I turned thirty today, so of course Mum gave me knitting needles, some wool and a how-to-knit book. I can't wait to get in to it, maybe I will have a scarf ready for next Winter. I also was lucky enough to get lots of chocolates and a new mixer. Ella made me a picnic basket which I have included a photo of.
It was probably one of the better birthdays that I have had in recent years, but part of that is the luck of it falling on a weekend and also Father's Day + the kick up the pants that Raff received after the debacle that was Mother's Day this May. He took the girls shopping on Saturday, which was just fantastic of him, especially as they were all pretty cranky from spending Friday night sleeping (or not!) at mum's place. Backed up on Saturday morning with the everlasting tantrum that Ella was in the midst of when mum and dad dropped the girls of here on Saturday morning. It was a real doozy! I don't think mum and dad quite knew what hit them - though it probably flashed them back 20-odd years to that damn middle child of theirs.
Ella has been a real handful lately with tantrums and the constant talking back. It has really been testing the old parenting skills. In the last 4 years I don't think Raff and I have ever had to discuss parenting/discipline methods in any way, it all just kind of evolved naturally as each issue peaked and waned. But lately it seems like we are conversing on it non-stop.
Today in the car on the way to Nanna's for some strange reason she decided she had pepper up her nose and proceeded to sneeze repeatedly in her sister's face at about 200 decibels. Raff and I were having a mini debate in the front seat about how to get her to stop, as each reasonable request to 'sneeze a bit quieter, please' was met with the response of 'But, I have so much pepper inside my nose I have to sneeze as loud as I can to get it out' Perfectly reasonable answer.......if it were TRUE!! My ears were ringing, and my knee jerk reaction really was that I wanted to turn around and yell at her, but I could just see that escalating in to a huge issue.
Some calm, patient and imaginative discussion on the merits of muffled sneezing and instruction on how to pick the pepper out of her nose ensued, along with some super human effort on our part that included at lot of teeth clenching, deep breathing and tongue biting, and we were riding in silence. Until the ride home....but that's another Blog entry altogether :)
I have also included our effort for a Father's Day/birthday family photo. Charlotte really, really, really didn't want to leave the playground, and that is her mid-tantrum.
1 comment:
mmm... just a little flashback.Ella's "little" tantrum was also a test for her grandparents.Apparently we did not handle it too well as Ella thought we owed her an apology.Ah well we have broad shoulders.Don't be too hard on yourselves because you too will survive.
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