No awards tonight

You know how some nights you are the perfect mom? You make a dinner everyone loves, you play games with the kids, you snuggle, you brush teeth, you read bed time stories. You know, a perfect night!

Well. Tonight was most decidedly NOT that night. In fact, it was the "perfect storm" of bad mommy night.

I am tired. The boys are tired. Dad had to work. The neighbor's dog was out barking at 6 am and woke Zach up - so that coupled with Halloween created Monster Zach.

I tried to be "that" mom - the good one. I played Twister, but it ended up in a knock-down-drag-out fight over who could be the spinner person. (No, I was not involved in the fight!) Then I gave Zach a toy catalog and told him to circle his favorite toys. He loves doing this, but for some reason, he was a stage five clinger. He had to show me EVERY picture. I am way too tired for a clinger. So I tried to play a movie. Comcast wasn't working (surprise, surprise). More tears. Back to the circling in the catalog. Back to the clinginess.

Meanwhile I figured I would try to watch some news. Ryan thought this would be a great time to play with the buttons on the tv. Zach being the older brother figures it's his job to discipline the little brother. More knock down drag out fights.

Finally... eight o'clock rolls around (ok, 7:50 - I round up). Bedtime can come early tonight... Zach doesn't think he needs to go to bed and tries to "out smart" me. I take him by the upper arm and guide him to his room. He protests with "Ow! Ow! Ow!" (Where does an intellectually disabled 9 year old learn this stuff? It must be an innate and primal urge to pretend your mom is hurting you.) Then he says, "Don't say it again!" Not. a. good. idea. I am already exhausted, but not too exhausted to blog I found it kinda funny the first time he said it. But tonight I took his sweet little face in my hands and told him to never say that to mommy again. His reply? "Don't say it again." I won't tell you the rest of that sequence... Yes, he's still alive. No, I didn't spank him.

Then Ryan... He needed a diaper change before bed but was kicking his little feet like something crazy. I finally got a diaper on him and put him in bed. He gets up two times. After the second time. I got nose to nose and said, "Not tonight Ryan. Don't push me." So far he's still in bed.

All this to say, I was not perfect mom tonight - and I'm ok with it - because I didn't have perfect children either!