note: The boys go to one preschool on Monday and Wednesday where they are in a class together. I walk them in and out on M/W. On Tuesday and Thursday they go to a different school where they are in separate classes but the classes do several activites together. T/TR school has a car pickup line.

When I picked them up Monday, one of the assistant teachers said she had to give Thing One several “warnings” for hitting/pushing/kicking other kids. Of course, his behavior sheet (that everyone gets daily) was marked “good behavior” since she never actually made him go “pull a ticket”.

On Tuesday, there was a note in Thing Two’s backpack from Thing One’s teacher saying that Thing One had been doing a lot of hitting/kicking/pushing and could I please “have a talk with him”. The boys told me, no, that it was Thing Two doing those things. It’s pretty irrelevant, since both are doing it at home, along with a side of whining, arguing, and talking back. Anyway, I can talk until I’m blue in the face, it doesn’t make a difference.

Yesterday I made a point of telling all the teachers that if either boy acted up, don’t give “warnings”, just put the smackdown on them and issue whatever punishment is merited… that’s pretty much “pull a ticket” and after 3 tickets, go to timeout. The day went better, Thing One pulled one ticket but that stopped the problem.

Today I walked the boys in instead of dropping them off so I could do the same thing. It turns out that Thing Two WAS the one having problems Tuesday even though the note said “Thing One”. ARG! If the teachers can’t keep them straight when they are in separate classes, how will anyone else… Really, it’s still irrelevant, since both boys are being total beasts at home and all their teachers need to actually DO something instead of talk to them and make them pull tickets.

Thing One and Thing Two are back in a phase where they are louder, rougher, and more active than usual. I’m exhausted.

If I broke up every single scuffle, tuffle, or skirmish, I would quite literally do nothing else between 6:30 AM when they wake up and 8 PM when we put them back in bed.

They are currently sliding down the stairs and running back up to do it again. Soon they’ll be yanking at each others clothes in the process and one of them will come screaming to me.

They can actually run in circles, squealing and squalling, for over an hour at a time. I can’t seem to find any other kids that act like this for them to play with, so we’re still running with our same crowd of meek and quiet girls and extremely shy and still boys, which is very frustrating for all involved. Actually, I think the shy and still boy has decided he doesn’t want to play with Thing One and Thing Two anymore since we haven’t seen them much since Thanksgiving.

They are both getting in trouble at school again. I wish their teachers would put the smack-down on them instead of issuing “warnings” and asking me to “talk to them”. Thing One is a bit worse this time, but Thing Two rivals him.

I dropped swimming and added Intro to Sports and Beginning Karate to their activities, hoping to channel some of this insane energy.

We’re also stuck in a pattern that I know is normal and I might as well get used to, but when I’m not breaking up fights, I’m constantly sending someone back to turn off lights, flush a toilet, or shut off a faucet. Then I start screaming at them to pick their toys up. We’ve gotten a lot of things with little parts and most of them are currently locked away since all they want to do is dump them out and walk away.

I’m wiped out. I can’t comprehend their need to constantly run, jump, hit, and yell. I know that at least some of this energy is normal, especially for boys, but they’ve got to get a grip before kindergarten.

I thought my two four-year-olds were mature enough to keep some crayons and coloring books in their Little Tykes art desks.

I was wrong.

Snow day

I feel so old. I hate snow days. I especially hate snow days that come right after a holiday. I need these kids out of my hair, I have things to do!

NFW am I going to the grocery as planned today. It’s sure to be a madhouse.

I’ll take a picture of my light dusting of snow as soon as the sun comes up.