Wednesday, August 22, 2007

My Calgon Moment(s)

Remember those old commercials where the woman is looking all stressed out about whatever and she throws her arms up in despair and says, "Calgon! Take me away!"

Well, forget Calgon. I'd be thrilled if I could have more that 5 minutes go by without hearing "Mom?!" (pick your tone) followed by one, sometimes two of many requests and/or statements:
- Can I have a snack?
- I'm thirsty.
- Can you wipe me?
- Push me IN!! (Anna's booster)
- Can I have more ketchup?
- Can I have another snack?
- I have to pee!
- I'm bored.
- Can we go outside?
- Where's the toilet paper?
- When is Daddy coming home?
- When's dinner?
- What's for dinner?
- Yuck! We're having THAT?
- Can I have cereal?
- Where ARE you? (when they can't see me right away)
- What are you doing in there? (when I am in the bathroom, of course).
So, yes - I am ready not only for school to start so I can once again enjoy the simple pleasures in life (like being able to pee alone) and have at least 5 minutes of "me" time.

Now, to be fair - the girls are ready for school, too. And Jessie is going through a major medication change right now so her moods are all over the map. The myriad of requests and calling my name 1001 times an hour fits with that perfectly. We can begin an hour with her mood being very elevated - lots of movement, loud, brash and over the top behavior and then in the next minute she can be spewing venom about not being allowed yet another snack. To her credit - I cannot imagine what it must fell like inside her head sometimes. My analogy is that I am just observing the rollercoaster, but she's the one having to actually ride it. I am amazed, on a positive note how she manages to keep her spirits relatively intact and that she can still find something to laugh about by the end of the day. I guess mania will do that to a person. After having been though a depressive episode with her in July, I would take her manic phase (as she is most of the time now) over depression any day.

The upsides of her mania - Jessie's been wonderfully creative and industrious over the past few days. When she's not asking for snacks left and right she's been playing with her toys and dolls and kittens ( we have a virtual litter of them!) and she's had a lot of laughs with Anneliese. She's been outside a lot riding her bike and she's been just full of energy.

LOL - of course, as I type this, she is looking for one stuffed animal and it emptying one toy bin after another in the playroom. Hurricane Jessie was here!

Oh well, there's always that calgon, right?

4 comments:

TJ said...

I totally remember calgon - I actually used this phrase the other day. It does not even matter if Calgon actually exists or not anymore.....the slogan will never die.

Anonymous said...

How I wish I could say it ends someday, the requests just change..Can I have some money for---? How late can I stay out? Can my friend spend the night? Can I go here or there? I am sure you get the picture by now. I feel your pain as only another mom can.
Sandy

Kelly said...

Yep- we all feel this way about now, I think. :) I'll often reply, "Mommy's on a break. Please try again in 5 minutes." Karina gets it, but Gianna... not so much! Hugs to you!

Christy said...

School has started now, right? I hope that you've at least gotten to sit down and put your feet up for a while.