I was doing pretty well today (three successful non-yelling incidents!) but I had one brief lapse tonight.

First success: I found Brayden waiting outside the door while his brother used the bathroom. With a mischievous grin, Brayden told me he was waiting to scare Justin. I told him not to — three times. So when Justin opened the door, Brayden immediately screamed, “Boo!” But I didn’t yell. I gave Brayden a timeout for doing what I had specifically told him not to do, and then I reminded him that he needs to listen. Well done, Mom.

Second success: Brayden managed to pee on his jeans while using the toilet because he didn’t pull his pants down far enough. I was tempted to yell (I just did laundry today!) but I took a deep breath and told him to get some clean pants. Still OK.

Lapse: On his way out of the bathroom, Brayden was messing around with his pants and not looking where he was going…so he bumped into the stool and fell into me. This was just seconds after the peeing-on-the-pants incident, and I was in a hurry to get supper cleaned up, and I have a stuffy nose that’s making me irritable…so I snapped at him, “Pay attention!” He whimpered that I’d hurt his feelings. I gave him a hug and said sorry. He pointed out that I wasn’t supposed to yell, and I admitted I blew it. Then he looked at me very seriously and said, “You lost control a little bit there, huh?” It humbled me.

Third success: Brayden was reaching for something on the table when he accidentally knocked over the box of Pokemon cards, which of course scattered all over the floor. This is a recurring issue in our house (see Day 2) but instead of yelling about being careful, I said, “Oopsie. Better pick those up.” And he actually did.

I’m calling the day a success overall. I’m also letting Chris take over until bedtime. Sigh…