Good behavior award

T came home from school yesterday all excited. He couldn't wait to open his backpack and show me that he had gotten the "Good Behavior" award at school for listening well and playing quietly. Go T man! Now, can you please teach S how to do that? Scratch that, can we just figure out how to keep her from screaming bloody murder? Honestly, she is the screaming-est child I've ever encountered. She screams when she's happy, when she's having fun, when she isn't having fun, when she's mad, when she's tired, when she's excited.... the list goes on and on.

Yesterday I was working in the garage while waiting for T to get home from school. S was playing with the bikes and some toy cars. Once T got home, the kids were riding their tricycles in the garage and on the driveway and she kept screaming like someone was cutting of her fingers knuckle by knuckle, yet she was having the time of her life. I'm getting really concerned that one of the neighbors is going to report us to child services because they think she's being abused. That's what I'd think if I heard screaming like that.

Since we moved into this house, she's been in a 'big girl bed'. Apparently she hates it because she ends up out of bed at one reason or another at 2 to 3 am every morning. This morning, she woke T up around 6 am to boot. She's so tired and she simply will not nap. Have I mentioned that she screams a lot when she's tired? She. screams. a. lot. when. she's. tired.

Today, all I needed to do was mail some packages and run to Walmart. That's it. It should have taken half an hour to an hour tops. But she had a fit in Walmart, I'm still not sure why. I decided to take her into the bathroom and try to calm her down. Wooooooooooo. THAT was a mistake. She was screaming so loud that you could actually almost see the sound waves bouncing off the walls and blasting out the door. In addition to being mortified, I was losing all patience because this has been going on for almost a week now, and it's an easy fix. S L E E P. After taking her to the bathroom doesn't work, I carry her out kicking and screaming, force her into the car seat and head home - all the while repeating to myself that this too shall pass. All of a sudden, I realize that it's quiet in the car. I mistook the ringing in my ear for continued screaming, apparently, and S is now fast asleep.

So, she sleeps for three and a half hours today and is slightly more manageable tonight. Seeing how well she was behaving apparently sent T over the over -tired edge, because homeboy threw a fit over a train, not wanting to eat, wanting to eat, S not throwing a fit, you name it. We finally put him to bed around 6:30 when we just couldn't take anymore, where he promptly falls asleep. R takes that opportunity to put S's crib back together. Come bed time, she goes right in and goes to sleep. Fair enough. So I think this very tired and crabby mom is going to take advantage of this situation and go to bed too. Hopefully tomorrow we'll ALL get a good behavior award.