Oooooooh, ooooh, twitchy woman....

My eye has been twitching for about a week.  You know that little annoying tic that makes your eye spasm?  I feel like people are pointing and whispering about my freaky eyelid.  And do you know what one of the symptoms of eye twitching is?  Stress.  Hmmmmm...stress.  Why would I feel stressed?

Well, this is the last week of school.  As a teacher, I used to live for the last few days of school.  The sweet good-byes from the students, the parties with my colleagues, sleeping in, and getting to shake up my scheduled life.  As a parent, I dread having to explain day after day why there is no school, long days with no activities, no naps, and having to shake up my scheduled life.  The kids and I have had nine months of a great schedule; we have had some time together and some time apart.  Now we're looking at a LOT of time together.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my kids and I love spending time with them.  However, what I don't love is the constant fighting that goes on between them: hitting, biting, yelling, crying, tattling, and screaming.  I cringe even typing it because I can't believe that MY kids do that.  There are always kids doing that in the grocery store or the show store or the park, and I have always felt sorry for their parents.  Now *I* am one of those parents.  My kids don't act like that in public - usually - but they act like that at home. 

It's really starting to wear me down.  I can't leave Lottie and Dallas alone in a room for more than three minutes without some sort of trauma occurring.  That means I don't get anything done all day because I'm too busy playing referee.  The only way I can get dinner cooked is by letting them watch TV in the TV room that is six steps away from the kitchen.  Even then, there is always an incident or two in a thirty minute time span. I feel like I'm running out of ways to keep everyone happy. 

Lottie will be at school two mornings a week in the summer, and I'm grateful for that.  She needs to be with kids her own age and away from Dallas sometimes.  I wanted Dallas to have the same opportunity, but he won't potty train.   No big-boy underwear, no school.  That means Dallas gets to be with me.  All.  Summer.  Long.  I give it three days into summer vacation until my other eye starts twitching. 

I know that a lot of the fighting is a phase; at least, I hope it's a phase.  I want so much for my kids to be friends and to be there for each other through all the good and bad.  They're still little, so I know there is a chance they'll grow out of this, but I also know plenty of adult siblings who don't even speak to each other.  I don't know how parents with more than two kids deal with this.  Make the kids be nice to each other?  Ignore it all and let them fight?  Sell them on eBay?  Craigslist? 

I'm doing the best I can do, but some days, it sure doesn't feel like enough.