Croup AND Poop

The decision was made to keep all 3 kids home from school today rather than just Hailey.  I just don't think they would be ready for that.  Well - at least not Hannah.  She's still having a rough time with the separation in the morning and since she and Hailey are pretty much inseparable at school (per the teachers) I figured it would be best to keep her anxiety level to a minimum and kept all 3 of them home. 

Turns out to be a good move because I would have had to go get her and Emily anyway since they both have had diarrhea all day!  It's been a sh*tty day :)

I've been giving Hailey Tylenol/Motrin every 5 hours to keep her fever down.  She had a good night considering she has croup.  She only woke up a handful of times due to the cough.  The wheezing is better but you can tell all day she just wasn't herself.  I'm hoping tomorrow will be the turning point and she'll bounce back. 

On the parenting front it's been ROUGH.  Today was especially challenging for me since I was home with them all day - and nap time was cut short because Hailey couldn't stop coughing.  Nap time itself was the most challenging.  They didn't want to stay in their beds!  Grrrrr!  They don't usually get out of bed but they were just in rare form today.  I must have said 30 times that the person who wrote this book DIDN'T HAVE TRIPLETS!  How do you NOT yell?!?!  And they definitely didn't have a Hailey to deal with.  This kid just loves to push me above and beyond the limits. 

The gist of what I've read so far is about giving kids a choice in everything they do.  By giving them the choice you're giving them some control.  And it's when we lose control that things go haywire so it's all making sense.  And Pete and I both agree that it's working.  But not without wear.  Try it yourself for a few hours and you'll see what we mean.  Now think about the fact that we have been doing it all day for 3 days times 3 kids and I'm worn out!  LOL  But I'M NOT SCREAMING AND YELLING!!!!!!!!!!!!  And when the girls go to bed - I'm calm and happy...and so are they :)

Here's an example of choices: (remember...multiply by 3 because each child gets to choose).

Good morning!  Would you like mommy to carry you downstairs or would you like to go down by yourself?
It's potty time - would you like to use the big potty or the little potty?
Breakfast is ready - are you going to drink your milk 1st or eat some cereal 1st?
Time to get dressed for the day - are you going to put your socks on 1st or your pants?  *SNAG* Emmie doesn't want to get dressed.  My 'normal' reaction would be to say 'Too bad...we gotta dressed' and then argue and fight with her until she's dressed.  My 'new' reaction - "I'm sorry to hear you don't want to get dressed today.  We are going out later and you can't leave in your pj's!  I hope you decide to change so you're able to come bye bye with us later!"  It works.  She quickly replies "Emmie get dressed now!" 

Does it always work?  Nope!  But it's working enough to cut down on the stress level in a major way.  We're not giving up control of our parenting rolls but we're merely shifting control in a way that works for our family.  Giving the girls choices is a great idea.  It's keeping them with the 'in charge' feeling and making some of our drawn out transitions a lot smoother and quicker. 

I'll tell you this much too...it's HARD to happy 24/7.  Pete summed it up best...he said "So we have to be Mary Freakin' Poppins all day now?"  Hahahahahahaha! 

But really...sometimes I just don't feel like being a 'fun' mom.  There are times when I just want things to move along and move along quickly - because I say so.  I'm only human.  And guess what?  I even have these moments in public *gasp*! 

Today I didn't feel much like being a 'fun' mom but I did offer choices...I did not raise my voice...and only had to give one time out.  And lucky for me we get to do this all over tomorrow!!!!