Would you like whine with that new language?

Today started out on a sour note. I'm never sure if I'm in a bad/impatient mood and it spreads to the boys or if they're in bad moods and it spreads to me. However it comes about, it seems, if someone is in the dumps, there's no way to stop that stink from spreading throughout the house. It is in times like these I have to dig really deep to muster enough strength to be the one who brings positivity, happiness, and the good vibes back around. I'm the grown up so I have to force myself to act like one. Admittedly, I do feel like talking smack to the boys, and being stubborn and a big baby myself. It takes an embarrassingly large amount of self discipline for me to take the high road. If things aren't going my way, sure, I want to whine and throw tantrums, too. However, I'm on a tantrum strike. We've got enough of those going on around here.

Nate's been going through an awful spell of whining. There's a lot of fake crying going on around here and why all of a sudden does he want me to carry him everywhere? My first thought is that if he's whining to get his way maybe he thinks that works for him and if he continues to whine, he'll continue to get his way. However, as loving as I'd hope to be, I find myself being a kind of blunt, no-nonsense, kind of an "a-hole" and impatient mom. I'm not the type to give in to whining. In fact, the sound puts a knot in my stomach. I just cannot stand it. At all.

I've been telling Nate "when you stop whining I'll be able to understand you" and "use your words to tell me what's wrong and maybe I can help you" and some "I know you're not a baby, so you shouldn't need to act like one to get your way"s thrown in there, too. Not really working. When he wants to be carried around (which is okay on occasion, but give the old arms a break!) I've been telling him "I know you're a big boy. Why don't we just hold hands while we walk." I'm hoping these nice little sentences will help because inside I want to scream my head off. Sorry to unload, but it's better typing than verbally hearing myself whine!

Let's talk nicely about Nate now because he was a great boy at the park tonight. Rick often takes the boys on a bike ride at night while I get dinner ready. As I mentioned before, Rick's out of town. So, I thought it'd be nice to take the boys on a ride after dinner (trim those thighs, girl!), and eventually we ended up back at the park near our house.

There was a 2 year old girl playing at the park with her dad and the boys were infatuated with her (making her cry a couple times from trying to hug her and hold her hands). Nate was so darned cute with her. He tried asking her name to which her dad noted she doesn't speak English. They seemed to be of Middle Eastern decent and their dialect had a lot of fun sound to it. Nate introduced himself and tried to shake her hand as he said "nice to meet you" (proud mom!). When she didn't respond to him, Nate seemed to understand what the dad was saying about her not understanding English because he started "talking" to her in her language. I thought I was going to die laughing, though I sucked it up as much as I could because I didn't want to offend the man and his daughter. Nate would inquire to the little girl "Dop bog?" or "Pap gab?" or something to the sort, which mimicked the sounds of the language the father would speak to the daughter. Nate was completely serious and waiting for answers from the little girl. I was just beside myself. Actually, I still am.