Insanity

I know the definition of insanity.

Still, after taking a break for a few weeks, Nick took all four kids to church again tonight.

I stayed at home, alone, surrounded by peace and quiet.

At exactly 9:28 PM, that peace was abruptly shattered as GracieGirl came tearing in the door, sucking her thumb, crying because she was so tired.

Her day began at 9:00 AM at school, she was home for 10 minutes at 3:00 before going off to her after-school program, where she was picked up at 6:00 and went directly to church. No wonder she was tired!

She clung to me, crying, while E stormed in. GracieGirl went to the bathroom, which was when E started screaming frantically that he had to go potty. This is typical behavior for him, and I yelled to Nate over E's screaming and asked him to take E upstairs to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, there was no sign of Nick or Jay. Finally, Jay came trudging in, eyes downcast. Nick informed me that Jay's Skylanders were missing. Now, I don't know exactly what Skylanders are, except that they are Jay's current obsession. He lives and breathes Skylanders, and the fact that they were missing was beyond devastating to him. He was convinced that someone had broken into the car while they were in church, stolen his Skylanders (while leaving the checkbook that Nick had accidentally left there), relocked the car, and taken off with his valuables.

As E came tearing back downstairs, I helped tearful GracieGirl get into her pajamas, while Nick doled out meds and supplements. Jay sat at the table in a complete panic, hyperventilating. There's such a fine line to walk when he's in that state; he needs his meds so we have to be firm, but we also have to be sympathetic or he goes off the deep end. After much coaxing, I got him to take his meds. He then returned to the table to hyperventilate and do art therapy, aka angrily drawing all over the paper. I was thankful he was letting out his feelings.

E then melted down because he never got to play today, and begged for "just 12 more minutes" until he had to get his pajamas on. I obliged, slowly counting to 12, in between attempting to calm Jay and hold GracieGirl, who was too afraid to go brush her teeth. Nate, who was my lifesaver tonight, took GracieGirl up to brush her teeth, so I could focus on the other two boys.

E then asked if he could please, please, please sleep in his clothes. I told him that would be fine, as long as he changed into clean clothes. Then he begged to wear his sleeveless basketball jersey, the same one he'd raged about in the morning when I said he couldn't wear it to school. At that point, I didn't care if he wore a dress to bed, as long as he went to bed! He put on the jersey...and then wanted the shorts to go with it. I told him where to find them, and off he went.

Jay was starting to calm down a bit, and was ready to go upstairs but reminded me that he didn't have any sheets on his bed because he'd taken his sheet outside and attempted to go windsurfing with it and the broom. He wasn't able to surf but he did manage to tear the sheet in two. I asked Nick to find a sheet for Jay's bed, at the exact same time that E started screaming that he needed grapes! I reminded him that he has a banana before bed, nothing else. He screamed that he needed grapes. I ignored him. He finally came down and got a banana but it fell apart and so did he. So Nick found a new banana for him, which he ate too fast and gagged on (a regular occurrence these days). He also started itching, so Nick gave him meds and took him up for a treatment because he was wheezing.

Jay came back downstairs and was getting worked up again, so I gave him the extra privilege of playing a computer game, only because I knew, if he just calmed down a bit, his meds would kick in and he'd be out.

So, it's 11:11 and the house is peaceful, at least for now. They usually start waking up at around 1:00, so I'll savor the silence while it lasts.

I know that Nick needs church, but I'm just not able to take care of the kids while he's gone. So, I'm just going to pray for a sitter to show up on Wednesdays...because there is no way we're sending the kids next week and having a repeat of tonight! :)

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