Today has been a terrible day. And I haven’t even had lunch yet.

I was going to say it all started when the six year-old jumped into my bed while I was still asleep to loudly ask which one of his siblings he could go play with and when I told him they were all still sleeping (just like I had been mere moments before) he started crying, which woke up the four year-old who ran into the room, grabbed the dog and bit him on the ear (yes, the BOY bit the DOG) which made him yelp which woke up the rest of the house.

My children keeping it real.

But then I realized that wasn’t actually where it all started. It might have started in the wee hours of the morning when The Baby fell out of his toddler bed and required soothing. Or maybe a couple hours before that when Brian and I were having a major fight (somewhat of a rarity in our marriage since one of us is a conflict avoider. . . and that clearly isn’t me). Or it could have been an hour before THAT when after being sent back to bed for the fourth time Josh (the six year-old) started openly weeping in his bed and when I asked him what was wrong he told me that he was sad that when he grows up the dog will probably be dead. Still haven’t figured out how to correctly comfort a child through the future loss of their pet. But it probably started even before that when Danny (the four year-old) melted down like that guy from that Indiana Jones movie (you know what I’m talking about) right before our eyes, but instead of the flesh melting off his face, it was slightly more subtle. I mean, if you consider it “subtle” when your child starts yelling during church, pitches a fit about having to go to Children’s Church, then pitches a fit about not being allowed to go to Children’s Church, then after promising to be good ends up being a terror in Children’s Church. . . it was not happy times last night.

I could get into all the specifics of why today was also not a good day (potty-training child peed while diaperless and being held by Mommy, everybody insisted the perfectly lovely breakfast was inedible, obnoxious basement toys were brought up to the living room creating a huge mess and loud noises, everyone forgot there are options besides crying if you are having a feeling, etc.), but suffice to say that it is one of those days I will not be documenting in their baby books and is not worth cherishing. Did I mention school starts tomorrow and I had high hopes this would be a sweet last day of time together? At this point I’m pretty sure we’re going to go tent out in front of the school like it’s a new Chick-Fil-A opening so this beloved child of mine can be deposited with his lovely teacher as soon as humanly possible.

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