I am very lucky in that the lils are generally quite well behaved when Willy travels. Sure they get sick most times, but they are very well behaved about it.  I guess that is part of the reason why his most recent trip, to India, has been so difficult.  They have been so difficult, and I have been handling it poorly.

The lils have been fighting, yelling, hitting each other, not listening, and answering me back since Willy left last week.  It’s all behaviour that I see from time to time, but for it to be this intense and prolonged is unusual.  I know that they miss him, but I get frustrated and sometimes I react in ways that I really shouldn’t.  They often figure out ways to work around my overreactions.  As Goose did at dinner last night.

I tend to make “safe” foods when Willy is away, so that I don’t have to fight with one or both about what they aren’t eating.  I was shocked when Woo took great offence to the fried rice that I prepared last night, as it is something that he generally devours.  Instead, he loudly expressed his displeasure for about twenty minutes, until I told him that he had to at least try it before deciding that it was the “grossest food ever”.  He did, and devoured two helpings.

It set the tone for the meal, which included several squabbles where one child had grievously wronged the other.  Finally, I had had enough, and when Goose started to lodge a complaint with “Woo said…”, I didn’t want to hear her out, or want to have them settle it themselves, or have us all move on to something more peaceful, I just wanted silence.  She persisted, despite my attempts to change or close the subject.  Finally, when she started to say “Woo said” just one more time I exasperatedly told her that I didn’t want to hear anything from her that started with “Woo said.”

“Fine!” she said, “I will end with that!” She proceeded to exactly what had offended her so, ending with “… and that is what Woo said.” I was speechless, and a little bit proud.