Oh, Drew

Today I am working on allowing my children to suffer consequences that are natural to their choices. They love to push my buttons by acting crazy and not doing what they are supposed to do at dinner and bedtime. Tonight Julianna and Drew were up to no good while brushing their teeth. We heard it turn into an argument and then we heard Drew start whacking Julianna pretty hard and yelling. I went up into the bathroom and told him that because of that, he was losing his bedtime story. He was inconsolable. Out of his mind. I sent him to bed. And the following sequence of events happened:

I took him to his room and told him to calm down or I wouldn't stay and snuggle with him for bedtime. He did not calm down. I gave him another chance to calm down. He did, so I laid with him for a couple of minutes. The whole time I was with him he was complaining that he had a very bad day and nothing was good about it. I didn't really want to listen to the complaining, so it was a short snuggle. He became irate at the duration of the snuggle and began his meltdown all over again. You get the picture. I left the room and told him that I would shut his door if he didn't stay in bed. He didn't. I shut his door. His life ended. Okay, not really. But he was screaming at the top of his lungs. This went on for awhile, until he finally understood that his door would be open if he laid in bed quietly. He finally did. I left to put Julianna to bed.

I was snuggling with Julianna a few minutes later and Drew started yelling at me from his bed: "YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE ME HAVE BAD DREAMS! IT WILL BE ALL YOUR FAULT AND I WILL NEVER HAVE A GOOD DREAM AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOU! I JUST WANT ONE THING I ASKED FOR. JUST ONE!!! I WANT A BED TIME STORY!.........YOU ARE THE WORST MOM I EVER HAD!.....Well, that's not true.....You're my only mom.....So you can't be the worst. BUT THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! I WILL NEVER DREAM A NICE DREAM AGAIN!!"

The part about me being the worst mom ever made me laugh so I came downstairs and was whispering the story to Tom, who'd been in the garage during the screaming part of the meltdown. Apparently I am not quiet because Drew started again as soon as I was finished with me story, he said, "I CAN HEAR YOUR WHISPERING DOWN THERE! YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WHISPERING ABOUT ME! Well, I guess you could be if you were talking about Christmas presents or my birthday....or maybe if I was having a party. BUT NOT ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE! YOU SHOULD NOT BE DOING THAT WHISPERING! I AM NEVER GOING TO SLEEP! NOT ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS....I NEVER GO TO SLEEP ON NIGHTS LIKE THIS."

Oh, Drew. I dare say you might be more emotional than your sisters. I don't know where you got your sensitive-middle-child-complex-my-parents-don't-love-me attitude from. It couldn't be from me! *wink*