I Can't Even Last an Hour

Gayle had girl's night last night, leaving me with the two kids. Ordinarily, no big deal. But last night, I tried to continue with Austin's potty training and allowed him plenty of time to sit on the toilet to poop. Really, I think he was just manipulating me into a later bedtime as he often so cleverly does. After taking a bath, I put on his diaper. THEN, he decided to let it rip. I asked him if he pooped, and he said yeah, and then he said "I want to poop in the potty." So he sat, again, on the toilet, and out come two nuggets "A big one and a tiny one," he said, and he was right. Finally ready for bed, Austin then decided to bump his head hard on the wooden part of the bed, as he frequently carelessly does, and cried more loudly than my attempts to soothe him. Meanwhile, Wyatt in the room next door launched into his piercing falcon-shriek cry. After settling Austin down, I turned my attention to Wyatt. Poor little guy had worked himself up and I couldn't calm him down. Frustrated, I put my tail between my legs and called Gayle to ask if Wyatt needed milk. Sure enough, he did. So I went downstairs to warm up some milk and, predictably, by the time I made it back upstairs Wyatt was in fully falcon-shrieking mode again. And he wouldn't take the milk because it wasn't warm enough for his liking. With the falcon-shriek hurting my ears, I clenched my jaw at Wyatt and asked him why he was crying. Not a good move. My poor demeanor freaked him out and caused him to shreak longer. This time I carried him with me downstairs and he settled down. I heated the milk up to a hotter temperature, went back upstairs, and this time he drained that milk like an old drunk shooting whiskey. And then he was calm. All that in just over an hour. Gayle handles them all day! Although I was rattled, my boys were soon both fast asleep, and I could only sigh as I sat squarely between their rooms, working in peace at my computer. Oh, the sweet sounds of sleep.