OMG these kids

The kids are going to drive me completely off the deep end.

I am trying really really hard to be compassionate and keep in mind that they are going through the same stuff I am, but without as many tools to manage stress, fear, depression, etc. But seriously, they've got to start holding up their end of the bargain.

I'm not really sure how much of the night I spent in my son's bed, but that's where I woke up this morning, so that wasn't a great way to start the day. It didn't get much better from there. Both my wife and I failed to keep the kids away while the other one was trying to nap - eventually my wife holed up in the kids' room and locked the door (for some dumb reason the kids room has a lock and our room does not, we desperately need to switch the doorknobs.)

Anyway the kids have gone from meltdown to meltdown today, over the usual set of seemingly trivial things like morning zoom sessions, or dinner, or who gets to water the garden. It is so hard not to get frustrated and angry with the kids when they act out. Intellectually I know that they are seeking attention and that they need extra TLC but it is tough to give it to them when they are constantly misbehaving and throwing tantrums. Today was really aggravating because we were trying to do some special things for the kids - we had gotten my son a tent for his bed in the hopes that it might help him sleep through the night - and I was hoping the kids would want to help me bake cookies or garden or something, but no such luck.

Meanwhile my knee is killing me today, I must have overdone it with the exercises yesterday or something.

One really nice thing that happened as the day was coming to a close is we discovered that Lily the Frog had written back to the kids. They listen to her podcast pretty much every night and about a month ago there was an opportunity to send her messages. So the kids recorded messages for her, and tonight we got to hear her response. It was pretty special for both of them. I find these stories very comforting myself actually, Lily's voice is so calming and positive.