The Five-and-a-halves
I always find it hard to blog when things are rough around the edges. I guess this is because I’m whipped at the end of the day. I’m way too emotionally drained to be creative and form complete sentences. And, when we’re in the thick of things, stuff just isn’t funny. And my mother-in-law once reprimanded me for writing a “depressing” entry, so I try to refrain. Well, with an intro like that, I’m sure you are wondering what is going on! It’s the darn 5 ½ s. Our 2’s were NOT terrible, the 3’s were great, the 4’s fun*. And even the beginning of 5 was full of magic. But now, at 5 ½ , I want to know who’s kidnapped my lovely kids. Who are these mini-monsters** that have taken up residence in our home? Yes, folks, we’ve hit the “foul 5 ½ s” (and that's not the f-word that initially came to mind). At 2 (the alleged “terrible” age) my kids did not:
- squeeze out half a tube of brand new toothpaste (Cayla)
- repeatedly scream “NO! I WON’T!!!!” while crossing arms, stomping feet, and scrunching up face (Collin)
- pull/rip the CD drawer off the computer (Cayla)
- call his grandmother a “bad person” to her face (Collin)
I’m going to stop here because anything beyond this would be pure ‘piss and moan’, but I’ll leave you with my favorite Flannery quote, overheard last night, “Cayla, when I say stop, I mean stop, not do it 3 times fast.”
*Selective memory is a wonderful thing
**Flannery's suggested word was "piss ants"
posted by Erica @ 2:08 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
When the crazies hit here I always go to my Cylces of Development chart from the Gesell Institute---here's 5 1/2 years old (and some kids aren't always right on--they may be six months ahead or behind):
Breakup stage: *oppositional, *at odds with selves and environment, *boiling and bubbling, *ritualistic
6 years old is called "Sorting out". Hang in there :-) I gave my sister the chart 9 years ago with her first baby and it's still on her fridge. She would always joke that she would be stressed out by something, check the list and find out it made perfect sense--and she was alway hopeful because she knew the disequilibrium would be followed by equilibrium.
I'm glad it's just that the kids are piss-ants and not sick or anything. I can relate to piss-ants :-)
Julie
ps---Cayley....she's in the same stage (they cycle back and forth through seven stages from birth to age 18)
OK, so my bubbling, boiling kids are just going through a stage? They haven't become the spoiled, rude, annoying kids we avoid on the playground? Perhaps these "stages" should take place out of the house - perhaps Aunt Julie can lead them though it during a really long sleep-over?
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