Piss and vinegar is more like it

Sugar and spice? Are you flippin' kidding me? This little girl is a true gift. The only problem is... I haven't figured out whether she was sent from above or below.

Tonight was a doozy! Wifey took off after dinner, about 630ish, to go to PTA. Big Red was not at all pleased that Mommy was headed out the door so Daddy dipped into the 'ol bag of tricks and totally bribed her with a Halloween candy when we went upstairs for bath. All was well as Pudge got into the tubby and Red munched her peanut MnM's. Things were even very nice as the two started playing with the Rescue Heroes and these plastic tubey things we have in there that the kids use to make trumpets and pour water on themselves with. The night went downhill quick from there let me tell you. Pour Pudge was minding his own business trying for all his life to suck the paint off the foot of one of the Rescue Heroes when Red accidentally bumped him on the forehead, which, by the way, he had just slammed into the hearth. So, I tell Red to please be careful and watch out for her little brother. What does she immediately do? Knock him in the same spot again.

Seriously?!!?

So, I thought it was important to get her to realize what she had done and get her to at least acknowledge it with an "I'm sorry." Ohhhhhh. Bad idea that. This little peach decided to go mute. I really hate it when she does that. Looks you right in the eye and pretends she doesn't know how to speak. Daddy doesn't do well with that. I know it. I'm a reasonable adult who knows he shouldn't let a two-year-old get his goat. Yeah right. She kills me with this every time. And I fell for it again. I'm a dummy. I didn't let it go. I thought it was worth it to make her at least say the words. It escalated. She started to cry. She lost story. She cried harder but refused to acknowledge her brother. She lost snuggles. She cried harder. She was threatened with immediate bed time. I picked her up out of the tub and gave her one last chance to just please-for-the-love-of-all-that's-holy say "I'm sorry!!!!" No dice.

One thing Wifey and I promised never to be (hard to say never but we've probably stuck to this about 98%) those parents who say one thing then give in to the crying and whining. We try to never say something we aren't prepared to follow through on and we've learned to always be very measured in our "threats." So when I got to the point of "bed or else" I knew that I might potentially have to follow through.

She was in bed at 7:02. What's normal bedtime? 8ish. Life was not good. I asked JAM to hang out with Pudge as I got her dressed and into bed and he was a champ. He was having a great time playing with Pudge when I got back into the bathroom so I asked him if he wanted to take a stroll down memory lane and jump in to play. So as the two boys played in the tub we were serenaded by the lovely musical stylings of Red screaming from her bed in the next room. Oh it was lovely.

After Pudge was done with tub, and JAM was taking his own shower, I relented a little bit and got Red back out of bed for a story. It was a good thing too, she told me she had to use the bathroom. We then moved back into normal territory and read a story and did our almost normal bedtime routine and felt so much better by the time the lights went off.

Yeah, I caved. A bit. Guess there isn't really an "always" or even a right way to do all of this but we can only do our best right?

Only 16 more years right?

*shaking head*