What To Do About Whining???

I think Koen could win an international award for whining. The tone of his voice actually seems to naturally just sit in the whining mode for an entire day at times. This is one of those days. This whining seems naturally contradictory to my soul. It burdens me, annoys me, taxes me and eats away at my patience.

Today has been emotionally taxing beyond this whining and the whining just pours on top of that. Tavin woke up at 5:30am coughing and thankfully went back to sleep until quarter of 7, but I never fell back into a good sleep between there. Then, our big outing today was to go to playgroup. Things seemed to be going well, I laid Tavin down earlier than normal. He was tired and that way I figured he would wake up in time. It worked and he was up even earlier than I wanted, but I made it work (i.e. the poor thing had to cry a little longer than anticipated as I rushed around getting the last things together). So I had us all packed up (Koen's lunch, bottle for Tavin (which is no small task since that means I had to produce it), water for us all, toys for Tavin, etc.). Then I get the kids out the door, the heavy double stroller down our 10 steps to the sidewalk while holding Tavin, open while holding Tavin, strap in both kids, load up the bag and BabyBjorn and we are off. We cross Friendship Ave. and walk about 10 yards and it starts downpouring. Ahh! So we run back to the house while Koen is of course...whining, "I want to go to playgroup, I don't want to go back to the house."

I unload Koen and Tavin out of the carriage, unload the stuff out, fold the carriage back up while holding Tavin and then carry it up the stairs while holding Tavin. We wait on the porch to see if the rain will stop and I call my friends that are probably scrambling around at the park to see if they plan on sticking it out. I have finally gotten Koen calmed down (thankfully Tavin is a happy camper through all of this). Then, right before my eyes, there is a drastic, loud and intense car accident in front of our house at the intersection of S. Pacific and Friendship. So sad and scary! Thankfully the Lord protected Koen from seeing it, he was facing me at the time. My face definitely read fear though. It is jarring to see this occur only feet away from where we are sitting and where we are often ourselves driving or walking. The airbags came out on both cars and the damage to the cars was substantial. Fortunately, it looked like everyone was relatively OK.

Then our friends from playgroup call and the rain stops and everyone's decided to stick around, so I again carry the carriage down while holding Tavin, load it up with kids and stuff and head off, all while Koen is beside himself crying and whining, "I don't want to go to playgroup, I just want to stay here." Seriously, kid, make up your mind! At this point, I was commited to making this outing work. I had invested too much and I, physically and emotionally, needed an outlet. My limbs were shaking from seeing the accident and the fear attached to that. The walk was good for me. It was comforting too to see my mom friends and have Koen get some fresh air.

Tavin and Koen both did pretty well at the park. Tavin ate his bottle, Koen snacked on his lunch and played on the playground. He hung around me a lot though and actually just seemed really emotionally on edge. At one point he started crying becauase a few boys were being friendly and trying to talk to him and play with him. I was sad for him. It's like he was really disturbed today.

Needless to say we didn't last super long at playgroup. And I already had an early naptime in mind for both the boys. Koen did seem to bounce back once we were at home and he had some more lunch and played by himself for awhile. It wasn't even too much of a fight before naptime (although he continued to test me and try me with not listening and obeying and more whining). We only read 1 book before bed, that shows that I was just done. I love reading with Koen, but enough is enough.

So, we'll see how the rest of the afternoon goes. Naptime has been going well although I watched the end of Anne of Green Gables in the background while multi-tasking and I cried a river. Maybe I just had to get the tears out, but seriously, that PBS movie is the best!