My Rant

I am exhausted.

I thought it was difficult when Abby was two years old. She started to test and defy me about little things just to see how much she could get away with. Then she turned three and I realized it should be called the terrible threes, not twos.

Caleb has been my little sweetie all this time. But, again, now that he is three years old, the rebellion is in full force. He actually laughs when he gets in trouble. Now, when Nick is the one dishing out the discipline, it is hard not to giggle at that cute little boy laughing at his Daddy's attempts (for some reason, Daddy does not appreciate our sense of humor). But, when I am in charge, the little grin does not work with me.

At least if it were just one of them I could handle it. However, we made the brilliant decision to be fruitful and multiply and now I am outnumbered all day.

My mind is so tired from hearing Abby's typical girl whining about every little thing. And the arguing is ridiculous. It has been five years-one would think she would figure it out by now-she is not going to win! And now her shadow of a brother is copying the same attitude. The other day, I actually heard the phrase "But cleaning up is boring" uttered from both of them in the same minute.

Oh really? Because I am just beyond thrilled when I go out and clean houses for other families.

And thank you to whoever invented this blessed holiday of Halloween. What a delightful tradition to force on parents-have the kids go house to house, collecting enough candy to last for a year. It is a joy to have them beg every day all day "Can I have a piece of candy, please?!"

Funny how their manners are in full force when they want something.

The fighting between these two has got to stop. Each battle follows the same pattern-Abby is playing with something...she verbally brags about it, loudly, in front of her brother...Caleb immediately grabs the coveted item...Abby screams at the top of her lungs like she is in physical pain...she chases her little brother...they wrestle each other to the ground...she cries out for me, "Mommy-Caleb won't get off of me!"...I reply, "He's three-push him off!"...I eventually give up on whatever task I am attempting to accomplish and break up the fight.

At least this is a short season of life-they will not be this age forever. Oh wait-they will turn into teenagers. Great.