The afterschool dance

Here's the pictures from Schmoo's last soccer game last weekend.

These three girls have been friends since they were one!!

Before I get started...here's Schmoo last Friday on Crazy Hair day. We had a brief conversation about whether anyone else would have crazy hair, but she decided to do her hair up just in case.

So here's how it goes....5 days a week, pretty much at our house. Mondays and Fridays for the last two weeks there has been a delay in the following sequence, only because Schmoo has skipping club until 5pm, but then there is usually a built up meltdown of sorts.

Arrive at school. Schmoo proceeds to begin asking and negotiating for a playdate after school. When turned down she will either a) stomp her foot, b) grunt or c) (like today) tell me that I'm mean.

Once in the car, she immediately begins whining for something to eat. I am now usually prepared with something to supplement all the things in her lunch box that she does NOT want to eat. We have a discussion about wasting food, because there's perfectly good snacks still in her lunchbox. If I've forgotten the snack, the whining escalates and there is usually the beginnings of a meltdown.

We arrive home. I try to feed both children as quickly as possible, but Schmoo will invariably find something of a minute nature to send her into hysterics. This can range from the snack not arriving quickly enough, to Bean looking at her the wrong way.

Following the snack, I try to pay her some attention. This task is difficult because then Bean suddenly becomes increasing clingy, also wanting attention, despite the fact that he has either spent the last 2 hours or the entire day with me. Hysteria ensues as Schmoo shrieks and tries to get him out of her general sight and proximity. My patience wears thin and we are all moved into separate rooms.

Today I thought I was ahead of the curve. There was a cookie in the car. We went to the mall for a couple things for dinner and picked up some new cozy pants at the children's store for Schmoo. I sent Bean to his room for some quiet time when we got home so I could spend one on one time with Schmoo. Then I asked her to redo her writing in her journal, because she spelled library wrong. I erased her first attempt, causing a black smudge and she lost it. It is a losing battle. At least we had a nice dinner and bedtime together, after picking a bowl full of plums and delivering some to our neigbour.

My learning curve continues....I'll figure something out to ease everyone's pain over time....I hope. Needless to say, requests for playdates will continue to be turned down while such shows of hunger and exhaustion continue.