All about M day

Today I took K to daycare so I could hang out and have some quality time with M. We started our day off by going to the Halloween Superstore. Halloween sure makes you feel like a kid again. We had a blast in there... we played with the masks, I chased him around the store with a fake amputated leg, we pushed the buttons on all the scary decorations, we fought each other with the swords. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out. He loves that stuff. K would have been scared to death. All that fun cost me $1. We got him a pair of dracula teeth. We had pizza for lunch before heading on over to the California State Railroad Museum. He's been there lots of times and I have only been there once so I let him lead and show me around. He loved that (being in control). He told me which ones were diesel and which ones were steam engines. He wore his "sharp" teeth and would walk by people and show them and make scary arms. Most of the ones he "scared" were elderly volunteers at the museum and got a real kick out of it. He talked me out of an ice cream cone when we were done and then we headed home for a little down time before we had to pick K up.

I'm going to vent a little (OK tons). Bear with me. M has been quite a challenge since he got home from vacation. Even before he left he was quite difficult. I don't know what happened when he turned 4! Everything is fine as long as he gets what he wants, when he wants it and he gets his way. He constantly pesters me for snacks and to play with him. I can't get anything done around here. K plays very well by herself and will just hang out in the playroom... I almost don't know she's here. He insists that I play with him. If I'm busy or I just don't feel like it... forget it. I'm talking yelling, screaming, jumping-around-having-a-fit, sticking out his tongue, name calling ... you name it. And, boy is he persistent. God forbid I actually want to watch something on TV. He'll nag and nag and never leave me alone. After a really fun day and evening tonight I wanted to watch Project Runway (not the entire episode). K was playing in the playroom, dinner was done and we had just finished playing outside. He just wouldn't have it. He kept standing in front of the TV, looked at me like he was going to turn it off, jumped on the couch, whined that "he never gets to watch anything and nobody ever plays with him", just made me it miserable that I couldn't hear it anyways. I honestly had to stop for a minute and count to ten. I don't know what to do. Talking to him about his behavior, time-outs, taking toys away, rewards systems, bribes, etc. are not working! What do I do? I hate to say it but the only time they are both good is when they are watching TV. I see how easy would be to abuse that. I don't like being the frustrated, angry and tearful mommy he is making me be. I especially hate that I can't ever spend any time playing with K. He won't have it. Not to mention, I don't want her to start behaving like he is and he's not exactly nice to her either... if he's is a bad mood that's it. I don't want to make it sound like he's always like this or a mean boy but I'm seeing this behavior more than ever. He has a lot of wonderful qualities too but I'm not going to talk about those now. Mommy guilt here for talking negatively about him but I just need to vent. Is this normal 4 year old behavior? Seriously though ... if anyone has any advice, please let me know. Leave me a comment or an e-mail.

His "sharp" teeth.

I found this egg made of plaster or something that contained pretend (duh) dinosaur fossils. They gave you a scraper tool and a brush and you dig the bones out and put them together to make a dinosaur. I found this at the dollar store. We enjoyed this very much but the tools they gave us weren't touching it. We ended up using a meat tenderizer to break it up a little.

Future archaeologist at work.

Here's our triceratops. M was disappointed it wasn't a T-Rex. I like how well you can see the details of his hands in this picture.

A peaceful moment tonight. Snack time. I made them smiley faces.

While I was reading to M tonight he said, "I still don't like you a little". He gave me huge love while I tucked him in though. I'm hoping we'll get along better tomorrow.

Melissa

UPDATE: I just watched an Oprah that featured a mother that almost died after childbirth and shortly after had to have both of her arms and legs amputated. I want everyone to know that I am thankful for the health of my family and thankful that I have active and rambunctious children. My life is truly blessed. I'm aware of this although sometimes I need a little reminder.