a week of no yelling

2-1-13

My throat actually got sore last night from not yelling.

Ok, that’s not really true. I am sure it was not sore from that, but still, I find it humorous that after 5 full days of not yelling, I had a sore throat. It actually feels better this morning. I will be sure to drink some extra tea to help it out. I also need to give a shout out to my good friend Ny-Quil who allowed me to fall into a wonderfully deep coma  that has left me with random glimpses of interesting dreams I had last night.

After good sleep I find myself busting out into song. Usually it is a variation of “I Could Have Danced All Night” that replaces key words with slept.

I have a night off from kids this evening. After school, Ken and I take the boys over to my folks where they will spend the night along with most of tomorrow. I don’t know what our plans are of yet. I had considered going and seeing a movie, specifically Hansel and Gretel. Not sure if this will take place or not.

Tomorrow looks to be long, especially after glancing at the preliminary agenda. 8:30 to 2:30. Sheesh. I spent a good deal of yesterday prepping budgets and going over strategy on how to revamp the way it is being done while still allowing for the AYSO way. I am going to end up creating an internal budget that will need to essentially have the RC and I give each head of “department” their own amount that I will need to keep track of. I had been hoping that perhaps the NAP codes would only be associated with one job, but sadly it looks like several people take from the same pot. Bleah.

I have considered riding my bike tomorrow to the meeting. The problem is, I am going to need to bring a lot of stuff with me including a lap top and my briefcase. Sigh. I think this means it will be a car ride. The only plus is that we can leave from the meeting and go straight to get the boys.

Sunday I get rewarded for my good behavior with a trip to Don Jose’s. Woo! Grammie is supposed to meet us out there and she is bringing her albums that my mom and I put together so many years ago. The rest of my Sunday then will be spent scanning old images of her so we can get them together for her party in March. I suppose really I have shit tons of time, but I am hoping to get them scanned quickly so we can get the buttons done soon.

As the boys were putting away toys last night before their shower, I told Dax to put a particular Nerf Gun in the playroom. He argued with me that it goes outside. I explained to him calmly that it needs to go inside. He argued that he found it outside and therefore it goes outside. I responded as low key as possible that it now needs to be inside. He actually argued with me again. So I decided to stop it right there. I looked at him and told him due to his attitude and insistence at arguing with me, he would not be allowed to watch a show before bedtime, and I walked away. I did not raise my voice. I didn’t even sound angry. I just wanted him to understand that I would not engage in this kind of behavior any further.

He was beside himself with tears.

He screamed. He hollered. He yelled. He cried. He did every word in the thesaurus for the loud sobs coming out of his mouth. He came into the bathroom, still crying, in order to get his shower started. He announced, “You are always so mean to me!”

“Yes, I am. I am a horrible mom.”

“No you are not!” he bellowed.

“What?”

“You are a really nice mom! You are always really nice to me.”

“Ok, then why are you telling me I am always mean?”

“You are being mean right now!”

Dude, kid, you really are upset when you are actually having this conversation. I explained to him that I wasn’t being mean. I told him that I can’t have him arguing with me over every little thing. He seemed to understand, and even had a decent conversation with me. One of these days he will figure out his stubbornness comes from me and that I have way more experience with how to use it to my advantage. He asked if he could watch a show. I told him if he was less pissy I would be ok with it. His attitude improved instantly.

Sure, it is incredibly hard to not just do what I normally do, which is scream and holler and basically do what Dax does. But hopefully I can lead by example and one day Dax, who is as crazy as me, will learn how to use his intellect and strength to be insightful and calm.

I asked the boys if they had noticed anything different about me this last week. Bobby was so cute with his quick answer of, “Oh! You lost weight!” God I love that kid. I thanked him but told him that wasn’t what I was referring to. He said he noticed that I had not been as loud and angry. He and Dax agreed it was really cool. I have been able to make my kids happy and be less crazy.

If only they would help me out from time to time and make it so I don’t have to yell. LOL!