Is it just me?

6:30 AM – I can hear Jacob’s alarm clock going off in his room. It was too loud. I went in to turn it down. He was climbing down his ladder to do the same.

I put the dogs out. I asked him to get dressed before playing. He did so without any argument or attitude.

I fed the dogs and put them out again before getting in the shower. It was raining very lightly. I knew the dogs would be wet. I wanted them in relatively quickly. In my robe I scurried to the back door. I warned Jacob that I was letting the dogs in. I asked if he wanted his door closed since he was playing on the floor and may not want wet dogs coming in excitedly. He was glad I shut his door.

I came to his room again, after getting dressed. I knocked and after getting his OK to come in, I suggested breakfast. Since he had done such a good job of getting up and getting dressed we had lots of time. I asked him what he’d like for breakfast. He said he wanted to go to Krispie Kreme. I said no, that I meat I would make either waffles or scrambled eggs.

Right then attitude began because I told him no. His tone switched to hateful and his volume doubled.

I walked out of the room. He continued to growl, grunt, mumble, vent, shout and in general be hateful to me. I calmly told him that talking to me that way was not ok. I gave him the chance to change his attitude. I ended up giving him 2 sets of swats: 1 the first time and then 10 minutes later 2 more. In about 5 minutes he changed his tune. He came to the kitchen and asked very nicely, “May I have waffles please mom?”

We have an incident every day like that. Not always to the point of swats, but a struggle every day. Here’s my horoscope for the day – pretty funny.

Gemini
While you may feel the urge to put on a pair of boxing gloves and duke it out with your family, dear Gemini, try putting on an apron instead. Cooking a meal or performing other domestic chores will help take your mind off your troubles with your family. If you are not the domestic sort, exchange the apron for a blazer and bury yourself in your work. These tensions on the home front will pass quickly enough.