I Would Like to be Done

I am so tired of dealing with the brick wall that I am met with when dealing with my children. Yesterday, I had to go to a doctor's appointment for Nico without Nico! He had a test and a presentation for two of his classes and couldn't miss school. It was fine. He needs surgery to remove his polyps in his nose. It will be his 7th. I told the doctor that his nurse said he was booked until after the holidays. He said not to worry and he'd fit him in. I got the call that the only day they could squeeze him in was December 15th. Their last day of school before the break is the 16th and he'll miss a basketball game (I think the last of the season before playoffs). He went ballistic when he found out he was going to miss a game. I want to be done trying to find a good time for Nico's appointments and surgery. Health comes first. I am tired of trying to get that through his head. We got good news about Tommy. He does not need surgery and the antibiotics that he was taking took care of his tonsils so they don't need to come out either.
Tommy had a book summary he had to do and my lovely, smart, youngest son wrote one and asked me to read it. He said, "I don't know why everyone thinks this is so hard. It was easy. They do it for you on the back of the book." Yes, my son used the back summary as his summary and when he found out that wasn't allowed (Leo checked it and said it sounded really good. Well, yes, the professionals really do know what they are doing) melted down that he had to come up with his own. I wanted to be done right then.

Isabella has a math test today that she has been studying for all week. She had a complete meltdown when there was a long division problem on the study guide and when she went to do it, she said she had no idea. She went into a full blown panic yelling at Leo that she "doesn't even know what decimals have to do with division." I calmly told Leo they were probably doing "remainders not decimals" when she completely exploded that she had no idea what I was talking about and that she was going to fail. I said maybe they hadn't studied it yet and she looked at me like I was an idiot. She rolled her eyes and said, "Why would it be on the study guide? The test is in two days!" She ranted for a few more minutes before I decided I was done and sent her to bed thinking she had to be overtired.
I told Nico he needed a haircut and again was met with argument after argument. He told me the girls like it long and he likes it long. He doesn't have that kind of hair where long hair looks good. It gets really red and moppy (I think I just made up a word). Anyway, Leo took him and left him on his own while Leo got his hair cut and Nico got a military-like buzz cut. I mean you don't have to be psychologist to know why he did it. Control. I told him I wanted his hair cut, we forced him to go and the only control he had was telling them what to do. It was like saying, "You want me to get a haircut? I'll show you...I'll cut it ALL off." He spent the rest of the night asking me if he looked okay and did I like it? He is so stuck between wanting to be independent and still seeking approval. Little does he know that I am about to be done with the haircut fight.

Bedtime in this house is a joke. I want to be done forcing children to go to bed. The only one that doesn't give me a hard time is Gia. Isabella views going to bed as a punishment no matter what time it is. It could be 11:00 and when I say, "Go to bed," it is met with a crying and stomping of feet and a "But I wasn't doing anything wrong!" 9:00 is when I tell the kids to go to bed and it is seriously 11:00 and they are still coming into my bedroom telling me they can't sleep. The boys share a room and one bugs the other constantly and it changes every night. It is so annoying and I have been known to say, "Get back in bed. I love you but I don't want to see your cute, little face again until morning" or some version with a few curse words thrown in. Then, in the morning, they are impossible to get up. Each night, as a consequence, they have to go to bed earlier but that just means the "I can't sleeps" start earlier. I want to be done being responsible for them getting up but I have already discussed what happens when they are the only ones responsible for getting up and getting out of the house (no one hears their own alarm clocks).

On the opposite note of being done, I am just getting started with the purging of the house. The dumpster has been ordered and we have friends coming to help tear down the deck and I looked outside and saw SNOWFLAKES! I am starting to get the feeling that God is laughing and that it is in His plan that I remain the Queen of Chaos.