::Serendipity::

Day Three in Daycare Despair ________________________________________________________________

This morning marks day three in watching my little nephew who is just two days older than Xander. It's been a hoot! It's so much easier having someone to keep Xander busy! I had no idea, or I would have borrowed another two year old much sooner!

Although Xander is acting differently. At first, it was fun to share all his toys with his cousin. He loved showing him around his room, having lunch together and someone who spoke his language. Yesterday, it started to change. Suddenly the word "no, that's mine" was heard a lot. Xander started calling him "butthead". Where did he even hear that? They take naps together, and Xander keeps his cousin awake by talking to him, singing to him and when that doesn't work, yelling. When it's time to get up, Xander is an irritable little turkey because he didn't get any sleep. He bit his sister, Maggie yesterday! BIT her! He doesn't do that! And then he refused to say he was sorry. His cousin looked on in shock.

Okay, I thought my son was the good kid. I love my nephew like my own, but when it comes right down to it, Xander is just a tiny bit cuter and smarter. Hey, I'm just being honest! He's mine, afterall! But this behavior is surprising and I'm having to remember parenting techniques long forgotten. Distraction doesn't always work now. That was always my ace in the hole with Xander and all I ever needed. Now I'm afraid my son is going to be a bad influence.

First of all, they are napping in separate rooms today.

Second, I have to stay vigilant every minute because if Xander gets one over on me once, it will snowball from there.

There was a third, but I forgot it when I went to go check on the boys. It got too quiet. They were in the freezer sneaking frozen mixed fruit that Maggie uses to make her smoothies. AH! It's never good when it's quiet.

I know this is probably just an adjustment period for Xander. Most of the time, he plays with him and brings him his cup, offers to share raisins and they are wonderful together. Yesterday, Xander moved his lunch over so he could sit next to his cousin. They hug goodbye every night. Unless Xander is in his crib because bit his sister of course. My son the biter. MY son. Jeez, I didn't realize how humbling this would be!

And my house is a lot cleaner too. Keeping the house has always been a huge challenge for me. Doing the same things every day bores me to tears and makes my brain feel like mush. Once the children got old enough to help out, Michael convinced me that I needed to take full advantage of that and chores were assigned. Occasionally I would feel guilty about having them do the dishes, or put their laundry away. I'm Mommy. That is my job. I got over it soon enough though. But things still could get out of hand. The laundry breeds overnight. Clutter creates more clutter and I wonder which came first, the stuff or the table the stuff is on.

Since this is one of my biggest shortcomings, I am attempting to stay on top of it with my nephew here more than ever. I want my SIL to feel good about leaving him with me. After another bout of insomnia, I woke up refreshed and got my rear in serious gear. I organized the baskets of laundry, getting over the guilt and finally tossing out stained clothes I never got around to work on. The worst is all the clothes that are too small for someone yet too big for someone else. I took over vacuuming yesterday, moving furniture and getting all the corners that the kids sometimes miss. The girls dusted, and I threw more stuff out. I folded about 5 loads of laundry.

Michael came home and thought he'd died and gone to heaven. Poor man. He tried to say the right thing to show his appreciation and encourage me. I can't remember what he said. All I remember are my hackles rising just a touch and the phrase, "don't get too used to it, buddy" popped in my head.

I still haven't worked out when we're doing school amongst all the disagreements, battles to get my nephew to eat his lunch before Xander eats it for him, keeping the house in order and not going nuts. I'll figure it out. When my son is being more agreeable, they keep one another occupied and that will be a huge advantage!

In the meantime, I've graduated to drinking two cups of coffee in the morning. I keep trying not to use a sleeping pill because I'm stubborn. I'm afraid I'm going to run out of Ambien before I get over whatever is causing my insomnia. My SIL is a sweetie and seems to understand if I'm not up and raring to go in the morning thank goodness.

Riley is helping me change the boys for their nap. I don't think I've ever heard the word "no!" uttered so many times in my life. I better go give her a hand! That girl is earning her 50%!

Wow, I think I used Xander's name about a dozen times in this entry! I keep using Xander's name because I don't want to publicize his cousin's name in case of stalkers. Okay, more likely because I don't want my SIL to read my blog if I can at all help it!

posted by Terri at 12/05/2007 10:36:00 AM >7 comments

7 Comments:

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