Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This

It's been one of those days . . .

It started last night after the kids had been in bed for an hour or so. Alyssa was crying, so Leighton went to check on her. She was sitting in bed, eyes closed, crying. He laid her back down. Minutes later she was crying again. This time when he went in, she was standing next to her door. Her jammies were soaked along with the floor around her. She's been potty trained for over a year. I can count on one hand how many times she has had an accident since. Thankfully, she had gotten out of bed. 

I was awakened in the middle of the night with this question: "Are there snakes for real in this area?" It was Jake. He has a snake fetish lately. Then he asked if he could sleep with us. He hasn't done that in nearly two years. Sure enough, he had a bad dream, something about opening a bag containing a snake. Thankfully, he doesn't move around when he's sleeping nearly as much as before.

I was making omelets for breakfast. Between Zachy and Lyssa, the living room floor was already covered in Golden Grahams. Apparently, it's fun to dump out cups full of dry cereal all around the house. Alyssa came back into the kitchen, went to the fridge, pulled out a cup of yogurt, opened it and poured it into the hot pan of omelets on the stove. Thankfully, she didn't get burned. 

Zachy, on the other hand, found a box of doughnuts on the table and decided to help himself.

The rest of the day continued in this manner. Jake pushed Alyssa. Alyssa was mean to Zac. Zac broke Jake's toy. Everyone whining. Everyone wanting Mommy. Mommy going crazy. I called my own mother for some sympathy. "Hang on," she says. "Listen to this." Then I heard a song coming through the phone: "Mama said there'll be days like this. There'll be days like this Mama said." While I received no compassion from my mom, she did make me laugh.

The rest of the day was no better. It was one problem after another. I did have a certain song stuck in my head all day too. I even got a new mantra out of the deal: tomorrow is a new day.