Candy

Candy Run

Yesterday was so challenging that when D finally got home (he had to work later than usual - I'm not complaining), I handed over the reins and headed out on a candy run.  Sitting at the G's was, for the most part, easy.  Elise and Nolan were cake.  In fact, Nolan slept most of the time I was there.  The problem comes with Avery.  She was a total madwoman.  At our house, with E & N, she's fine.  A little more hyper than usual, but fine.  But when it's just me at their house, I think she gets jealous of the time I'm spending with Elise and Nolan.  That's the only thing I can think of.  She also will not nap or sit for quiet time at their house when I'm there.

Since there was no nap, Avery fell asleep on the way home. I let her sleep for 30-45 minutes, then woke her up.  Bad idea.  She was in one of her uncontrollable tantrum modes.  Those actually don't make me mad (anymore) because I've come to understand that it's not like a usual whining/mini-two-minute-tantrum where she doesn't get what she wants.  It's just her losing her shit and not being able to help it.  At one point, I sat down on the floor next to her.  She's screaming and crying and has her arms out as if she wants me to hold her, but every time I make a move to do so, she cries even louder and moves away.  So I just sat there.  She slowly turned towards me bit by bit.  After about five minutes she leaned towards me and let me hold her and that broke the spell.  Thank goodness these moments are relatively rare now.

Tonight I'm going to dinner and movie (The Switch) with friends, so that should be a nice stress reliever after a day of no napping (neither me nor Avery).

Nap drop?

I think Avery is getting close to dropping her nap.  She's still napping at school, but naps outside of her car seat are becoming more rare.  The only reason I'm not freaking out is because, at home, she will do an hour or so of quiet time in her room where she reads books or plays with her dolls. 

Dog Walks

I've learned that Avery is easy to take on the shorter dog walks that I take with Eddie.  I take Turtle on those now, too.  The shorter walks are only a mile, so she is able to stay focused on walking the whole time.  She runs about half the time, so that works quite well because she stays ahead of me and the dogs.

Babysitting Summary

Today went better overall.  I learned a few lessons from yesterday.  First, have a very set routine when taking the girls up for quiet time (carry your milk, but don't drink it; pick out three books each; go potty; you each stay in your rooms; goodnight & I love you).  It turned out better, though still not a stellar success. Next, don't let Avery fall asleep in the car on the way home.  Finally, have no expectations of doing anything other than watching the kids and cleaning up after them.

We spent the majority of post-quiet time playing letter and color games I made up.  First, I got the big foam letters and lined them up on the floor so the girls could see them.  I positioned the girls across the room, then had them take turns coming forward and grabbing the letter I told them to.   The next game was grabbing a letter I told them to grab, then placing them on place markers on the floor to form simple words (CAB, BOX, etc).  Next, I had them come up and identify the color of the letter I was holding, then place it in the appropriate color pile on the floor.  Finally, Avery made up her own game jumping on the letters.  That was not so successful because Elise wanted to help set up and Avery wouldn't let her.  So, of course, then when it came time to play Avery's game, Elise didn't want to play.  After the games, Nolan, Avery, and I danced for a while; Elise watched.  When Elise heard her grandpa coming in to relieve me of my duties, then she decided that she would start dancing.