Emotional rollercoaster

Do you ever feel like you've been on some kind of emotional roller-coaster all. day. long?

I've had one of those days. 

Started off with B in a foul mood, same mood he was in yesterday (no idea why, I'm putting it down to "starting school syndrome"), which meant he didn't want to get dressed for school, he didn't want to have breakfast, he wanted to pour the milk in his oatibix himself, he wanted to ... blah blah, you get the picture. So after 35 minutes of keeping calm and trying to reason with him, irritation and impatience took hold, stress levels ramped right up (they are permanently high these days so doesn't take much to tip them over the edge) and I lost my temper with him. Which only ever serves to rile him even more, so I had to wait a bit longer until he calmed down and eventually he got his face washed and clothes on in 5 minutes flat. And we weren't even late for school, a miracle!

So I dropped him off, all smiles, but the stress and irritation just morphs into real anger and frustration, at myself mostly, especially when I get to the supermarket for some shopping and realise I've left my purse at home. Grrrrrr. I scream a bit while sitting in the car, and rev the engine unnecessarily as I screech out of Morrisons carpark.


Eventually the high-energy anger tires me out, and it dissolves into a real lethargic melancholy at my 'miserable lot in life'. Yeh, this is the feeling-sorry-for-myself phase. After mooching about the house for an hour or so, kicking myself for staring at 'Homes Under the Hammer' instead of finishing a job application which is due in tomorrow, I find myself alot calmer again as I head out to pick B up from school at lunchtime, even hopeful that the afternoon will be alot happier and stress-free.

So peace returns as we run about the little park outside school for half an hour. Then we get home and B decides he doesn't want ham sandwiches for lunch, he doesn't want to wash his hands before lunch, he doesn't want to change out of his school clothes... and here we go again...

It's flippin' exhausting, this parenting lark, particularly when you don't have the other half of the parenting tag-team to let you have a break for a bit.

But then (and I know this is incredibly cheesy and corny, but it's sooo true) it gets to bed time, and I sneek a peek at him sleeping soundly, peacefully, next to the 'leaning tower of cuddly toys' precariously balanced next to him, and I know tomorrow will be a good day.

But there's always room for a little glass of wine (but not before actually finishing the job application...).