Iy the Drama Queen

Last night as we were trying to read scriptures Iy VERY dramatically threw herself on the sofa, her arms over her head, and wailed "I can't read! My Tooth. Is. Too. Bloody!!!" She's been trying to pull it out for days. It takes so very long because she just pulls on it a little tiny bit because it hurts to turn it. Also, if she turned it the tooth would come out faster and what's the fun in that?

Back to the drama. I had seriously had it. We have had a couple of days of pure whiny and bored kids because I told them no TV, Playstation, Wii, or computer games and we had a withdrawal period. Thankfully, we've had none of it today, but yesterday was the WORST day of summer I remember ever having with the kids. At one point I had spent more than 20 minutes talking with Et about what he could do for fun, mingled with a few chore ideas, when I finally told him that maybe he should just go in the bathroom, close the door and practice making grouchy faces in the mirror.

So you will understand when I very mockingly and dramatically responded to Iy's drama by throwing my body on the sofa, my hands over my head and cried (wailed) out: "I CAAAAN'T! MY TOOOOOTH IS BLOOOOOODY!!" To which Iy replied "No". For a split second I figured she had realized how ridiculous she looked but I was wrong. She said, "No, I SAID my tooth is TOO bloody!"

We all laughed, and loved it even more at Iy's puzzled expression at our laughter.

I learned/remembered something new this week. I was reading my scriptures on Monday and the one that jumped off the page at me was how you can't "make" people do things. And I was thinking about my distribution/nagging of chores each morning. After pondering it for some time, I decided that the kids could each choose their 3 mom's choice chores and then tell me what they were so I could approve them. After spending days of coaxing, ordering, and begging them to do simple chores like unload the dishwasher, make your bed, pick up the living room, put shoes away, etc. the day goes somewhat like this:

Iy: "Mom, for my 3 chores I want to clear off the coffee table, clear the kitchen table, and clean baseboards."

Me: "The first two sound great, but which baseboards do you intend to clean?" I was going to commit her to cleaning the baseboards in one room.

Iy: "Can't I clean the baseboards in the whole house?"

Me: "Yes. Yes you can."

Iy: Fist pumping "YES!" Runs off to do her chores.

I'm guessing the scripture was right.