I don’t wanna…
Sela is going through a nasty temper tantrum phase. She knows that Lita will be leaving in a few weeks and is already giving the new team, Gary and Marianne, attitude and the cold shoulder every so often, resulting in time-outs as pictured at left. (There is about a one month transition between the two helper couples.) On another but soon to be related note, we finally surrendered to water wings for the triplets (and Sebastian on occasion) in June. I’m not sure why we waited so long before using them. The difference is HUGE… the triplets love being in the water and it’s possible for one adult to watch all three and stay out of trouble. This past week I bought brand new Speedo water wings that are very reliable at holding air and keeping the kids buoyant. Therefore, yesterday and today I took all four kids to the ABC (Aberdeen Boat Club) for swimming… by myself. Saturday we had a fantastic time with the kids spending most of our 2.5 hours there in the big pool. The overcast skies kept crowds away and we had the pool mostly to ourselves. Swimming was followed by a fun shower and the surprise arrival of Tess who joined us for dinner.
Today the ABC was busier. Tess remained at home again to get some work done. Generally everything went okay until it was time for our shower. While gathering up our stuff beside the pool Sela spotted cookies in our bag. She wanted one. "Not before dinner," I replied, "we can all have one after dinner." This set her off like a rocket. A train of dad and kids meandered into the Men’s washroom with Sela at full volume wail. Sebastian, Jasper and Carys excitedly stripped and jumped into a warm shower. Sela wanted two showers – one all to herself with her own siblings of her choice joining HER SHOWER. Picture this: the washroom is a small facility with three toilets, three urinals, three showers, three sinks and a bunch benches and lockers. The walls are cement with nothing to absorb sound – this thing is an amplifier. Sela screamed for twenty minutes. NOTHING would calm her down – loving hugs, tough love, distractions like a comb to brush her hair… blah, blah, blah. She refused to get into the shower (this after saying all afternoon, "I want a shower… I want a shower…" She refused to stop crying. Knowing that she likes to be a drama queen, burrowing her head into a sofa when melting down, I folded a towel next to her. She keeled over and screamed into the towel, muffled herself, then turned her head to the side to return to original volume. There was a lovely gentleman changing and showering who, well, didn’t have such a relaxing time. Meanwhile the rest of the ABC heard Sela screaming.
Finally, I laid down the law. "Everyone, we’re not staying for dinner. Sela has lost the privilege to stay for dinner and I can’t leave the rest of you so we’re going home." The other three were not impressed (but reacted remarkably well to the news) and Sela kept on screaming. One by one the kids got dressed, we got in the car and drove home. (I called Tess to warn her.) Halfway home Sela figured out what had happened and turned into "sweet as pie" but at the dinner table she refused to eat her dinner (she also refused to eat her lunch and went down for her nap hungry.) When the attitude re-surfaced at dinner I gave Sela one chance to redeem herself… she crawled into her chair and started eating.
Tess appeared and we had "the lecture." Had we had both been at the ABC, one of us would have come home with Sela. We explained this to the kids as they munched away. Sela had already apologised earlier to me, but Tess suggested an apology was owed to Sebastian, Jasper and Carys. Sela hesitated not a moment with, "Sorry Carys, sorry Jasper, sorry, Sebastian," looking at each one determinedly. That wasn’t enough for JJ who looked up from his dinner and shot back, "Louder, Sela!"
