Frustrated

Gryffin has been in a funk lately.  Totally funked out.   He’ll be thwarted in some endeavor or completely irked by Isaiah or just generally peeved by what’s for breakfast and he just… loses it.  He screams.  He wails.  He’ll very dramatically say “I am NOT going to be your friend!” to whomever has offended him in some form or fashion, including inanimate objects.   Part of me really feels for him, you know?  He can’t quite seem to process his feelings.  He’s bothered by something but he doesn’t quite know how to express his feelings or his frustration so he just screams.  Makes total sense.  But it’s also unbelievably annoying.   Jason and I find ourselves vacillating between 2 extremes in our response to his outbursts…

Option A: What’s bothering you, buddy?  What’s going on?  Are you frustrated?  Does that make you angry?  How can I help?

Option B: Seriously, kid.  Pull yourself together.  Stat.

We’ve tried virtually every approach we can think of.  And we know that these phases usually pass rather quickly.  But oh, this one has been a doozy.   I have lost my temper more times than I can count recently and yesterday I swear there was smoke coming out of Jason’s ears after a meltdown at breakfast.    It didn’t help that we’ve been on a break from preschool for 2 weeks, which has meant a break in the usual routine (rarely a good thing) and I was away for a marathon birth (21 hours) last week so the stand-in routine was thrown off kilter as well.

Yesterday afternoon showed a bright spot, a ray of hope when, after being told that it was time to leave the restaurant (which he vehemently did not want to do), instead of just screaming, he yelled “I’M FRUSTRATED!!!!  I’M FRUSTRATED!!!!”    Improvement, yes?     Baby steps, people, baby steps.   We’ll take it!

Isn’t it crazy that the same little person who brings us so much unabashed joy, so much utter delight can also bring us so much irritation, anger, and stress?   It amazes me.  One moment I’m about to burst apart at the seams with how much I love him and the next minute I just want to flick him.  Hard.  It’s unbelievable.  Thankfully the former moments still outweigh the latter.   And hallelujah for that!

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Here are some of the ways we have been spending our time during the preschool hiatus…

We baked.   The boys helped with their first baking project, a huge batch of banana bread.

They helped from start to finish and they were so proud of themselves.
I would measure and they would dump.

Aside from dipping their fingers in the sugar that I spilled and eating some of the finished product,
the most fun part was taking some of the bounty over to our next-door neighbors

I googled around for some new ideas for play time and here is one of them.
I used masking tape to make a huge race track around our living, coming up on the couch, and around the rug.
Turns out, after several days, masking tape does not come off the wood floor as easily as it does the first!

Gryffin really liked this one.   I numbered 12 easter eggs
and he had to match the numbers with the ones I printed inside the egg carton.

He would fill up the carton and then “sell” them to anyone and everyone.

In the evenings, Jason and I have found our slightly battered spirits
lifted by our summer house guests, Jordan & Belinda.
We’ve been eating dinner together at least a couple nights a week
and there’s nothing like a good
towel whipping marathon to make anyone happy.

Jordan, post-towel contest.