Days in 360

I have a suspicion that some time this week I will be home with one or two sick boys. Whenever we have odd days like this one, we tend to have a real issue several days later.

I knew we were having an off day when Joey got to swimming. Andy didn't go this morning at all, he was sleeping in and spent much of last night saying he didn't want to see Ms. Heidi, he wanted to stay home with Daddy. He got his wish. Joey got to the pool, and right away I could see Ms. Heidi was having a harder than usual time getting Joey to do his swimming- and Joey loves swimming. Was it the rain? or a harbinger of something else?

At home, the moods are spinning. One minute we're happy, playing trucks or decorating our leprechaun trap for school, even watching a little TV or having some popcorn- and suddenly, with little to no warning, its time to melt down. A torn sticker. A dropped kernel. A truck that rolls just a little too far. The world blurs into meltdown.

Melty days are hard. For one, I have few tools to uncover the underlying issues and problems; I am stuck with trying to put out the little fires with no way to discovering what is smouldering or why. Also, the lack of warning means you have a lot of sudden noise, which means not only do I get startled, but Andy is also more likely to melt down. Trying to keep everyone engaged is harder to do, and no guarantee of peace. It also means all the usual tricks are used up by lunchtime.

They are also dizzying. Laugh, giggle, quiet, SCREAM, giggle, SCREAM, fine, quiet, giggle, SCREAM. Mood changing so rapidly that it is hard to know which one is current, and no way to know why.

Having it happen on a cold, rainy day only exacerbates the issues. You can't put them outside to make noise for a while. They are caught inside with you.

So it looks like tonight will be a swell night to pull out some amaretto after the guys are in bed, taking three deep breaths, and hope school goes OK in the morning.