Washington D.C. Day Five

Well, I'm not really sure what to say about today.  I suppose that all the stresses of the week came to a head this morning.  One of the kids had a terrifically huge meltdown about THE WRONG PANTS.  I'm not going to say who or give you all the details but it was huge and lasted for at least an hour.  About the same time Will had a couple of his own meltdowns and by the time the big one ended Will had punched the computer and was sobbing uncontrollably.  Will and I are very similar and the combination of no time alone this week, losing his place as the oldest (temporarily), and the stress of the discipline issues/meltdowns have all taken their toll on him. 

We had planned to take the kids to a huge playground and then visit my grandmother and cousins this afternoon.  But we were worried about a possible public meltdown and the huge one this morning left me utterly drained.  After things had calmed down somewhat James took three of the boys out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Will finally stopped sobbing and took a long hot shower while listening to an audio book.  While he did, I lay down on the bed and cried.  Afterwards Will and I both felt better and by the time James came home we were able to come downstairs.  

While James was out walking he came across a small playground two blocks from our house.  A local daycare had walked over too and the place was packed with small children.  Colin has always been great with little kids, even when he was little himself, and he was adored by every child there.  They chased him around and around the playground and when he stopped he was enveloped in a huge hug.  When they left the daycare workers hinted that they would be there again this afternoon if we wanted to come back.  They really loved Colin!

Elisa made a wonderful pancake breakfast/lunch and David and I played cribbage while we ate.  After lunch it was nap time and Colin, Charlie and I all slept.  I think the afternoon off was beneficial for all the boys, and for me too!  

Papa, Daniel, David, Joe and Elisa left to visit Grammie and our cousins.  Jacob is still sick and in a lot of pain so he stayed home and Mom had a bad headache so she was home as well.  The boys were doing well after their nap so James went out to visit Bob.  I took the boys back out to the playground although it was too late to meet the daycare kids.  The boys did meet a pair of girls though and played nicely with them for about an hour.  

My sick brother

After that it was dinner, school and a movie before bed.  Everything was great until bedtime when we had another meltdown.  This one was much smaller though and it only took about half an hour for the child in question to finish his time out.

Mom brought her little sewing machine and has been working on a quilt.

I love the colors of this quilt!

I am somewhat disappointed that we weren't able to do anything on our last day here but I think it was necessary for us to take a day off.  I was feeling bad about some of the things that had gone wrong on the trip, (children melting down, Jacob being sick, even the difficulty we had finding parking) but tonight my family all gave me a card thanking me for the work I had done putting our vacation together.  It meant so much to me.  It not only turned my day around but changed how I was feeling about our whole trip.  I have a really wonderful family!

The rest of the night I spent playing games with Daniel and with Elisa.  We were up way too late but it was a lot of fun.  I am very blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people who are friends and a support as well as family.  I love them all so much!

Tomorrow we have an early start and a very long drive so it is time for bed.  I hope that we have an uneventful trip!