Just One of Those Days

We had one of those days today. What is one of “those days?” It’s a term meant to encompass a wide range of maddening child behaviors that make me want to set everyone down for the night somewhere around one in the afternoon and set up a walk-in therapy session with Dr. Daiquiri. One of “those days” could mean one of several things, including:

A) Abbie refused to nap.
B) The twins had an exceptionally fussy day.
C) Abbie shattered a dish by throwing it on the ground, and while I was cleaning that up she spilled dirty diapers everywhere by knocking over the diaper pail, and while I was cleaning that up she dumped a glass of water on the floor by pulling it off a counter that I could have swore was out of her reach, et cetera.
D) All of the above.

Today was mostly B), though we had a little A) mixed in when she ran around her room for an hour to start naptime, which she rectified by taking a two-hour nap. Our main problem today was keeping the twins happy. The boys have had fussy episodes in the past, but this one was exceptionally fussy.

Usually they’re nice enough to swap fussy episodes. One will demand to be held while the other one bides his time on the floor, grabbing objects off the baby gym and looking for dry patches of the floor to spit up on. Today they both demanded to be held, and not just the “put him on your lap while you try to determine what Abbie just put in her mouth” kind of holding, but the “held on the shoulder, drawing your sole attention or at least while you walk about to give him something interesting to look at” kind of holding. Ian was more laid back today, tolerating an extended period in his chair while I tended to Tory, but he got his fussings in too.

When they do fuss at the same time, it’s usually because I’ve done something to them, like keep them awake longer than they want or force them to wait several minutes while I prepare their feeding because darned if those five-piece bottles aren’t a pain to assemble. Today they just fussed off and on throughout the day, regardless of proximity to naptime or mealtime. I knew I was in trouble when Ian woke up from his morning nap screaming mad with hunger, and screamed only slightly less vociferously after packing in a few ounces.

Then there was the spit up. I expect massive spit ups right after feeding, and I’ve even started accepting the fact that they’re going to miss the burp cloth on my shoulder most of the time. Today though, they spit up right after feedings, right before feeding, and frequently in between feedings. I can ordinarily survive with a cache of two or three burp clothes, keeping one handy while the others dry, but today they kept a rotation of four clothes soaked most of the day; sometimes they got wet from a direct hit, sometimes they got wet absorbing overflow off my jeans.

I never figured out a cause. It could be teething, but they napped okay, which I would expect to happen with excruciating mouth pain. It could be digestion issues, but it would be odd for their guts to be upset all day. It could be poor sleeping habits, or maybe that’s just me.

Fortunately Ellie was home today to help with the children. I could hold one baby, Ellie could hold the other, and when one of them started to fuss, I could hand my baby off to Ellie and go figure out what Abbie just knocked on the floor. Sadly, at least for me, she returns to the relative calm of the hospital tomorrow, so hopefully the boys are easier again. We wouldn’t want to have one of “those weeks.”