Well, last night we went to Independence, KS for my mom’s jewelry show. She works there, so she lives there during the week and drives the 3-hour drive home almost every weekend. So, she had a show and invited her workmates and Indy friends. The actual show went very well, and was a lot of fun. The time surrounding the show, however…

First let me say that I’ve had a really hard time with the kids lately. Essie is still sweet, of course, and can’t talk yet, which means she can’t talk back yet. The big two….well, they’re a different story.

I’ve been told that Henry is acting his age. But that doesn’t really make it any easier. He’s been pretty difficult lately….not listening, arguing when he does listen, stomping around and copping an attitude. And Ivy just watches what he does and does her best to copy.

Case in point: at said show yesterday, Henry was told that he needed to sit by grandma and color or look at books, and there was to be no running around the party room (oh yeah, the show was at Pizza Hut in the party room). After the guests started arriving, he was charming as usual, hiding under the table and popping up to say “hi” every once in a while. I was setting up, and the girls were with grandma. A few minutes later, we glance at Henry, and lo and behold! He’s running around the party room in his underwear. Saggy, old Cars underwear, no less. Everyone but me thought it was hilarious, especially when I told him to get his hands out of his underwear (repeatedly). He refused to put his clothes back on, and I let it go.

While I was doing the show, he came up to me several times to say “cute” things that made everyone laugh, and I just laughed and told him to go back to grandma each time. That was fine, I can deal with that. It’s not my favorite thing to deal with, but I can handle it. A little while later, though, he said that he needed to go potty, and I told him that he was not going to go out into the restaurant in his underwear. He refused to put his clothes on; I managed to get his shirt on, but wasn’t get his pants on without a major tantrum. So grandma dealt with that in the bathroom (I guess) and he came back with clothes on. I finished up my show and we went back to my mom’s place.

The next morning, my mom went to work and the kids and I had breakfast and got ready to head back home. I asked Henry to get his clothes on. He put his pants on fine, and put his shirt on backwards. I asked him to take it off and put it on right. Another refusal….actually, several refusals. He told me he couldn’t do it and he needed help. Because obviously he doesn’t know how to take his clothes off.

I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, we’ve had a lot of episodes like this lately. I’m not sure how to deal with it, because frankly, I’ve just been getting angry and loud (and still very ineffective). This will pass, right? Maybe after Essie is passed this stage?

Every once in a while, though, they are angels…