Shining Examples of Parental Expertise

I'm glad I didn't get rid of my kids on Monday because today they were sweet and fun and I was happy to have them around. I just hope there wasn't anyone listening outside our door to what must have sounded wildly dramatic from the hall. How is it that little creatures with such soft skin and big eyes can suddenly be like little devils? I think it all started when they were building a castle out of blocks and Maya put a rug where one wasn't supposed to go. Jonah informed her of her transgression in a grouchy, intolerant sort of tone and she stomped out and said she didn't want to play with him anymore. My back was to the kids and I was only half paying attention, until I heard Jonah mutter "Hmmmm, now where did I put my wand?" and it was something about his tone that snapped me out of my computer-induced state of Only-Partially-Paying-Attention-To-The-Kids. His voice was calm and casual and he spoke slowly. The voice of the really evil character in a thriller that has detached from the horrible thing he is about to do. Something about it brought me back to reality and I followed him into the bedroom to see Maya curled on the bed and Jonah hitting her with his stick. The sound that Maya made at this point was the next problem. It was perhaps the sound a gazelle would make if it had a human voice, when it had just been attacked by a lion. It was a bad sound, and it got my adrenaline flowing and I felt such anger at Jonah. In the process of me trying to wrestle the stick away, it broke in half and he collapsed into rageful hysterics.
The rest of the sordid details are not worth repeating, mostly because none of the three of us like to remind ourselves of our behavior that day. But lets just say we couldn't seem to get out of our bad groove. At one point Jonah screamed at me "Call Brett--tell him we need help!" and at that point I had nothing nice left to say, so I did, and he did help. :)

We all collapsed into bed that night, me tired from intercepting kicks and hits and thrown objects from Jonah, him from his sweaty fits and Maya from the emotional strain it is to her when there is not peace in the house.
The next two days everyone has woken up happy and it was like it never happened. And so far, CPS has not shown up on my doorstep, so I guess we get another chance. That is the good thing about parenting. You always have another chance.