tomorrow’s gonna be a better day*
November 11th, 2009
Today was a good day. Annalie and I hung out at home in our jammies most of the morning. We had peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch. After lunch, Annalie spent almost an hour telling me an elaborate story about how she was born in Mexico but her parents couldn’t take care of her so she had to live at a children’s helping place and then we adopted her, but not before her abuela taught her how to cook a soup with carrots…only they aren’t really carrots, they’re yellow onions and they have to be cut up very small. That last part she told me while she was using a paring knife to chop up five or six baby carrots into 1/4-inch pieces, which she then put in a bowl and snacked on while she watched The Electric Company.
We ran some errands, including the pottery studio, where I was just going to pick up a couple of mugs to paint later. But while we were there, Annalie said she wanted to paint something. Usually I’m lucky if she’ll paint for ten minutes, and then I’ll try to distract her with snacks for another half-hour before giving up and coming back another day to finish my project. Today I was able to almost finish both mugs (and would have completely finished them except I didn’t have information I needed to write something on the bottom of the mugs). Annalie knew exactly what she wanted to do, and spent 45 minutes painting one thing, then almost as long painting a second item. I offered to wrap my mugs up and take her home when she was done, but she said, “No, that’s okay. I’ll color with markers till you’re done.” And that was on top of earlier today when she was going downstairs for some reason, and she turned back and said, “Can I get you a snack while I’m downstairs? Or a Diet Coke maybe?”
As some commenters noted on my last post, 5 1/2 is just one of those ages where there’s a lot of questioning and challenging going on with most kids. And Annalie certainly does miss her daddy. We talk about Troy all the time and pray for him every night. We take a photo for him every day, and she’s always drawing him pictures or typing him emails. Goodness knows that when I am having a bad day, I’m often thinking Waaah, I want Troy! so it makes perfect sense that she’d be thinking the same thing when she’s having a bad day.
I’m sure we’ll have plenty more time-outs and talks about anger and not letting your temper get the better of you, but for now things are back to normal. Maybe even a little better than normal.
*Troy asked me what the title of this post meant, since it seemed like the day I wrote about had been a pretty good day. It’s actually a line of the song “Bad Day” from Barenaked Ladies’ album SNACKTIME!, the one they wrote with kids in mind. You can find the lyrics and play the song here.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
I love that sweet bedtime picture.
Glad to hear you had a better day!
Just when you want to throttle them, they go and do something sweet (thank goodness).
I have a great book I got from Scholastic when I was a teacher called “If You’re Angry and You Know It”. It gives specific suggestions on what you can do when you’re angry and would really rather be pushing, shoving or throwing a tantrum. My almost 4 year old requested I read it to him yesterday and later in the day I heard him tell his 2 year old sister “Don’t do that, if you are angry and you know it…just walk away!” Haha. Now if he could learn to take his own advice. The book is written by Cecily Kaiser, in case you wanted to hunt it up at the library.
Glad to hear that today is better. I would definitely take her up on that Diet Coke, or I would as soon as I finish my coffee!
And today, on Veteran’s Day, thank you to you, Annalie, and your husband Troy for all of your endured sacrifices for the safety of our country. My family completely appreciates every day that your family serves. (And yes, I did mean your family serves.) Thank you so much.
Ooh, we’re almost finished Farmer Boy, and now I’m debating whether we go right into On the Banks of Plum Creek or whether we should spread the series out a bit and read a different book in between. Glad Annalie is having a better day– it’s quite the age!
“not letting your temper get the better of you”. I need to remember that one when I’m low on sleep and grumpy.
I so want to move that mug off the edge of the table. I can see Annalie push out her arm, bump the plate which hits the mug, causing it to fall off the table and break. I can’t help myself. Sorry. Great post and pictures though. Glad you had a good day!
So glad you get days like this… even with the upsetting moments, nice days can wash away the residue of those so quickly.
I found your blog through my best friend–Samantha i.e. Quaking Aspen—so cute. I would like to know how to make a successful etsy shop. Do you have any pointers? I have posted several pics of my stuff twice and no bites. I get plenty of views, but no one buys anything. I would love any pointers you have.
I cannot imagine having my husband (or dad!) gone for so long. You two are holding it together amazingly well! (But then, I don’t live with you.) (Although I DO wish I lived a lot CLOSER!)
I love pajama mornings. They are the BEST.