While Little Girl was screaming herself to sleep, Big Girl was very anxious about the noise her sister was making, which she usually is. I let her try sleeping with ear plugs for the first time. The next morning she said one of them fell out while she slept, but she was OK. When I put them in, I was very clear about only doing that once, and if she didn't like how they felt in her ears, she could take them out, but I wasn't going to put them back. She did great with it, I'm glad we have one more arrow in the quiver of things we can do to help her cope with her sensitivities at home. (I scheduled her OT evaluation yesterday, by the way.)
Back to Little Girl... having taken the doggie away Monday night set the stage for yesterday, which was a rather pleasant day. I think she went to time out 3 or 4 times, but there weren't any outright refusals to obey that escalated to the level of the tantrums I saw the two days before. One of those times she went to time out for being disrespectful and rude to me (saying "No!" and hitting her own leg when I said something she didn't like). Another time it was because she was playing in the toilet water. EEWW!! GROSS!! She knows better than that. If she were 18 months old, I'd chalk it up to childish curiosity, wash her hands and close the bathroom door. This is entirely different at 3 years and 8 months old. She was in the bathroom to USE it. She knows what it's for, and she knows not to do THAT.
She was convinced that I meant business when I laid down the law, so the battles were just way smaller, and less emotional (on her side, especially- I've been much better about this lately). We had a pleasant day, so to reward her, I let her ride her trike instead of the stroller to go pick up Big Girl from school. She didn't cry and scream when she was going uphill (which she has in the past), and she didn't gripe when I held the handle bars as we crossed the 3 streets between here and the school.
The day ended with a bath for the girls, and one of the typical battles Hubby and I face with Little Girl is when it's time to get out of the tub. She'd stay there all day 'til the water was cold enough to make her lips turn blue. I set the timer after I finished washing hair and bodies, so they'd have a reasonable amount of time to play. When the dinger dinged, Big Girl got out with no problems (as usual), and Little Girl resisted. I told her that if she wanted to sleep with her doggie, she had better get out without fighting me. She considered that for a little while, and then got out without a fight. We had a very nice bedtime last night. The perfect end to the day.
Last night Hubby came home early from working out of town. I hadn't mentioned that he would be away on the blog because he didn't know for sure how long he'd be gone. Turns out he was gone for one night, which is really no big deal. We had a nice time talking and catching up on the last two days.
Today I get a break from her, which is also a good thing. She is with my friend, giving me a "day off". It's hardly a day off today. The maid is here today. I'm the maid. Without anyone under my feet to undo what I've done within seconds of me doing it, with the music as loud as I want it to be, and without anyone screaming at the vacuum cleaner, I do a much better job of staying focused on the tasks involved in getting the house clean. (This is my lunch break, for anyone who may be thinking of judging me for spending a little time online.)
And with that, I better eat something before too much time gets away from me.
There are two songs today, both recent repeats, both Weird Al:
- "White and Nerdy" - It's been in Big Girl's head too. She was singing it around the house yesterday evening!
- "Pancreas" - I just starting thinking about anatomy generally, and it starts playing in my brain. Same with Hubby. We can't say "pancreas" anymore.
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