“I want them back so much I think I am going to cry!”

Our family is full of a bunch of cry babies! Aren’t girls the ones tagged as emotional? With four boys and only one girl, you would think this wouldn’t be an issue. I just hope the phases pass quickly.

Alex: Well he is a baby so the fact that he is crying isn’t that unusual except he is only crying when I am gone and Scott is taking care of him. I swear he is too young for separation anxiety. I left Scott with Alex two nights in a row and I don’t think it did much for their relationship. The first night there was a miscommunication about how old the bottle was in the fridge so Scott didn’t feed him and Alex was just hungry. The next night I had a fresh bottle in the fridge and I fed him as I walked out the door. Needless to say, as far as Scott is concerned the A in Alexander’s name does not stand for Angel.

Matthew: Although Matthew isn’t a typical crier he has started getting very upset about random events. To motivate children to move, I started having them race to see who could do things the fastest. Big mistake! Now everything in our house is a race, except those fun events that I first implemented this game for such as cleaning up and getting in bed. All of the boys fight over who can eat the fastest, go up the stairs, go through a doorway, ect. When Matthew decides that it is time to cry, he takes the endurance prize. Lately he can be found crying up to 20 minutes after the fact that Joshua has done something first. Most of his battles are about things that can’t be undone and the crying is so pointless—not that I would help in this situation anyway because that would only encourage the crying. At this point time-outs, punishments, and even distractions have not helped decrease the crying period. The only thing that has worked was bribery, but that was only an experiment and I know that should not be a solution.

Joshua: Another sweet boy who doesn’t let the emotions control. So why is he wailing so much at night? The reason for waking up always varies, but usually he just wants company when he gets up to the bathroom. I am sure that he is always in a sleepy trace because I can never talk sense into him, or get him to stop the very loud crying. I consider myself a patient person, but when I am sleep deprived and I have an extra child waking up at night screaming and not communicating in any other way, I get very frustrated. I am always relieved when I physically put him on the toilet and that stops the crying- but that is not always the solution. He is very loud but I guess everyone else in the house wants to keep sleeping because it doesn’t seem to disturb anyone else but me. I have learned that if I keep a night light on in the bathroom and make sure “his” stool is by the toilet that the night wakings have decreased, but have not been eliminated.

Jacob: Clear back when Jacob was 2 months old I was an admirer of his cute puppy dog face when he was upset. When this little guy gets his feeling hurt his eyes get read and he gets very silent or he goes to hide. The funny part is I am such a sucker for it. Unlike Matthews crying that goes on forever, I find myself trying to help Jacob. Maybe because he isn’t calling for attention, his actions always seem so genuine and it breaks my heart to see him so hurt. Yesterday morning he was upset that I had stolen his favorite shirt to put it through the laundry. After 20 minutes of giving up the fight that he could not wear his favorite shirt for the third time this week, he came downstairs to finish getting ready. Because we were out of time, I had chosen oatmeal as a quick breakfast. I am sure there had already been hidden tears upstairs, because I noticed the puppy dog face right away. I told him I would eat the oatmeal (see I am a sucker) and I poured him a bowl of cereal with milk. Then he was upset because I packed his lunch, then he only got two bites before the carpool showed up. I rushed him out the door, and but then he was upset because he forgot his jacket upstairs. Then there was something about his homework. It was just so weird how within an 8 minute period he started to cry 5 times and I tried to solve the problem every time. Most of the time I don’t give in so easily but I just wanted him to go to school and have a good day, I guess he just needed that shirt.

Samantha: Well, she is a girl. The emotions typically run rampant with Samantha so this isn’t a phase we are dealing with. She was crying yesterday because she doesn’t feel like all the work she does at school is appreciated. All her teacher ever does is write the same thing every time, Good Job… However, on a positive note for the third week in a row she didn’t earn any play time with a friend on Friday. The bad mood was apparent for only 3 minutes and then she was actually extra happy. I have been trying to tell her that if she pretends to be in a good mood even when she is not, that things might turn out better. I guess she has been listening.

This is a literal quote from Jacob 30 seconds ago trying to talk me into giving him some of his toys back that he has lost his privileges too. “I want them back so much I think I am going to cry!”