this forbidden word), that he hated Taiya, that he wasn't inviting us to his birthday party, on and on. And I know he is a five-year-old and is not to be blamed, but it wears on me. By the end of this, when Jeremy finally returned, himself frazzled from some work-related frustration, I was near tears. I have a hard time blocking out the tornado of negative energy that is William when he's angry. Thankfully, Taiya wasn't too upset - she could see that I was protecting her and her doll, and she was kind of amused at the scene. I'm grateful she wasn't taunting him or anything like that. 

We all went to do chores in the evening, and while the kids had cheered up, Jeremy and I were both pretty fried from our respective frustrations. I will admit that I was peeved with him for no particularly justifiable reason, and I was relieved when we finished chores, made it through dinner, and we could all retreat to our respective corners and have alone time. I played my ukulele for a while on the porch, singing and strumming and sipping my non-alcoholic beer, and finally felt myself relaxing. 

At story time, Taiya and I read about dragons and ships and magical islands in The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. William wanted books about the ocean, so we read a book on coral reefs and about Inky the Octopus. Then, blessed sleep. 

Day 107: 

I had three meetings back-to-back in the morning, from 9 to noon, and then another meeting that lasted an hour and a half from 2 to 3:30 pm. It was all good and productive, and it was nice to see the faces of my coworkers on my computer screen, but after it was all done I was so glad to go to the pool with my kids and just float for a while. 

COVID cases are still spiking in the counties all around us. Information is coming out about long-term affects of COVID, and it's freaking terrifying. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is being totally unwilling to make any hard decisions like shutting things down or making people wear masks. And don't even get me started on our national "leadership"... November can't come soon enough.