Before I tell this story, I'll start with a little bit of background information. First thing you need to know, I am NOT a morning person. My level of rage can go from nothing to off the charts within seconds early in the morning. Consequently, we've worked out a system that usually makes us all happy where the kids will get up anytime between about 7 or 8 and come into my bedroom and watch TV. Most of the time this goes just fine without incident until I'm ready to get up around 8 or 8:30. The last thing is that the sibling rivalry between Veronica and Evan has gotten ridiculous. And yesterday afternoon and evening it was almost more than I could take in that department. Evan was busy doing typical boy stuff like calling her "stupid girl" and pushing her off her bike. Veronica tries to be a lot more subtle about things. She's gotten pretty clever in the ways she antagonizes him for a 4 year old. But the tattling and complaining is like nails on a chalkboard. It usually goes a little something like this.
"Mooooommmmmmmm!!"
"What Veronica?"
"Evan said 'busted'!"
Um, seriously?!? So when they went to bed, and I had a chance to relax and see things differently, I said to myself "Tomorrow is going to be a better day!"
Anyway, they both got up this morning at 6:45. Already not off to a good start, but ok. Just lay down, watch TV, and be quiet. A couple minutes before 7, they announced the next program coming up to be Blue's Clues.
Veronica: "I don't want to watch Blue's Clues. I want to watch Martha Speaks."
Evan: (screaming) "No!!!!! I don't want to watch Martha Speaks! I want to watch Blue's Clues!"
At which point the arguing begins. I tried to reason with Evan first. I feel guilty because he gets his way a lot since he tends to be the loudest and most unreasonable. But he wasn't budging, and since it was 7 in the morning and I was in no mood for this, I let him have his way, and I told Veronica she could have her way the next time we had to pick something. She was a little put off, but still she accepted her fate, or so I thought. Did I mention how devious she has gotten?
After a few more minutes go by, and she's had time to rethink her situation, she starts complaining again. So I told her to go in their playroom and watch it on the TV in there. That's apparently not good enough either because that TV doesn't work very well. In her defense, the TV set in there hasn't always been producing the best picture, and sometimes we have to beat it to get it to even work. I didn't want her going downstairs because we've had a couple dogs staying with us, and I knew if she went down there they would think it is time to get up to go outside. So I told her maybe she should read a book. And after a minute spent thinking about it--I could almost see those conniving gears in her head turning--she decided that was a great idea. I really didn't think she was going to go for that idea, so I should have known something was up as soon as she agreed.
About a minute later, she came back with Evan's favorite Thomas the Tank Engine book that, up until a minute ago, she could not have cared less about. After getting settled back in bed, she began looking through the book, making sure the whole time that she got Evan's attention. Well, of course it worked because Evan started pitching a fit saying that was his book and he wanted it, and this time I wasn't giving in. I told him he was going to have to get a different book unless of course Veronica wanted to give it up in exchange for the channel switching to Martha Speaks. Could it be this is the solution that will make everyone happy? Yeah, right! Veronica has something he wants now, and since she was winning, she wasn't about to give that up.
"No," she says. "I don't want to watch Martha Speaks anymore. I want to read this book!"
At which point Evan threw himself on the floor and started screaming, and I realized that maybe I was going to have to wait a little longer for that good day I was hoping for.
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