Pages

Ticker

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

April 9, 2012

Rogue Bunnies...Or, Why My Kids Don't Often Get Sugar

That’s not entirely true…our girls get sugar from time to time, and I’ve often felt like they must be “immune” to its effects. I can’t remember ever thinking they must have had too many sweets, judging by the way they were acting…

…at least until yesterday.

While I downplayed the build-up to Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, for some reason the girls were really excited about Easter approaching. I went right along with it. And I had so much fun asking them if they thought they’d get Easter baskets, and what would be in them.

So perhaps it wasn’t just the sugar…I know the anticipation of the day – and the break in our regularly-scheduled programming – also contributed to the day’s “challenges”.

The girls got up on time, and breakfast went pretty smoothly. I told them they’d get their baskets after breakfast, and they were fine with that. I forewent my usual coffee time and let them open baskets pretty soon after breakfast. They enjoyed looking through their goodies, but it wasn’t long before they were asking for CHOCOLATE.

I let them have their morning snack early – including two mini Cadbury eggs from their baskets. After they ate, they were content to play for a few minutes, but it wasn’t long before they were asking, “More chocolate, please!

I tried to engage them with their new books, but they did not want to sit still. I tried to get them involved in setting up a birthday party with their new play food, but they were too fidgety.

I finally decided we needed to get outside, so we dressed for a walk. The girls did well outside, and played in the yard when we got home.

But…the first thing they did when we came inside for me to start making lunch? “Can we have more chocolate?

NO!!!

We all ate lunch, relatively uneventfully, but they were a bundle of energy afterwards. I knew they were tired, but I was so afraid they wouldn’t nap.

Thankfully, after Mommy having to go into their room a couple of times, they went to sleep. They didn’t nap long, though, waking up to ask for MORE CHOCOLATE.

I did allow the girls a tiny bit more chocolate as part of their afternoon snack, and we spent an hour or so outside hunting eggs.

We came in for a bath, and my, oh, my, were they rambunctious.

By late afternoon, I just didn’t think I could will myself to bake a ham and roast the asparagus. I instructed Daddy to go pick up a pizza.

When the girls asked why we were having pizza – a rare treat – I said something vague, like, “I just thought it would be nice.” I didn’t tell them that they’d worn their mama completely out today!

And after pizza, what did they say??? “Can we have some chocolate?

No, I think we’ve had our fill of chocolate to last us until next Easter.

***

As I type this sequence of events, it doesn’t sound quite as bad as it felt at the time. Frankly, the girls were fussy and whiny and just not very content, and it was nothing short of exhausting.

In hindsight, I know I can’t really blame the chocolate. The chocolate was probably a contributing factor, coupled with their expectations of the day, AND the break in routine. I can usually play around with one of those elements, but manipulating multiple variables is something I’ll try not to do again for quite a while.

6 comments:

Mandy said...

Bwhahaha! That sounds like my evening! I forwent all the chocolate but after a day in an amusement park and raiding my mother's chocolate-laden house, they were rabid little bunnies by bathtime!!

Hopefully today is going a bit more smoothly for you!

Charlene Juliani said...

LOL...I so remember those days of wrangling not only my toddler twins but my older two as well. Funny, how when you are going through it you think how will I ever survive this and I hope it goes by quickly. And once a few years (Ok, maybe 10 years) go by, you look back on those days so fondly :)

I think that's why I love reading your blog, makes me remember when my older kids were younger and I kinda, sorta miss those days. :(

Amanda said...

My kids also had too much chocolate yesterday for their own good, but they continue to find more today- a jelly bean here or there a few overlooked plastic eggs in the yard- yes we've has our fill for a while!

Marcia (123 blog) said...

Too funny, Mandy, although I know it's not really :)

This is precisely why I'm such a mean mother with sugar - I just don't have the energy for the shenanigans.

Did you have a good day today?

This morning I REALLY wanted to just tell them we're not going to the zoo as it seemed like everything they could do wrong, they did. Oy, but it was a good time.

Anonymous said...

they got a taste of the good stuff....there's no going back. HA!

i will say that i've been trying to use "eggs" (mini jelly beans) to convince M that she should use the potty. she has said, "maybe later. i have to eat food, clean up my mess, and take a nap." i LOVE that she's too 'busy' for jelly beans. HA! she is one who would eat sugar all day if we'd let her. T on the other hand would have to be FORCED to eat sugar. he'd rather have it in the form of fresh fruit, which is fine by me! :)

sounds like you guys had a fun day, though :)

Julia said...

Oh, I relate to this!

We didn't even give the girls candy, just bunny shaped pancakes with syrup! It was a rough weekend. I was thankful to get back into our normal routine on Monday :)