Taking Charge!

Today had the potential of being a very bad day.

Nothing in particular went wrong... it just felt like it could (quickly) become one for the books. Fernando is still at youth camp, so I'm still in "single parent" mode (translation: very messy house). Violet didn't feel great this morning and consequently had quite the little attitude on her. Daniel seemed bored and stir-crazy (or maybe that was me, projecting...) and I had a bad case of "short fuse syndrome" - I was about two seconds from calling that hotline that talks you out of throwing your kids out the window. (Kidding, kidding... but you get my point.)

But thankfully we turned that bad day right around on it's tail. For my own benefit, so that I can look back on this the next time a bad day rears it's head, here is what worked for us:

Good move #1: Loading up and heading out to get some fresh air.

Good move #2: Not sticking too closely to our "running errands" plans. It was cool, crisp and stormy outside so we detoured by an empty parking lot, ditched the van and just played in a dirt lot, watching the storm come.

Good move #3: Letting the kids play in dirt. Daniel ran his little legs off, and Violet polished her newfound walking skills. When some bicyclists headed our way, Daniel raced them down the sidewalk... I have never seen him run like that before. We sat on the sidewalk, waiting to see the lightening that never came... the raindrops came first. And together, we ran for it.

Good move #4: Screaming contests. I changed Violet's (very) dirty diaper in the backseat... she grabbed it and started waving it around... my temper rose. So instead of trying to suppress it, I just let it out: A crazy yell. Violet blinked... then she let one out too. Daniel, never one to miss out on the fun, joined in. Soon we were all yelling and laughing and having more fun than I thought could come from loud noises.

Good move #5: No TV. No music, either. We all sat in the kitchen for lunch and sang silly songs to make each other laugh. (Which we did, in giant quantities).

Good move #6: Making silly videos. When the laughter was at it's height, I carted Daniel over to the computer and documented a few minutes of the silliness. He wanted to watch it over and over. We also took some pretty fun little pictures on the computer... even Violet got into it.

It's only mid-afternoon, but I have a pretty good feeling about the rest of the day.

We eat bad days for breakfast.