Antibiotics

In Rhode Island, our kids were not on their best behavior. They whined. They fought with K and I and with each other. They cried because we looked at them funny. They fought some more. B slammed Z's finger in a door. S pulled Z's hair. Z spent lots of time screaming...the kind of scream that pierces your ears. We stayed with K's family, and I was a little embarrassed at our failure to raise good kids.

I spent much of the ride home being perplexed....wondering how we were going to raise one kid in particular (B) to an even kind of stable and contributing member of society.

We actually decided to look into different parenting techniques, because the one we were using was not working.

Their bad behavior only escalated when we got home.

Although B was the subject of my worries at night when I couldn't sleep (Would he always be this selfish? Will he grow up to be a jerk? Is he going to be verbally abusive to his wife?), Z and S weren't much better. S cried and whined for most of the day, and Z used what I have deemed his "fighting voice" whenever he got the chance.

I finally took them to the doctor. When she came in to check them, I told her she could either prescribe medicine for them or take them home with her. I was done with these kids.

She prescribed meds.

S had a "major sinus infection". B had a double ear infection, one of which their doctor was sure was pretty painful, and Z had an ear infection in one ear and a sinus infection as well.

I actually clapped.

I wasn't necessarily happy that my kids were sick, but I was SO happy that there was a reason behind the devil children I had been experiencing lately.

I will give a cheerful update in 24 hours, when their meds are kicking in and they are on the mend.