rough day

yesterday I was so grouchy. I started out just fine, but little by little I had become a nagging, irritable grouch. I had a babysitter coming so I could go exercise and she was coming an hour earlier than my workout because I was going to take a nap. Instead I decided to take my 41/2 yr old, my 3 yr old and my almost 2 year old aside for their 17 minutes, one by one. A minor argument ensued about who would be first- they were excited! We flipped a coin. So when the sitter arrived, I asked Owen what he wanted to do- he chose playing cards, so we went to my room and played "war" for a bit, then switched to "Sequence." It was not easy for me to stop having my pity-party that had run everyone's day so far, but I remembered about BEING PRESENT and I pulled it off! Then, Miles and I built legos in his room. I just handed him lego after lego asking, "do you want this one?" and everytime he said his version of "thank you" and kept building it higher and higher. I almost went to "teacher" mode and started asking him colors of legos, but then I got that that was sort of an agenda, so I just acted like I was 2 and just did what he did! He was so sweet and happy! Then I grabbed Annie. We started off telling stories in my bed, and quickly moved to playing with all my facial products in my bathroom. She was in heaven! I had no other objective, unlike getting ready in the mornings when it's a battle for the make up brushes. She felt so special and like a princess! 17 x 3 = 51 minutes of being present and somehow turning a grouchy, mad-at-myself-day into a good day.