And Other Mythical Creatures: At the library storytime today, Stephen and Matthew made pointed clown hats with pompoms on the top. Matthew insisted on wearing his the rest of the day; he looked like a little pixie in it.

Excitable Boy

9:50 a.m. On the drive home from Tab's office last night, Stephen was acting up in the car. Matthew took one of his shoes off, to my annoyance; but Stephen trumped him by taking off both and throwing them back into Daniel's seat, not once but twice. Tab lost his temper with Stephen, and when we got home, he made Stephen walk from the car to the house barefoot. He then sent him to sit up at the top of the stairs in timeout while the other boys snacked on animal crackers and Tab ran the water for their baths.

After a suitable interval had passed, I went upstairs to talk to him about what had happened. He apologized--"Sorry I threw my shoes, Mama"--and appeared sincerely repentant. Stephen's eyes are normally crinkled up into crescent shapes because a smile is his usual expression; but when he is serious his eyes are huge, round, and solemn. The problem is, his repentance doesn't last. He quickly shrugs off the reprimand and is off to his next scrape. I feel like we have to toe a careful line with Stephen. It is hard to stay mad at him because he has such a loving heart and sunny disposition, but his lack of impulse control concerns me. Then I worry that we are overreacting and responding too harshly to his misbehavior. (Long, frustrated, maternal sigh.)

9:45 p.m. I am home after my night out. I had arranged to meet Denise at Borders at 8. Tab and the boys dropped me off at Borders on the way home from his office about 6:30. I had plenty of time to browse among the tables of new and featured books, casting longing looks at all those I'd love to get but can't justify buying. I jotted down a few titles in which I'm particularly interested; I'll check the county and university libraries tomorrow to see if I can borrow them. Thank heavens for libraries.

Denise and I met nine years ago through our mutual friend Jeff. She and her husband have two children about the age of mine: her son is a year and half older than Daniel, and her daughter about a year older than the twins. She has a difficult time with her kids. They are terribly finicky eaters--her daughter has severe food allergies, as well--and they are up several times a night. Listening to her horror stories about her ADHD son and his obsession with Pokemon made me realize that our problems with our own kids are relatively minor.

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