What do your kids argue over?

Today it seemed like every little thing was something to disagree over. From who got to use the milk first for their breakfast to someone "copying" someone else's choice of coloured straw. Man, it's annoying.

And it didn't get any better throughout the day. Just a few of the arguments were over; who got to go in the pool first, who was using the green towel, who should have flushed the toilet but didn't, who used someone else's toothbrush; it just went on and on.

Is it the mid-summer boredom setting in? Did I not have enough coffee? Finally I couldn't take it anymore and sent them all off in separate areas. Now I know the Gordon Neufeld groupies would say I should keep my kids close, especially in times like this and not send them away from me. And usually I would agree, except for the fact that keeping all three of them close to me would have resulted in total and complete chaos. Plus they would have probably violated our city's noise bylaw.

Finally I took the girls with me to get groceries and my husband took charge of our son, much to his disappointment because it meant he didn't get to sit and watch tv, play video games or go on the computer, he actually had to help Dad do yard work which really isn't that difficult.

I'm in this frame of mind that I should be feeding my kids less sugar and more whole grains, so most of our "close bonding time" was spent reading labels at Save On Foods. Man it's tough to find snack food that is appealing to kids and that they will actually eat, and that is reasonably healthy. (Of course, if I was able to do my own baking I wouldn't have to buy snack food. But that would require me to have an oven, which is still not fixed since May. May!! Apparently the part is on order and should be in "soon". Yeah, and I'll be cooking Christmas dinner in my microwave at this pace.) The girls were a great help actually and loaded the groceries on the thingy to the cashier, and put the bags in the buggy too with only minimal arguments over whether or not the juice boxes would fall through the holes in the cart.

Then in Walmart we ran in to our adoption social worker who has been on leave for quite some time with some health issues. Man, she looked so relaxed and non-stressed. It's been a few years since she had seen the girls and she couldn't believe how much they've grown. Of all the social workers we had over the years, she was the one who was the most supportive and who really fought for us when we needed her too. It was great to see her again. Really it was.

But back to "National Argue With Your Sibling Day". It didn't take long for the three kids to be back to the bickering once they were all together again. By now I'd given up and as long as no one was physically arguing, I put my earplugs in and shifted into ignore mode.

Bedtime didn't come soon enough today. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better.