The Animals are Skating on Very Thin Ice

So, after yesterday's sad little post, I resolved to be more patient and empathetic with the kid. All was going fine until it was time to practice piano, then it all went out the window. My blood just starts to boil when I hear, "I can't DO it! Its too COMPLICATED! My fingers just wont DO it!" I was trying to be encouraging, and nurturing ("I think it sounds great! Remember, its not do-it-perfectly time, its practice time! Its not supposed to be anywhere near perfect! Keep it up!") and I still felt shat upon. So I finally just said, "Y'know, I just can't - anymore." and shut the door to her room where she was practicing and made a new resolution: I will no longer cajole and negotiate piano practice. I will tell her to do it, nag her to do it, reward her for doing it without being asked, but I will not stick my nose in while its in progress, and I will not respond to the bitching and moaning coming from that room. I will seethe in silence, and when piano practice is over to my satisfaction, only then will I say a word of any kind. Either way, I reach for the pinot, so why not save myself the aggravation?

I can't decide if I am being a good parent here or if I'm just taking the path of least resistance. Meh, who cares; I'm sort of destined to squash her little spirit and send her shrieking to a therapist anyway, right? I know that learning a musical instrument is good for her, but why does it have to be so bad for me?!

In other news, I had an awesome morning. It started with not sleeping very well last night, and being awoken by animals - twice - while I was finally asleep. Little shits. Then the awesomeness continued when my dog, probably in a response to all the rain yesterday, took a nice long pee on the living room floor. I didn't see him to do it, but I could tell by the puddle that he had lifted his little leg, and pissed all over the leg of the coffee table. Little bastard. Then, when we got to school the back gate was locked so we had to walk all the way around to get onto the campus and L was late. She's never late, and I make great efforts to make sure that she is never late. Apparently, there had been a burglary on the campus and the the response was to lock the back gate. Not that it makes anyone more secure since kids were scaling the chain link gate and their moms were throwing them their backpacks over the top. Later, I had to take a shower, and you know how much I hate that anyway, but it was leg shaving day so it was extra awesome. Then I meant to go to Trader Joes but I was spacing out and I forgot to get off the freeway, but that wasn't such a big deal.

I have an evening of hors d'oeuvres and wine in front of me, though, so that's cool.

I will sleep tonight! I will start tomorrow well rested and eager to start my day! Right? Right?