Roller Coaster Day

Holy Cow.  What a day.

Today was one of those days where crazy things (both good and bad) happen one right after the other - boom, boom boom - and by the time you get to the afternoon, you think that you're living in a sitcom or something.  By dinner, I had been zapped so many times that I started being mentally prepared for something more to come next.  And indeed, I've been right!  What a roller coaster - up and down, up and down.  It is  now 10 pm and I am writing this quickly and jumping into bed before anything else can happen.  Here goes the blow-by-blow:

BAD:  I should have known that it would be a nutty day when I woke up this morning to the gunfire.  We live right next to a Saudi airbase, and the everyday consequence of this is that we see, hear, and feel fighter jets going over all the time.  (They are SO LOUD, and today they were especially frequent, but I digress.)  The once-in-a-while consequence of this is that they occasionally practice some sort of gun firing at 6 am.  It sounds like popcorn popping a long way off.  So bam, right from the start, an explosive start to the day.  Thanks for the early alarm, Saudi Military!

GOOD:  We got up and got breakfast, and then we were off to take Everett to his first day of preschool.  Big four years old!  We took lots of pictures and everyone was happy.  Everett was really excited to go - he has the same teacher as last year and he knows some of the kids in his new class - so it was very positive.  I had to pull him back by the elbow to remind him to tell me goodbye and give me a kiss.  I'm glad that he is so happy and feels so loved at his preschool.

Disclaimer:  He chose his own outfit!! 

Off to drop-off.

Everett's preschool is in a lady's house not far from us.  (Well, nothing is far from us.  We live in a 5 square mile enclosure.)

 BAD:  Although he held up beautifully through dropoff, Lawrence (who does not go back to his preschool until tomorrow) fell apart as soon as we got home.  He desperately wants to go to preschool with Everett, but he can't go there until he is potty trained.  He feels so left out, and he was crushed that we just had to come back to the house without taking him to school too.  Poor kiddo.  We played games while the baby slept and that seemed to help.  And then after the baby woke up, I discovered that she had thrown up all over her sheets.  Ugh. 

GOOD:  When we went back to pick Everett up, all was well.  He had had a ball, and Lawrence was so happy to see him.  BUT....

BAD:  Again, Lawrence fell all apart after we got back to the house.  He flat out told me that he wants to go to Everett's preschool.  Lots of crying and needing to be held ensued.  So...

GOOD:   I said that we could try to use the potty again.  I filled him up with the sugary strawberry juice that they sell here, and BINGO - he wee wee-ed twice in the potty!  HOORAY!  (He has done this before, but he just won't do it every time.  Yet.)  But...

BAD:  Right at lunch time the sugar crash hit, and Lawrence went limp with more crying and whining.  Mike hit the house and all three kids were crying, with Everett running all over because of the strawberry juice, Lawrence just in sugar low, and the baby needing more nap and being sleepy.  I shoved the baby his way as soon as he hit the door with a " Hold her while I go change her sheets."  The boys ran amok while Daddy rocked baby girl (successfully!) to sleep, and I got the sheets changed, and then we all tried to have some lunch (which Mike had to make) to even out the blood sugar issues.  Turns out Mike was peeved about work today because they don't listen to him (but that's the same as at home, right honey? :)  )  so he was steamed through lunch, and just as he was leaving, I took Lawrence upstairs for his nap, only to discover that the cat has peed all over his bed.  ARGH!!! 

GOOD:  Everett and I played until Catherine woke up, and then Lawrence woke up (but both too soon....as we will see.)  Everett read books to me, which is really fun, and he played by himself while I cleaned up from lunch.  So far, this was the only productive thing I've done!  We all rounded up and headed to the playground by our house for a whole five minutes before Daddy came home to pick up Everett for his very first t-ball practice ever!  Mike is the coach!  They are going to have so much fun.

Going to T-ball!  Giraffy and Armadillo did not get to go, but they wanted to pose for the picture.  And you know that Everett is Saudi-ized when it is 97 degrees outside and he picks jeans to wear. 

BAD:  Again, it's so hard to be left behind.  Lawrence really really wanted to go too, but he had to stay home with me.  He was getting really fussy now from not having enough nap, and the baby too, because she didn't get enough nap either.  So I put Lawrence down in front of the TV for a 15 minute show (I hate doing that, but it was necessary) and stuck the baby in the pack n play in the kitchen and got to work on dinner.  We were having shepherd's pie.  The baby WAILED the ENTIRE TIME.  She was so mad that I was not holding her.  I made the meat part and the mashed potatoes part, and I used the very prized $10 package of real live Sargento sharp cheddar cheese (2 cups shredded) that we had picked up at the Tamimi market in Khobar over the weekend.  I put it all together fast because she was so unhappy, and I kept telling her to hang on a little longer, I am coming.  I put foil on the top and slid it onto the top rack, and let go...a hair too early.  It flipped outward and landed upside down on the crease between the oven and the oven door.  The foil, of course, floated up and away instead, so it was just splat - gone.  I shouted a four letter word in front of both kids.  And I'm not sorry.  My cheese.  Gone.  Damn.

GOOD:  Well, I scraped it up and cooked it anyway (ordering a pizza instead is actually more of an inconvenience over here...I miss Brooklyn's)  and Mike and Everett came home.  They had both had a ball!  Their first game is on Wednesday - can't wait to report on that.

BAD:  But Lawrence was unwilling to take any more being left out.  Before we could get to the table, he dissolved for good into full-blown meltdown.  Our only option was to take him upstairs and straight to bed...no dinner, no bath, nothing.  He was SO MAD, but as soon as I got him in his jammies and under the covers, he yelled at me to leave and IMMEDIATELY fell asleep.  He will feel better in the morning.  I bet he'll be hungry!

All through dinner, we kept so quiet.  We had to keep shh-ing Everett, and we all whispered because Lawrence was sleeping.  After dinner, I tiptoed upstairs to to check on him.  The curtains that we have hanging over the boys' door (Lawrence won't let us close the door so we hung curtains over the door frame to block out the light) broke and fell down on one side (thwack!) and then all the wooden rings fell off one by one (clank!  clank!  clank!  clank! clank!).  So loud!!  ARGH!  But amazingly, he did not even flinch.  So that was good.  But now the curtains were down!  ARGH again! 

GOOD:  We got to Skype with Gramama and Grapapa tonight, and after Everett went to bed (I was so whipped by then that I just gave Everett a quick sponge bath and got him in the bed) Mike drove over to our friends house to borrow and extension ladder to fix the curtains.

BAD :  Of course, the extension ladder was too small!  So now what?  I wish I had taken a picture of Mike on the extension ladder, discovering that it did not go high enough, but GUESS WHAT (of course) the camera memory is full and I can't take any more pictures.  Enough.  My nerves are shot.  Post the blog and go to bed.

Today was one of those days that happen to everyone every once in a while.  So many good things - first day of preschool, first day of t-ball, using the potty!  So many bad things - cat pee, throw up, meltdowns, and losing my cheese.  No more emotional roller coaster for me for a long time - I have paid my dues for now.  Here's to tomorrow being more even keel!