Because Sometimes You Just Need to Write it Down

I woke with a start at 7:20am this morning. Cayla was raging through the house screaming, “Someone wrote in my math book!!!!!!!!!!”

***crash, bash, thump***

Mustering my calm Mama vibe, since I do agree with her therapist that yelling back at Cayla when she is thick in a meltdown doesn’t really help anyone,“It’s probably your brother’s hon. Let me get up and help you find yours.”

***crash, crash, bam, bam***

“WHERE’S MY MATHBOOK?!?!?” A couple math books, presumably Collin’s come flying across the bed. I sneak in my little warning as I roll out of bed, “Cayla, keep control or you won’t get reward time today.” (She didn’t get it yesterday due to morning meltdown concerning a can of refried beans. By evening she had long forgotten the incident and was not very happy with her morning transgression.) The sound of a flinging book and ripping pages confirmed the inevitable. Positive reinforcement ain’t working today. Even the lure of time on the iPad won’t do it.

I quickly came downstairs to look for the missing book, which I was sure was in one of two places; “Cayla’s box” or the “math box” in the tower of Ikea bins lining our dining room. I found it and told her it was right here. She had been stalking back and forth on mission and happily called out in a sweet voice. “OK, Mom. I’m washing windows right now.”

Ummm . . . . OK . . . .

It’s now 7:45 and my kids are happily moving around the house cleaning all our windows. I should make Collin get dressed or eat breakfast. He has drama club today and needs to be walking out the door in 15 minutes. I should be finding out what Cayla wants for breakfast. This has not been an easy quest as of late. Yesterday morning found her bashing in a can of refried bean with the can opener. Only, one cannot actually bash open a can with a can opener. However, you can dent it so much that opening it with a can opener becomes extremely difficult. And who eats refried beans for breakfast? But, instead, I am sitting here typing, while my kids wash windows. It’s like a scene out of musical. But, now, Collin needs to be out the door in 5 minutes, so it’s time to cut the scene.

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So, you’ll be happy to know that Collin can get dressed and packed and happily waltz out the door with a piece of toast in hand in a mere 5 minutes. Cayla continued to wash the windows. I decided to pay attention to what she was actually doing. She was using the squirt bottle full of vinegar and water that I use to clean the guinea pig cage and a washcloth I’m pretty sure she used last night to wash her face. (I should note here that I don’t really, um, ever clean windows, and therefore don’t have any bottle of liquid actually dedicated to it. I suppose there are worse things one could spray on a window than vinegar and water.) She was being quite generous with her sprays and the 100-year-old wooden window frames were getting quite a vinegar bath. I normally would have told her to stop, in not the pleasantest of voices, but she was singing and had her happy pants on so I left well enough alone.

Luckily, right about then, our friend L, whom I was watching for the morning, walked through the door. In a burst of genius I asked Cayla if she wanted to stay home from school for the morning and play with a L. Cayla has had a rough couple of weeks and needed a mental health day – not so funny when your kid does have mental health issues, but I FULLY understand where the nickname comes from now. And, a morning with L was too tempting for Cayla to resist. You see, Cayla.Loves.School. It’s really hard to keep her home. She gets really mad at snow days and random professional development days. She doesn’t look forward to weekends or vacations and insists that she doesn’t need a break. So, luckily, L was here to lure her into a relaxing morning.

They made valentines for most of the morning. Here they are "secretly" making some confetti aka ice cream. Great teamwork, don't you think? They switched off every time their hands hurt. At one point the pain was too great and they let me in on the secret asked me punch holes.

After they tired of valentine and ice cream making, they spend some quality time with the guinea pig. They fed her more vegetables than she should eat in a week and L proudly proclaimed, "I touched her teeth!" Um, don't tell her Dad who despises rodents. This happy party ended when Elly peed all over the couch - the part I can't put in the washer . . .

While I cleaned up the pee with window washing vinegar, Cayla and L escaped upstairs to do a little sewing. They both worked hard on their projects - right up to lunch time. We all watched in amazement as L tied her shoes (she recently learned how and was insistent upon an audience) and I packed them off to school.

All in all, a fine morning.