Soooo....

Today is Day 3 of Project No Yell. Has there been trying moments? Yes! Have I raised my voice? Yes, I have. But I can explain. Yesterday, Z was sitting on a dining room chair with a crayon in one visible hand. I saw him vigorously moving his other hand on the seat. Naturally I assumed his other hand also held a crayon and that was drawing on our dining room chair. So I jumped out of my seat and shouted "Z!" And nothing else. I made my way around to the other side of the dining room table and find him with his new discovery. Z has found out that if he rubs with his fingers,the seat which is made of microfiber, will leave lines. I almost had a heart attack when I taught he was coloring the chair. I had other moments of frustration with L and T yesterday but I didn't yell. I sent them to time outs and spoke sternly but I never yelled. And this was even on a day that D was coming home late, so I had the kids all on my own all day with no reprieve. Quite an accomplishment, in my book.

Today has been going as well as can be, too. Again I did raise my voice once. This time was for a warning of danger. Our refrigerator had conked out and we had a repairman come. Z in all his curiosity wanted to see the man who was going in and out of the house with his tools. When the man had stepped outside, Z wanted to watch from the sofa. Unfortunately he wanted to teeter his body over the back of the sofa. This would not be a good thing because if he lost his balance and the top half of his body were to flip over, he could very well flip over the rail and down the stairs. So again, I shouted "Z!" to get his attention. The rest of the frustrations had to do with L who chooses not to listen when I am explaining his lessons. I was very annoyed but I got through it with a stern talking to again. But making sure that I did not lose my temper and start my usual yelling, which is something I can easily do. I think it does help that we are taking it easy this week workwise. It may be more difficult next week when we get back to our regular school schedule. But one day at a time. One day at a time...