Day 2 and Day 3 of my screen-free challenge, Day 3 is a doozy

Day 2

Wow, did I sleep great.  I had no trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.  But I had a dose of the good stuff and like a drug I wanted more. However, the kiddos were up earlier than usual, bright-eyed at 6:30am and we actually had nowhere to go this morning.  I tried to get them to sleep in, I expressed that soon school would be starting and we would have to wake up early. I exclaimed that this is why we should treasure these few mornings left that we do not have to go anywhere, sleep in, SLEEP IN.  Then an idea stuck me, television, how great would it be to just have them preoccupied by a television show for an hour and mommy could continue this euphoric slumber. Then I remembered the 3 day screen-free challenge-NOOOOO I yelled in my mind as I slowly got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

We played instruments and listened to music

After everyone had eaten up all the eggs the day took off like a whirlwind.  We read all the Eric Carle books, we listened to music, played the instruments, danced, did our activity books, and colored, wow that was exhausting. 

The kiddos even helped me clip coupons

Unfortunately it was only 10am.  So I let them raid the recycling box and the pantry and make creative creations.  Surprisingly that lasted for an hour then I declared it lunch time.  Once they completed lunch it was off to quiet time for them and my hubby came home and we had lunch together.  Instead of eating in the family room preoccupied with a television show we ate in the kitchen and had a true heart-to-heart, it was a delightful meal. 

After quiet time it was off to various stores in hopes of using store coupons in order to get a discount on my little princess's new school uniform wardrobe.  So we stopped at Kohl’s got the stroller out, kiddos out, in the store, purchased a shirts, got the kiddos back in the car, stroller in the car, baby buckled and drove two minutes across the street to JCPenny’s.  Once at JCPenny’s I got the stroller out, kiddos out, in the store, purchased a skirt, got the kiddos back in the car, stroller in the car, baby buckled and drove a minute around the store to ULTA. Once at ULTA I got the stroller out, kiddos out, in the store, purchased moisturizer, got the kiddos back in the car, stroller in the car, baby buckled and drove back across the street to Kohl’s since I realized I still had 10 dollars worth of Kohl’s bucks in my wallet. So, after all was said and done my arms got a great workout, I think I broke my back, the children asked for random items roughly 50 times, they learned a valuable lesson about being on a budget, and I was just about out of my mind.  I so desperately just wanted to go home and place all of them in front of the television so mommy could decompress. But there was no time, dinner needed to be prepared. 

After dinner we walked down to the park then came home had bath time, books, prayers, and bed. Once they were in bed I did the usually mommy stuff to prepare for the next day and sat down and finished my book.  Yes, that is correct; I said finished my book, in two days.  I have not finished a book in two days since honor literature summer reading list in high school (I was a procrastinator back then, kinda of cynical, you know the typical teenager ). Once again, I fell to sleep right after reading my book.  My mind was so focused on the book that my thoughts had no space or time to wander, it was beautiful.

Day 3

We needed to get up and going today since all three of my kiddos had doctors’ appointments.  My super hero needed his wellness check before preschool started. My princess only required one vaccine, chicken pox (I loved getting the chicken pox, such a bummer) before starting kindergarten, and my little baby grace needed her well check.  So the grand total for all three kiddos was nine vaccines.  Being the good and prepared mommy that I thought I was I packed snacks, drinks, activities to preoccupy them, and we discussed what was going to happen once we arrived at the doctor’s office. We discussed why they receive shots and ways to preoccupy their minds.  It seemed like they were prepared. 

So we walked in and there was no one in the waiting room.  I paid each of their co-pays and they said we could come on back.  Awesome, this was working out wonderfully; we had made it past the first wait, now on to the second.  We didn’t even have to wait for the nurse, she followed us, asked a few questions, and we were onto the weighing and measurement room. My little super hero breezed right through being weighed, measured, and blood pressure like a pro, on to the baby.  All of my children as babies cried during the weighing portion of the appointment, the buckets with the crunchy paper terrified them, but not my little baby grace.  She sat in the bucket got weighed, laid down got measured for height, and sat up to have her head circumference measured.  WOW, it was going so well, I was such a proud momma. All that was left was to talk to the doctor and then vaccines.  So we waited for the doctor for like a minute, she checked them out, and then we waited for the nurse to come back with the vaccines.  I decided that it would be best if the super hero went first, he is four, well prepared for what is going to occur, and he exuded so much confidence. 

So the nurse arrived with the vaccines in each tray, sat them down, and asked who was going first. My super hero jumped up on the bench and declared that he would be first.  So I started talking to him, I had him looking in the opposite direction as the shot, we were focusing our attention on a picture in the room, everything was going so smoothly, then it happened.  He looked at the shot, it started to penetrate his skin and he freaked out.  With a gusto he swiped is arm past the nurses, pulling the shot out of his skin in the process, leaving a bloody trail as it exited his body.  He simultaneously let out a huge yelp and began wailing.  Upon witnessing this horrific display my little princess and baby grace began crying as well.  Unfortunately this was only the first of nine shots to be given that day. So the nurse had me sit him on my lap, his legs between mine, and hold his arms, I felt horrible holding my child down like this but I knew he needed these vaccines, and deep down somewhere I was praying that he knew as well.  As I sat him down in the chair sobbing from the trauma and  I had to refocus my attention on my little princess. She only required one shot but boy was it going to be difficult to get her to clam down.

By this time all three of my children are crying, they have actually closed the door to the waiting room in hopes of not scaring off other patience.  Along with the wailing and screaming my little princess begins running around the office trying to get away from me. It should be noted that I have never experienced such a display from my children.  I felt like the worst mother ever, chasing down her child, holding them in place as they are punctured.  My mind quickly shifted to mommy mode, I was riffling through my memory box eagerly searching a resolutions to make this conundrum disappear.  What would Dr. Laura do?...Dr. Phil? What would my mom do?

I tried to rationalize the situation, and then I tried channeling their imaginations, when nothing seemed to work I had to contemplate bribery. I had no choice, I just wanted the entire thing to end.  The yelling, screaming, wailing, running, that they were illustrating and the emotional trauma to my psyche, it all felt surreal.  I felt like I was stuck in some sitcom, you know the ones, where it is funny from the audience’s perspective but at the expense of the actor.  Somebody yell cut I kept thinking, this cannot be real.

So finally the big yellow arches came to mind.  I declared that everyone could have a happy meal, with a toy, and French fries if we just got through the next two rounds of shots.  Suddenly the chaos seceded. My little princess received her vaccine, with her legs between mine and holding onto me for dear life.  Baby grace was a breeze, though crying the entire time, I could console her easily.  Upon leaving the doctors office I felt like I was leaving a battle zone.  I was physically and emotionally drained.

We headed to McDonald’s were everyone received their unhealthy, everything I do not stand for, happy meal. And they were happy.

Once home I finished cleaning up from the morning, prepared for the next day, organized a few things all the while so desperately wanting and deserving some mindless screen time.  I just went through what I would assume hell to be like and I just wanted to get lost in something.  So I started reading a new book. Within moments my mind was onto a new topic, in a way mindless television shows or computers social networks do not allow.  Granted I am not a doctor and I have not conducted any research but based upon my personal experience there is something psychological that must occur when we read from a book and not a screen.  I do not know how to fully express it in words but it is special. It is almost like our entire brain focuses so much more on the pages as opposed to a screen where it seems like so much more is occurring.

Coming soon…..conclusion to the challenge and studies that have been done to support my findings