Just Another Saturday

Today was a pretty normal Saturday at our house. The only thing that made today stand out for me was that I still have this stupid sinus infection and I have been "yell free" for 7 days! Go me!

Kids will be kids. My kids will be...MY kids. The Imp wanted to build a fort in the living room right as I was making dinner. I told her it was a bit late in the day to start such a huge project but she could build one tomorrow morning. And thus, the tantrum began.
 

She whined, she begged on her knees with hands clasped in front of her, she screamed, she cried, she flopped around like a dying fish, she even tried to threaten me with "I won't stop throwing a fit until you let me build a fort!" Oh, really? Mommy don't play that game, sweetie. In the past this whole altercation would have taken about an hour and left everyone angry, yelling and screaming, and just emotionally drained. Today, however, I was determined to keep up the no yelling rule. I knew this was escalating fast and could see the Hubby already getting frustrated. I knew I was getting annoyed with the attitude as well and saw that it was time to pull the plug. So, I gave myself (and the Hubby had to comply as well) a time out for 15 minutes.

Hubby and I locked ourselves in the bedroom and hung out for about 15 minutes. The kids were in the play room, watching TV and just chillin' out, being quiet. After 15 minutes I emerged from my safety zone and confronted the children. The Imp immediately started in on the "I won't stop throwing a fit until you let me have my way!" again. So, I looked at her and told her point blank "I'm not going to let you bully me." She was thrown off by that comment. "Don't you think that's something a bully would do, kiddo? 'Do this or else this will happen'? I will not let you bully me. You don't get to threaten me to get what you want. It won't work and I don't like it," I said (calmly). She stopped and thought about that for a moment, then said "Okay, but I don't want to do my homework today! I want to do it tomorrow!" I shrugged, "Hey, it's your responsibility to get that homework done. I'm not going to fight with you about it any more. If you want help I will always help you with your homework. But I'm done yelling and screaming about it. If you don't do it, you can deal with the consequences on Monday at school." She pouted for a second, seemed to mull things over and said "Okay. I promise I won't fight you tomorrow when I do my homework," she said. I smiled and thanked her for understanding where I was coming from and we moved on. I didn't yell once. It was beautiful! It was perfect! I was so proud of myself! Another day without screaming matches! God, that feels good.

In other news, I've had this damn sinus infection for 3 weeks now. I'm on my 3rd different antibiotic. I'm ready to not be sick now. This blows...and I don't mean my nose.

 
But so far this wonderful pill I'm now taking, called Ciproflaxin, seems to be a magic bullet of sorts. Course, now that I've said that I jinxed it. We'll see what happens. Here's hoping this will be the pill that knocks it out.