Abby is feeling the "hurt" of getting back into the routine as well. I saw it clearly when she got off the bus, or maybe I should say when she wouldn't get off the bus. She wanted to hang a bit longer with her good friend Annalise, and Ms. Cathy and I had to pull her away - literally - as if we were separating soul mates. She kept saying, "Annalise....Annalise..." as I hoisted her out the door of the bus, and she reached out beyond my shoulder to her friend. We finally got in the house and, boy, that's when her stubborn streak really came out to play!
Almost immediately, she insisted on pulling one of the dinning room chairs to the front door to have a seat. I have no idea why, it wasn't as if the door was open, she just wanted to sit in front of it. Well...okay...go ahead. I went into the other room to look through her papers.
The next thing I knew, she came into the room with her hands behind her back. When I looked at her and asked what she was hiding she said, "Shhhhh...." This is a sure sign that she has something she knows she isn't supposed to have. She finally turned enough for me to see that she had Bruiser's brush. This wouldn't normally be a big deal - if I was certain she wouldn't use the brush on her hair, but that isn't a guarantee, so the counting began. It took until, "Abby that's two" for her to put it back.
Apparently stubbornness makes you hungry, because then she wanted to eat. That's all good, so as I made her dinner, she distracted herself by cutting up paper. I've mentioned before how much Abby loves to cut paper. She will sit for quite some time, happily making piles of tiny pieces of cut paper for me to clean up later. The practice is good for her, and she hasn't destroyed anything, so I don't mind....well, she hasn't destroyed anything....until tonight. It was when I went in to give her her dinner that saw little pieces of what looked like white fluff on her table. My eyes were then drawn to the floor where the remnants of a poor sock lay in pieces. She had taken off one of her socks - and cut the darn thing to pieces! That was how Abby earned her first "grounding". I feel a bit ridiculous writing this, but Abby has been grounded from scissors until further notice.
This was how our afternoon went. We did have a few moments of fun, getting Bruiser going, but it seemed like I did an awful lot of "counting" and she did quite a bit of "fit-throwing". It's no wonder that we were both happy to see Jason when he got home from work.
Unfortunately, it was right after another Battle of the Wills that he realized he'd forgotten something at work. Abby wanted to go with him, but she had to stay home with mean-old-Mom. That's when the laying-on-the-floor-and-weep-as-if-your-heart-is-breaking started. It was clear - Abby was just as exhausted as I was.
She finally let me comfort her and we decided a bath would be a great way to soothe her tired body and mind. After her bath we went straight to her room for some quiet time. I could see further signs of her exhaustion in her poor red eyes and the periodic yawns that escaped. All was good until Mom called it quits on the coloring we'd been doing. Once again she was not happy and needed Dada.
They are now enjoying some nice cuddle time, and since it has been quite a while since I heard any stirrings, I can only assume that she's succumbed to her sleepiness.
Hopefully the earlier bedtimes will help, but I suspect that Abby is just like her Mama, and needs to build up her stamina after a long, lazy summer. For now, I'm just praying that we get through the next two days with our sanity in tact.
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| Shocker: Abby didn't want her picture taken today. So she threw me this look between her Snow Whites. |
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| Then she really got ticked when I wouldn't stop - so the tongue came out - lovely! |
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