Another one of those mornings...

There are days when managing three kids, specifically two two year old twin boys, isn't so hard... and there are days when... well... it is. It just is. Think about it, two terrible two aged boys, who are brothers.

Steve was away yesterday, so it was just me and the kids. We had a bunch of errands to run and I was hopeful it would go smoothly. I am so silly!

Collin has decided that only he can pick out his outfits now and days. I gave him a couple very nice choices, but his response was "NO!" in a loud screech to each and every. He then went to his closet and picked a shirt he wanted and handed it to me with a look on his face as if to say "You have no fashion sense mom, THIS is what I want to wear." I bowed to His Hiney...er... I mean... His Highness, and dressed him in his desired wear.

We headed downstairs for shoes, where His Highness dug into the closet and pulled out his water shoes from last year... which don't even fit (or I wouldn't have cared). Basically we had to have the "either you put on your sneakers or you can stay home" discussion. He eventually got on board.

Apparently we have hit the "don't touch me" and more stage because the entire car ride Collin was aggravating Oliver and Oliver was yelling at Collin. They can't touch where they are seated... nope... this was Collin being too loud (Collin is very loud period) and Oliver telling him to stop. Of course, being the ornery child he is, that only made Collin smile bigger and do it louder as Oliver started cry yelling at him to stop again. The. Entire. Ride.

Since the twins don't like the side by side bench carts, I have to put one in the seat and one into the basket area. As I handed items to Oliver (as I typically do), Oliver put them in the cart with Collin (as he typically does) and Collin proceeded to yell "NO!" and throw them either back up to Oliver who then started screaming his protest or out of the cart altogether. (that is not typical)

Then we only, heaven forbid, walked one side of the fish tank display at the store. Oliver freaked out. So, we backed up and went around the entire display. Then when I said, "Okay, say bye bye to the fishes" (as I typically do), he started scream crying all over again... for another five minutes as we made our way through the store... people staring. What? You've never seen a crying toddler before? Come on people.

To add to this, ornery Collin kept playing with the strap on the seat of the cart (where Oliver was sitting) which ticked Oliver off who kept saying "NO, don't touch it Collin!" Once the strap was inaccessible to Collin, he just started touching Oliver instead, which as you might guess started the "NO, stop touching me Collin!"

During this, Collin kept standing up in the basket area of the cart where I put him. Now, having worked retail in my much younger years, I recall vividly the movie they showed us of kids falling out of carts... so I have a no tolerance rule about such things. Collin needed to be reminded several (billion) times. It was hard to be too upset... at first at least... because every time I reminded him he said "Oh!" and sat back down, as if he had merely forgotten he wasn't to do that. I know better. This kid may have a speech disorder and not be able to talk well, but he is very smart.

I am certain at this point that we will be banned from this particular store soon. I just know it. Or at the very least, when we walk in they get on their little phones, spreading the word.

Meanwhile, my first born Ethan was perfect. Bless him. He actually kept giving me hugs all day. Just silent hugs. It was unclear as to whether he saw the distraught look in my eyes and knew I needed them or if he was just giving me a reminder as just how good he was being. Regardless, it was sweet.

After we got home and ate lunch, I put the twins to bed hoping for the best...clearly they were tired. No less than fifty trips up the stairs to discuss sleeping with them, and I had to give up. Now with Ethan, we didn't do that, we just let him talk and play in bed when he was their age. However, he was singleton. With the twins, you can't do that. Case in point, towards the end I just decided to let them be. I heard loud noises at some point but typically it's them laying in bed hitting their feet on their beds. After about 15 minutes of squealing laughter and noises, I decided to give up on them napping and let them come downstairs. I opened the door and found them sitting in one of their bookcases. All the books where all over the floor. The baskets holding stuffed animals, that also reside on this bookcase, looked like they exploded stuffed animals into the room. They removed a shelf - yes, you read that right - so they could fit into it and sit. (it's a three shelf short bookcase bolted to the wall) They were just as proud as could be. I, on the other hand, after they left the room just closed the door and tried to forget what I saw... saving it for Steve's return. Sigh...

Of course the whole aggravating each other started up all over again. At one point I made a great big smile, took a deep inhale and then exhaled slowly, getting ready to say my standard line to them "let's feel joy, let's be happy, let's take some deep breaths and push it out" (which is as much for me as them at this point). Right BEFORE I could get those words out, Oliver yells to me: "I don't want to feel happy!" That pretty much summed up the entire day to that point for them. Oh right, and clearly I need a new "calm down" tactic.

These are the days when I look at parents of grown boys and ask "it gets easier right? boys are easy when they get older, right? RIGHT?!"