yesterday at the beach was, um, partially fun and mostly stressful.


( click here to see all beach pics)


the girls, especially lily, are in some stage called "cry and whine incessantly (and sometimes add a little stomping and jumping) over every little thing that doesn't go my way."

it's wearin' me down people, it's wearin' me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down. (say with deep bass voice.)

for example, on monday we were going to do this science experiment, one of many i have been planning to do with them this summer. i was reminded of it when i read judy's 50 days blog the other day and decided to go with it. i was so excited for them to be excited. of course, lily whined through the whole thing and ruined it. first she whined and cried that her volcano "wouldn't go right" then she whined when she spilled some baking soda, then she complained when she poured her vinegar on and there wasn't more action. i guess she was expecting real fire or something.

so yesterday she started as soon as we got there that she didn't want to carry her stuff down to the beach (bucket and swim backpack.) the second she stopped with that they spotted a big jellyfish at the water's edge and started freaking. of course i had been convincing them for days that weren't going to be any jellyfish bc there rarely are, and this one was the only one we saw all day, but after viewing it they were convinced that as soon as they got in they would be swarmed and attacked by a mob of jellyfish. so they started whining about that.

i understand the jellyfish freakout bc it does look scary but they carry everything to the extreme.


i told them if they didn't want to go in the water to dig sand a build a sandcastle and Lily started whining about that being "boring." then she went into one of many whiny tantrums that everything was boring her. and she was tired and she wanted to go home. nothing could make her happy.

i told her to lay down and rest a while and she didn't stay there 5 minutes. she started whining again and finally agreed to get in the water with scott. the 20-30 minutes they spent swimming was the only time she stopped the whininess. when it was time to pack up and go she started in again and so did hannah.

the few minutes in between were great for me. i had a little while to relax while scott took them swimming. besides that it was stress and annoyance.

it's so depressing for me not to be able to take them anywhere and do anything lately without them either disobeying, whining loudly, or a combination of both. i am so sick of dealing with this, and although it was lily yesterday, it's mainly both- sometimes individually sometimes simultaneously.

so far i have tried any and all positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement i can think of or research: time outs, behavior chart, sending them to their room, putting them to bed early, letting them pick a treat at the store for good behavior, doing fun stuff with them, giving them individual attention, the list goes on and on. nothing has any effect.

we were going to take them to an amusement park on monday that they have been wanting to go to but now scott has decided it will be too stressful for all of us.

ok well if you made it to the end of this post, it's a miracle. are you thinking "she's whining about her kids whining."???

cuz i am.

i don't know what to do.

calgon...take me away!