Maladaptive Behavior or Why I Buy Large Bottles of Excedrin

I had my final dentist appointment today. I had to get a permanent filling put in my crown. My inlaws agreed to watch the boys for me. I stopped for snacks after my appointment. I am amazed at how much food the kids are putting away this summer! As soon as I got to their house, the boys shot out the door to leave. I kind of wanted to visit a couple minutes with my inlaws, so I brought them back into the house. Drew wasn't too mad, but Blake threw a fit and slammed the office door. So I put him in timeout. We talked a couple minutes and I made the boys help clean up the toys before we left. Drew didn't help at all, and ran outside. Blake did that fairly well, only throwing some of the toys from five feet.

Blake and I went outside and Drew refused to get in the van. He wanted to sit in the front seat, and I wouldn't let him. That got Blake all agitated and he jumped in the front seat and put the seatbelt on, like I would really let him do that. I told him to get in the back, which ticked him off, so he stomped on the bag of snacks I had picked up. I dragged Drew into the van *picture squawking and finger biting* and Blake screaming, "No van! No van!" and hitting me all the while. I got them situated and started toward home. Before I got to the end of the street, Blake had his seatbelt off. I stopped, scolded him and put him back in his seatbelt.

I thought I'd just open their windows, and maybe that would distract/relax them. Not so. Blake was still yelling at me from the back seat, which agitated Drew and caused him to screech and bite his finger some more. Blake unbuckled his seatbelt again. I had to pull over at the cemetary to buckle him in. He is lucky he chose to do it by the cemetary, because I couldn't yell at him (and I really wanted to!) There were people out there by a graveside. It made me think, ok, so no one is dead. He just took his seatbelt off. Then Drew started crying and asking for me to help him find his drumstick. I looked around but didn't see it, so I told him I'd look for it when we got home.

We blessedly made it home without further incident, other than Blake yelling, "No go home!" at me and Drew crying about his drumstick. I got the kids in the house and went looking for Drew's drumstick. It was gone. I even put the seats down looking for it. Then I remembered that the back window had been open. I went in the house, where Drew was crying about his drumstick. When he saw me, he asked if I found it. I told him I couldn't find it. He said, "Get me another one?" and that made me ask him, "Did you throw it out the window?" He said, "Yes! no.... I get another one?" So I guess I found out what happened to it. He really loved those stupid drumsticks, so I guess we'll be buying new ones in the near future.

I called my Mom. I vented for awhile on the verge of tears, but she did a good job distracting me with how she and dad had rearranged Grandma's dining room last night.

Things are fairly calm at the moment. Maybe I need to go check on them.....