Psychological Warfare

I am going to start waging psychological warfare on Darby . . .she will wear the clothes I bought for her if it's the last thing I do. Ugh! I was so frustrated this morning and have been on previous mornings too because I just spent a bunch of money on winter clothes for Darby and she won't wear ANY of them. Now I think I know her pretty good, no dresses, solid colors, kinda tom boyish style, versatile clothes that don't have to be matched with anything. So I got a bunch of stuff at the Children's Place because they have super cute and cheap stuff (it was all on sale). This is inevitably how the morning goes . . .

DARBY: Mom! Can you help me get dressed?
ME: Sure I'll help you, what do you want to wear?
DARBY: I want you to pick it out.
ME: Okay, let's wear these cargo pants and a long sleeve white t-shirt.
DARBY: I don't like those, those are too tight (or too long, or whatever she thinks they are, which they are not!)
ME: You're welcome to pick out whatever you would like to wear.
DARBY: No! I want you to pick it out!
ME: How about this pink pair of pants or these jeans?
DARBY: I don't want to wear jeans or pink pants
(and on and on and on and on and back and forth . . .you get the picture)
ME: For the love of god Darby, pick out your own frickin clothes!!!!!
And scene.

Okay so I don't usually say that last line but you get the picture! I truly could care less if she wants to wear unmatching clothes but I just want her to at least try the clothes I bought. So I have to figure out a way to make her wear them without making her think I'm making her wear them . . .mmmm, I'll let you know who wins this war.

Darby is feeling much better this week, thank goodness. She went to Kindermusik yesterday and preschool this morning. I'm having a weird week where I think there is a conspiracy against me and my kids. Not conspiracy per se but I'm just really sensitive to feeling included and liked or having Darby and Trevor included and liked. For example, my friend threw out an email asking if anyone could watch her daughter today and I responded that I could. Of course, I'm sure she got lots of emails saying they could and I'm sure she picked the first one to respond but I'm feeling totally paranoid that she asked her daughter who she wanted to play with and chose accordingly, meaning not Darby . . . or she doesn't agree with my parenting style and thinks I am a terrible parent and doesn't want me watching her kid. Could I be any crazier?!? None of that is true. Why do these thoughts enter my head? If I can't stop thinking this way, I'm going to be in a world of hurt come school time. I thought middle school was brutal for me and all the "let's hate so and so today" or nasty note writing that went on but I think it's going to be worse to have to see Darby go through it and not swoop in and rescue her or force the other girls to be nice. Or it could be even worse and Darby could be that terrible girl that is mean to everyone . . .I should go take some Paxil or something, I'm stressin myself out :)

This weekend was fun. It was rainy and snowy on Saturday for the Bobcat game that Darby and Erich went to. Trevor and I stayed home and napped, very nice. Then that night we got to watch the Cougs lose to Arizona, so sad, but not unexpected because they stink this year, total bummer. Sunday I went for a run which was co-old and brutal, I don't think I'm fully recovered from last weekend's run. Then my friend Heather and her husband Jason came for a visit. It was so nice to have them here and we had a short but great visit! This week we're just hanging out and catching up on laundry and cleaning and Halloween prep. Here's some pictures from over the last week.

End of September