When Preschoolers Attack!!!!

Thus far I have written about the many happy sides of life with Ms. Morgan, however upon occasion we have some I seriously want to pull my hair our, go hide in my room and tell myself it's all going to be okay moments. Now, I used to see parents everywhere losing their patience and thought psht (not sure how to type out the sound I made) wow, they should really relax... or I would never do that in a public place.. or... so many I would nevers... so many. Well, now I have gone from I would never to I totally would. And, I look at other moms having troubles and completely sympathize - completely. 

My recent troubles have occurred on home territory (thank all that is holy for that). I was thinking about it today and it reminds me of when animals attack, except with small humans. Morgan is talented at many things, one of which is the 5 second personality change. One minute - content, happy - next, she is recreating the scene from the Exorcist... 

Now you are thinking the following - have you spoiled her? um, yep. Have you reigned over your home with complete authoritah (yes, I meant to spell it that way)? well, no not completely. Have you practiced due diligence in "following through"? not exactly... I put quotes around following through because that is big problemo numero uno.  Last night I committed to the great art of following through. I will say the biggest issue with following through is that it requires sacrifice and tons of patience on my part (i.e. not end up in my room coaching myself in the mirror - saying you can do this).  The sacrifice occurs when I take away something like TV - well, I take if from myself then too. 

Morgan had a tantrum in the morning so TV and dessert had been taken away for that night - oh and the library, I also took that away for the weekend - which feels funny, I am not sure if taking away something of benefit is good? anyway, it's all I had in my bag of rewards / fun things so it went. (and yep, it was THAT bad of a morning).  By afternoon, she wanted to convince me and herself that the bad behavior had occurred the day before and of course, that she would be good moving forward. But, I held strong - much to her dislike which caused the night tantrum. Dinner was an issue, so much so that her plate filled with food went into the sink, bath was an issue - a quick rinse down was all that could take place, pajamas were an issue - too bad, so sad, they went on, until an immediate 7:30 bed time was mandatory. 

I will say, I liked 7:30 bed time and I kind of want to keep it. I think it has benefits on her end too as she seemed really overtired. Plus a whole 2 1/2 hours to accomplish things such as laundry and cleaning and hearing my own thoughts, ha ha. This morning she woke up in a good mood, asked for TV but did not break down when I told her no, asked to go to Starbucks for a vanilla milk, but only whimpered once when I said not today and reminded her why. She asked for pancakes and I obliged, a) because she did not have dinner the night before and I knew she had to be starving and b) it's a small reward for good behavior. 

By afternoon she was more than willing to cooperate, listened as she should, and actually ate her dinner. I know I have not won the war, but I feel like this battle victory goes to team mommy.  

   

This was a test...only a test...

Test

Ha ha... But seriously, I discovered this new handy dandy tool that allows me to post to the blog directly from my cell phone by text. Now, given my current capabilities this allows me exactly 160 characters or less (guess I do need that crackberry) and I have had trouble with the photo send thus far...but a step forward and should provide for some interesting, albeit very very short postings. 

Happy Friday!

Freehand..

Some Recent Artwork... 

Shop-A-holic...

As you have seen, heard, read Morgan is VERY particular about her clothes and I in no way can buy clothes for her. If she doesn't like it - she won't pick it and I can not have a single garment of clothing not be used. I have had success in buying single items here and there, but I do not press my luck. 

Yesterday I decided we should  take a detour before heading home, destination - the MALL. Oh how happy my little one becomes when the MALL is mentioned (shopping of any kind for that matter).  If it involves purchasing she is game - even so far as loving the grocery store - my wallet hurts just to think of  her passion. 

She still had some money left on her gift card from Christmas (I had it tucked away for Spring shopping) and so off we went to Dillards. The square footage of the small(er) kid area was not very large - I guess small kids = small area of the store, but for what there was she found plenty of things to love. There were comments such as - oh mama - look at this, isn't this cute, and oh I love it, can I get this? 

We entered the dressing room with a pile of clothes - I looking like her personal shopping concierge - and tried on every last one of them. She quite enjoys trying clothes on and checking herself out in the mirror, but it has also become a necessity given the random sizing of clothes, the same number size is not the same universal size and fit - and so that horror of shopping begins at the age of 4.  

Needless to say, we ended our trip with a cleaned out gift card and excess applied to mommy's card. She landed herself some cute new additions to her clothing collection and is quite happy. The best part of new clothes is how excited she is to get dressed - this morning was so easy as she sorted through only the new items to complete her ensemble which was as always -  stylish, eclectic, and totally Morgan. 

It's Kind of Like Hibernation...

SO... I am WAY delayed in crafting a blog - WAY delayed, but as the title says it's kind of like hibernation. I filled up on rapid fire blog posts before fading into a quiet sleep for the last few weeks. As you may have guessed things have been a bit busy, but I was also just taking some time to not do as much as possible and  trust me, not doing much is pretty hard and there are few things that can fall by the wayside. In any event we're back and my break should ensure a smattering of interesting posts and creative babble - we shall see I guess (ps - I kind of really love the word smattering). 

Our last few weeks in brief: 

The Valentine's Tree (of yes, we did it) 

It's official - we created a Valentine's tree. I actually had made a joke about not needing to take down a Christmas tree (this only applies to fake of course) because you can just change out the decorations and keep it going. Two weeks after Xmas I had not yet taken down the tree and it was time for action. I stopped and thought about it - why not have a Valentines Tree? We love the Christmas tree, the lights, the decorations, etc. - let's expand the wonder. Plus I think it's something that a 4-year-old finds amazingly fun - at 13 (even 8 probably) she will think me weird, so I will move forward with the truly and semi-eccentric activities while she is young.  

We kept the plain silver and red  ornaments on the tree, switched the tree skirt out with a plain red table cover I have, and then proceeded to add valentines cards and heart decorations. 

I even wrote a song (alright - re-wrote): 

Oh Valentines Tree, Oh Valentines Tree, You are so truly awesome

Oh Valentines Tree Oh Valentines Tree, You are so truly awesome

This year you bring to us delight, with hearts colored of pink and white

Oh Valentines Tree, Of Valentines Tree, You are so truly awesome

It was a quirky and fun thing to do - although a little less awesome that I had hoped. A tree hanging around for a great deal of time does help to break down the wonder a little and yeah, people do look at you funny - my brother was the prime candidate.  

Soccer

Morgan started soccer two weeks ago. She's had two practices and her first game was last Saturday (pics / video to come soon). She was quite excited about the apparel - shin guards, cleats (with pink stripes no less), purple ball, etc.. but then we found out the team was ALL boys and her - this she has not been uber-excited about. She seemed engaged at practices but game day was a different story. At the game she was very generous in making sure everyone else got play time and took many breaks.  She said she was cold (and it was cold - 8:30 a.m., no more than low 50s / high 40s) so we will see what happens this week with the addition of expanded thermal gear. 

Sleeping Arrangements

Morgan has decided she likes the family bed concept. She always stayed in her own bed and now (it seems to be building as a habit / scheduled activity) she has been bunking with me for 1/2 the night. She falls asleep in her own bed, but sure enough 5 nights out of 7 the 3 a.m. shuffle of feet arrives in my room. She is always very quiet and sometimes creeps into the bed without me knowing - I just wake up and there she is. When I put her to bed I ask "so, let's stay in our own beds all night - okay" to a response of "ummm, let me think about it" (AKA, probably not - but good try mama). This is our most pressing relationship issue - co-sleeping (which in all honesty is very sweet sometimes) does not add up to adequate sleep when it's ALL the time.  A recent idea thrown my way is to let her have a night where she can sleep in my bed, say Friday or Sat. - this may just work - until then this is me with foot imprints on my back signing off. ha ha ha... but seriously little people feet are dangerous.

Gallery Post - Phily 5 + Things that Purr and Fly

I have been slacking in the posts, however I promise a full Valentine's report soon! We are in the process of making her valentines for class and I think they are great. Dollar store + a little time = fun valentine. Until then, view the new weekly gallery contribution. 

Gallery Post - The Letter Ee and a Girl Like Me