Testing - 123 testing

This kid is really testing my patience. Today, I ran out of it. While baby brother took his afternoon nap, Logan yet again spent an hour wiggling, and moving, and repositioning, and buggin me until i raised my voice and told him to knock it off. That, of course, woke up the baby. Lance wouldn't go back down, go I was determined that Logan would. That's when the fight started.

Today was riddled with an hour of peace and happiness - folllowed by something that started ww3.
Ex: We'd all play together in 1 room. For 30 minutes, we'd all get along playing with Rescue hero people. We all shared, and played nice. THEN, Logan would spot something that he wasn't allowed to have, like scisccors, and ask for them.. I'd say (very nicely) "No swetheart, you don't need those. Those are sharp". He'd stomp his foot, and yell at me that he DID need them, and that he wanted them NOW. I'd tell him that I wasn't some kindercare worker, and that he wasn't going to talk to me like that. He turns red (angry red) , and bited the collar of his shirt. I tell him to knock it off and let's just play. He kicks me, tells me that I'M not nice, and storms out of the room. In my head, I hear a little voice that sounds like Carter from Rush Hour (Chris Tucker) saying "Oh Helllll no", and it escalated from there. It ends with me losing my cool and yelling at him until he cries. Then time out. I feel really bad when I lose my cool.. I catch myself sometimes in the middle of a rant, and realize that not only isn't it going to help, he really don't care to hear what Im saying. Not at 3 years old.

Parenting ... I thought it was simpler than this?!

As for the deer head, it moves up and down, and from side to side. The mouth moves, and the ears wiggle. It was a big hit today. The baby kept siting down in front of it and pointing, and asking me to make it sing. It talks a bit as an intro for snipits of about 6 songs it sings. "Suspicious eyes " by Elvis, "On the road again" by Willie, and a few others. Not the whole song, just a line or two. But you can use the wireless mic to make it move and amplify your voice OR hard line in a radio/cd/tv. I was testing different songs, and think I went one too far. I was jamming to "Feed my Frankenstien", bu Alice Cooper, when I looked over and saw a kinda freaked out look on the kids faces. I skipped to the next song, "Thriller", and the kids loved the Deer Head once more.

Tomorrow, I have to do something different with Logan. He's still in the clutches of that cold (but no fevers, thank God). I know he is young, and still sick, but this not listening - and instant temper tantrums are a sight to behold. I don't want to come down too hard on him, but at the same time, I don't want to let him get away with it, and find myself looking at a 16 year old Logan (that's out of control) and wonder "Where'd I go wrong?". Maybe, tomorrow, we'll change rooms for nap/movie time. That way, and fussing he does won't wake up the baby . We had been dozing in the living room - Lance's swing is there, and the couch for Logan and I.

When I got back from aikido class (and Walmart afterwards), he was already asleep. I feel bad when I donm't get to kiss him goodnight - I feel even worse not doing that after we've had a bad day.

Shannon