Contrast

Last night my kids were both just darned cute. However biased I may be, they were cute and they were good. Last night. Elaina went outside with her dad to water the plants before coming in for her bath. In the meantime, I started a bath for Lincoln all by himself. Judging from his belly laughs as he splashed in the water, you would have thought it was his very first solo bath he's ever had. Not the case. Lincoln splashed his arms, kicked his chubby little ankles and just enjoyed every drop of his bath with great amusement.

After their bath, Eric and I swapped kids for bedtime and Elaina and I pretended to be in a rocket and that we were saving someone and that we just met for the first time and that we were glued together, etc, etc. We snuggled down tight together and read books and kissed goodnight and the night was done. Sweet!

So then, there are nights like tonight. After dinner, Eric took the kids to the playground to give me some space to get a handful of things done around the house. By the time they returned they were tired and a little bit dirty and it was already past their bedtime. Together, Eric and I tried to get the kids ready for bed by brushing teeth, washing hands and dirty little sandal feet. It was at this point that Elaina nearly came unglued.

Eric took back his charge to Lincoln while I tried to get Elaina jammied up and into bed. She was so mad and so tired and so yelly in throwing her tantrum that I was nearly through with her. Her attitude persisted and so did I. I took many deep breaths and used every tactic I knew to change the subject and divert her attention and calm her down. Finally, I learned that the stem of her anger was that Daddy put the toothpaste on her toothbrush and she wanted to do that.

Oh. Dear. God.