Normal Crazy

Today was a crazy day. The kids seemed to forget all the rules. I think I may have been speaking a different language because when I told them the rules ( for the 1, 452,995 time) they made no eye contact and continued in a trance like defiance.

I had to get them out of the house, otherwise WW3 would have started right here. If I hear mom one more time! It is not the fact that they call me that bothers me. It is when they scream my name incessantly through the house and even when I respond they continue to scream my name. Or when I respond they freeze and look at me blankly like "I did not need anything I am just habitually calling you".

Today I put myself in timeout. I sat where they sit for time out and they were not allowed to talk to me for 36 minutes. Okay, it was only 3 minutes but I was wishing I could do a minute for each year of my life. The kids looked at me like I was crazy. They kept asking each other what I was doing and there was stunned silence in the house. Beautiful, beautiful stunned silence.

After that things calmed somewhat. We went to the library where everyone did remarkably well and out to dinner. Let me just say that we are a very loud family. The Liberians are just naturally loud. They laugh loud and cry loud and talk loud. Kennedy and Ben are also very loud. When we enter somewhere we enter. I marvel at quiet families. How do they do it? How much benadryl can I gave and they still function? In Florida we were in the pool with another family. Their kids swam and did not speak much. Needless to say, after about 15 minutes with us they left. So did the older couple. And the single man. We ended up having our own private pool.

Anyway, we return home from dinner and Ben spills my freshly filled tea. As I am cleaning the tea and thinking how can a liquid spread so far on a level floor, I hear a crash. Kuker threw a baseball into a frame and shattered it. My thoughts of liquid on a floor are replaced by how glass can be projected throughout an entire room. THEN the dog pukes on the floor.

Here is what I am grateful for. No one has had a fit in awhile. Noone threw the frame or the tea. Noone puked from crying. Noone peed on the floor. The kids are all laughing and playing and we have arrived at a normal crazy. At least for now.