Day 5...

Today was hard... preschool days are always hard. What I'm learning from this challenge is less about yelling and more about triggers... Addison's triggers and my own.

Addison's meltdown triggers:
- no nap days
- preschool days
- days where the schedule changes unexpectedly
- the word 'no'

Mama's screaming triggers:
- Addison's meltdown triggers
- anything involving managing two small children in a large hospital
- plus lack of sleep, lack of caffeine, stress at work, sick children, a sick husband...

Okay, so basically what I've learned is that everyday there are triggers, preschool days are by far the worst, but they exist everyday. As soon as I walked in the door today to pick up Addison I knew what I was in for... she screamed, "MAMA!!!" and swung her coat around like a lasso. She was in timeout before we could even get out the door and it just continued when we made an unexpected stop at the grocery store to pick up some things and when we walked past the greeting cards our world came to a grinding halt. She saw a princess kitty card that said, "Happy Birthday Niece!" {It would have been funny, I totally admit... but I said no.}

As soon as I said no, she was gone - a screaming, foot stomping, crocodile tear producing, rationale lacking 4 year old.

Now, without the challenge I would have managed to get out of the store without screaming. That part I could handle - but I would have lost it when we got in the car and the constant crying, screaming, kicking, flailing continued.

I didn't lose it. I did turn up the music ridiculously loud. I did wait until she quit howling to explain that we could make daddy a card when we got home that he would like 100x times more. And I did repeat that compromise ten times before she actually HEARD me, but I didn't yell. 

When we got home we colored a beautiful princess dress picture and wrote, "Happy 10th Birthday Dad-O" per her request and everyone was happy.

Tiny victories my friends, tiny victories.

{300 days to go...}