Dress Up

Every little girl loves to dress up, right.  Well, Lucy has taken it to a whole new level.  First of all, Lucy is a little obsessed with fashion and how she looks.  I have really tried hard not to emphasize this, but apparently it doesn't matter what I say.  Lucy loves pink, she loves makeup, she loves clothes, she loves everything girl.  You can't deny her what she loves, right.  In fact, I had an eye-opener the other day when I picked her up from the day care at Gold's gym.  To give the girl a little credit she did spend a long time getting ready...after a 15 minute hair brush and 3 outfits later she was ready.  After I picked her up, she seemed a bit perturbed.  I asked her what was wrong and she said that she was mad because no one told her that she looked pretty.  What?  Really?  Oh no, I have some more indoctrinating to do....you do not need others approval or compliments to be happy.  Oh boy.

She loves to play with our neighbor Caroline.  They were playing "dress ups" but instead of using the whole box of fun dress up clothes in her room, they used her closet.  I discovered this too late and half of the clothes were on the floor.  Deep breathes, Mama. 

I pulled out my Mommy Toolbox yesterday and used "Love and Logic." 

"Lucy, do you want to clean your room today or tomorrow?"---Choices

"Tomorrow."---Duh, what else would have she said, was that even a choice?

Aram was gone today to do a class in Utah.  I wanted to clean with the kids in the morning, but wanted to keep it positive.  Wishful thinking, I know.  The kids were playing really good so I decided to do my chores first so I could help them with their chores.  Marshall was in Lucy's room with her and Millie and it sounded like they were having such fun.  He came into my bathroom, and very enthusiastically announced, "Mom, come to Lucy's room, we have something to show you!"  I had the thought that maybe he helped Lucy pick up her huge mess and he was proud to show me.  Boy, was I in for a surprise.  I walked in and every single article of clothing from the closet, the floor, the dresser were in a ginormous pile.  "Isn't it awesome?"

Really?  Really?  What was he thinking?  Did he really think I would think it would be awesome?  I was so proud of myself I pulled out my mom toolbox and was so zen.  I calmly stated that I was disappointed and that they would need to be responsible for their actions and clean it up all by themselves.  I left feeling mad but so proud of myself.  As I was listening to the "Focus on the Family Podcast", I was patting myself on the back for not letting my anger take control of me.  Ha, ha...

About 15 minutes later I checked in on Lucy to see how she was doing, and she wasn't doing anything.  So I got a chair so she could hang up the clothes by herself.  I was going to give her a little tutorial on how to do it.  As I was digging through the ginormous pile of clothes to put the chair down, it hit me.  Holy Hell, forget my mommy toolbox, I went off my rocker.  "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????  WHY DID YOU DO THIS?  MARSHALL, GET IN HERE, NOW...TURN OVER..."  spank, spank, spank.  I lost it, completely. 

Marshall went back to his room.   I could hear he and Marshall discussing how they thought that a witch had taken over my body.  They tried to move their dresser over to the door to lock me out because they were scared I was going to turn them into toads.  Ok, I deserve that.  There is no excuse for freaking out on my kids.  But, no matter how many tools are in my toolbox, or how zen I am feeling the contents of a previously filled closet left in a ginormous heap on the floor pushes a girl over the edge.  But, luckily for my kids they got their mom back soon.  But, I am sure the witch will resurface someday in the near future.  Perhaps it will be a 2 time offense of markers on the door, and the couch.  Or Shep throwing a fit because he doesn't want to go to piano...Who knows.  It's an emotional roulette being a mom.  And, believe it or not I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!