He really is a red-head

This week, my problem child has become Braedy. Really, I don't know what I'll do if I have a week without a problem child-I'm sure next week it'll be Brian since apparently it's on a rotating schedule. At any rate, Braedy has decided sleep isn't as necessary as he previously thought, and because of his lack of it, he is one crabby little hombre. As if Eli's constant whining wasn't enough last week (it's gotten a tad better this week, though he squeals with disdain, whining, "It's too hard" when ever I ask him to do anything involving getting himself dressed, getting his shoes on or getting ready to leave the house), Braedy's whining is awful. Worse than Eli's in fact. I suspect it's in part due to my impatience with him (see not sleeping comment, above) and in part due to his lack of vocabulary other than "up please, cup please and signing 'more' and 'where'".

I'm sure that his world is a very frustrating place to be, what, with an older brother constantly slamming doors in his face, twirling his hair as he walks by or screaming, "NO BRAEDY" right in his face just about every five minutes. And, I don't make things any easier by telling him what he can't do (for example, play in the mud in our yard or take things out of the pantry for pleasure). But ugh, the screaming, whining, crying, pouting and just overall bad mood of a nearly eighteen month old kid is enough to drive any person crazy, let alone a person with my patience issues.

And then to top it off, the mom guilt kicks in because when my kids drive me nuts, I tune out. I do my best to avoid too much interaction with them for fear of what I'll say or do, and simply to keep my sanity. But, then I worry that perhaps if I would pay more attention to them, they'd be better. A no win situation, really. The icing on the mom guilt cake just happened-Brian was reading the boys books, Braedy decided it was time to go to bed and went looking for me, signing "where". When I came out, he broke into a huge smile and grabbed my hand. Thank goodness kids are so forgiving.

As always, tomorrow's another day; hopefully less crabbiness and happier posting will abound.