the little things that drive you nuts

Every day, there are all these little annoyances that you take for granted, but they pile up and drive you insane! It's the really little things.

One of my top 10 right now: they just don't understand getting out of the way of a door that's opening. They'll just stand right in front of a door that has to open toward them (like a car door) or go to the wrong side. Trivial, but when it comes up dozens of times a day, :gah:!

Next?

 

Loud noises. Drives me NUTS. They will make high pitched noises and compete to see who is the loudest.

 

The whining, for the love of all that is holy, the whining! Sometimes, I think my ears are going to start bleeding or my head might explode.

 

The stupid fights - "Ainsley won't let me sing!" Really, how is she preventing you from singing? Why must I be involved in this conflict?

Dilly-dallying, but this has been going on for 2 years with no end in sight.

"We don't like this." - regarding any dinner food that is not hot dogs or pizza.

 

When I tell the kids to come up from the basement to eat lunch/change diapers/whatever, and Nadia will say, "Oh man! But mom, I'm playing!" -- but she'll come up. Karina will, too. Kevan will lie down on the bottom of the stairs, until I literally have to drag him up...and he cackles, clearly thinking it's funny.

Then, changing his diaper drives me crazy. He fights me every inch of the way, and then he gets jelly legs when it's time to put on pants, and he takes his socks and throws them on the floor...throws the diaper on the floor, rolls over, kicks me, sticks his hand in the Vaseline, etc. EVERY TIME.

And, the kid is 36 pounds, so it's not that easy to wrangle with him. What kills me is that he is perfectly behaved for diaper changes at school.

 

OMG, you're so right about the door. Mine are almost 4 and they still stand directly in front of the door so that it can't open. Then, when I do manage to get the door open, they go through and stand right in front of it on the other side so no one else can get in. :headbang:

Refusing to answer a question when I ask them what they want, then freaking out when I choose for them.

And, in a way this is cute, but Amy's insistence on changing into her sparkly leotard and ballet shoes whenever we play music in the house is getting a little old -- especially since I'm always the one who has to find said leotard and ballet shoes, ASAP, no matter what else I might be doing.

 

Becca, Jack and Kevan must be conspiring to drive us nuts! Jack is the exact same way. :gah: I wish I could just potty train him now because of his bad behavior during diaper changes, but his stubbornness also prevents that. :cry:

The other thing that drives me nuts is the helplessness routine my kids put on. Jacob drops his cup on the floor, then stands there completely still and screams bloody murder until I can finally get through to him and convince him to walk over and pick it up. I can't wait until they learn to help themselves rather than just melt down! The first 20 times per day, it's not so bad, but by the end of the day, I feel like they might never ever learn, despite my efforts to empower them.

 

What drives me bonkers is having to say "Alice, come here. Alice, come here. Alice. Alice. Alice. Alice, come here please." Over and over and over. . .And Royce comes right over. He drives me bonkers in a different way though, his is that he *has* to be on me 24-7.

 

1) Jazzy saying "Jessy is hurting my ears" well then move away from her she is just singing

2) Not coming when called or the wrong one coming :umm:

3) jazz not putting her shoes on! She's 4 its not that hard. It's not that she can't its that she won't and I don't have the time to wait on her

 

1. Not listening. :gah: Drives me nuts.

2. "Mama, (Meghan/Nolan/Liam) hit/pinched/kicked/looked at/walked by/ me"

3. The fact that Liam can go potty, but is unwilling to potty train. <_<

 

"Poop, mom, poop"

I take off said poopers clothes and put her on the potty. Sister follows us into the bathroom. Pooper sits on the potty for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then gets off and wants to play with sister. Or, I shut the door so sister can't be a distraction so she throws a tantrum until I open the door. Either way, whoever needs to go is only interested in sitting on the potty for a minute. I put her diaper back on and literally 1 minute later, I smell poop. If they know they have to go and I'm placing them on the potty, why don't they use the potty? Are we going to repeat this daily scenario until they are 10?! :gah:

 

1. Having crying, screaming fits every time we turn into the driveway. It doesn't matter where we go or how long we have been gone...they NEVER want to get out of the car these days!

2. Not being able to wash dishes (open the dishwasher) without having two little "helpers" pulling everything out that you have just put in.

 

Oh yes, Ainsley has this refusal to get out of the car thing. It's infuriating, not just annoying. She will actually rebuckle herself into the carseat. Then Bea gets all upset if we start going into the house without Ainsley. Turns into a whole big scene. I wish we had an attached garage so she could just sit there and I wouldn't be leaving her outside.

 

The constant need for me to perform simple tasks for them. Cricket seems to think that my only task in this world is to act as her personal servant; she's constantly asking me to fetch things for me. And Piper is suddenly incapable of picking herself up off the floor if she falls or trips. She'll lie there and screetch "pick me up mommy, pick me up!!!" until I come over.

 

cleaning. I can NOT clean while they are awake. They walk behind me and undo what I just did. Putting clothes away. Most of theirs get hung up, so I HAVE to do it while they're awake. Well they try to take stuff out and 'fold' it, then hand it to me. Faster than I can take it and don't I dare put it back in the hamper as that will cause a tantrum.. LOL


Grunting. They are 2yrs 10months and have a 15 month old brother. Here lately they have regressed to using grunts to tell us what they want, all becuase they see their little brother holding his hand up, going 'uh uh uh uh' cuz he wants a cracker. HE can't talk, THEY can! drives me BONKERS that they started grunting and holding their hand up for anything from milk/juice/crackers to wanting to be picked up....


Oh, and the climbing. Specifically climbing on mommy. ALL the time. There's 3 of them, go play with each other for an HOUR, that's all... HUGE playroom and they'd rather sit on mommy's head/lap/feet and climb all over me....

 

After they climb out of their carseats, they buckle them up so the next time I go to buckle them I have to take them OUT of their seats, unbuckle everything and then put them back in (while they scream at me "BUT I WANT TO CLIMB IN MYSELF!), and then buckle them in. This happens almost every time :wacko:

 

We have a problem with walking through a door these days. I stand there holding the door open and they just look at me. "come on, let's go" and they still stand there. :gah:

Not coming when called is a big one here too. Lauren, come here. Lauren... Lauren... H.E.L.L.O??

 

oh, i have to second/third/fourth the WHINNING!!!! and now they are starting to tattle on each other!
just yesterday we told Braeden to stop whinning, and actually stop talking all together, so when his brother hit a button on his buzz toy he made sure to tell me that, "Gabins toy is talking!" in his oh so cute whinny voice!! HAHA

 

Sarah does this too! It seems to help a little if I get her verbal permission before unbuckling her (though she is still sulky about it) and let her choose whether to go out her own door or Amy's.

But sometimes I do just shut the doors and start carrying stuff into the house. (We don't have an attached garage, but it's a very quiet street.) Fortunately Amy doesn't get upset about that. Sarah usually gets mad that I left her in the car (!) and is ready to get out by the time I come back for her.