How do they know?

How do they know that Matt is gone for 3 whole days and he's not just at work? Big and Little Red have been in rare form this morning, waking up at 6:30am, being cranky and fussy all morning (and I'm sure it had nothing to do that they were still tired or that it was dark & raining out most of the morning) and Big Red has just been plain ornery. I don't know if it's still detox from our crazy VBS schedule last week or if he's just decided to push the envelope with everything he does. Things that he knows he can't touch are suddenly becoming a favorite past time. For example, I used to be able to shower when Bria went down for her morning nap. Tyler used to just sit and watch a video or completely ignore his video and play with his cars. Today, however, instead of doing what he should have done, I found a variety of pens all over the floor, some taken completely apart. He took these out of the desk which he knows he's not supposed to touch at all. He then proceeded to draw about 10 lines all over 1 couch cushion with blue gel pen. Gel pen ink is not normal ink, it does not come out as easily as other ink does, I think it's meant to be permanent. He also turned off the tv and pushed buttons on the VCR. All of these things he knows he's not supposed to do, but yet, in the 7 minutes that I was in the shower, all knowledge of these things flew out of his head.

~He knows he's not supposed to open the desk drawer.

~He knows he's not supposed to have pens. Period.

~He knows that he's only to draw on paper. Always.

~He knows he's not to touch the entertainment center. Ever.

But how do they know that Matt isn't just at work and I'm the only one who will be parenting them for the next 3 days? Bria has been cranky & fussy all morning. I don't know if it's because of our crazy schedule last week or if it's teething. She doesn't seem to be in pain, so I'm thinking it's just getting back to our "normal".

Fortunately though, the rain and the gray skies blew away and the sun came out. We took a nice long walk this morning (more for my peace of mind than for theirs!) and Big Red fell asleep less than 10 minutes into the walk. Little Red took a little while longer fall asleep (less than a mile from home), but I tried to walk as slowly as possible. They stayed asleep for a little while when I parked the stroller in the driveway and just sat.

But the day has improved since our walk this morning. Little Red is taking a much needed nap right now, hopefully it will be a nice long one since she's been avoiding those all day. Big Red is lying on the couch for his rest time which isn't very restful yet, but I'm afraid his nap this AM may have made it so he's not going to take one this afternoon. Oh well. If he doesn't sleep that's fine, but at least he's being quiet and still (or not.), even if it is being "forced".

I know these next 3 days will go by quickly (in the grand scheme of things, I will probably feel as though the days drag on). But for right now, I'm going to enjoy the relative quiet and spend some much needed time in prayer. Won't you join me? :)