Lizze and I are knee deep in the first break we've had in about a month. Gavin and the boys are at their grandparents for the night. What typically happens is that these types of visits are are broken up. The boys (Elliott and Emmett) will go and Gavin stays home. Gavin will go by himself the next time, while the boys stay home.
The reason for that is because of problems that tend to arise as a result of Gavin and the boys not getting along.
I've talked about this before. Gavin will try to parent the boys and/dictate what they do while they're visiting. The boys don't like it and it just creates problems. Frankly, we see this at home all the time and it's definitely not a positive thing.
Anyway, tonight was no exception. It didn't take too long before we got a phone call in regards to problems. Elliott put on a movie trailer that resulted in Gavin freaking out and it was down hill from there. Gavin overreacted as usual but the trailer he put on was for a scary movie that would not have been appropriate for them to watch.
The impression I got was that Elliott probably did that in retaliation for Gavin trying to dictate the movie they were going to watch. I could be way off base but that's what I understood.
Lizze's Mom handles it the best she can but it's not easy, especially with all three of them there. It's not easy for us and we do it all the time.
Truthfully, the solution is to split up the visits. We've tried for years to break Gavin of these behaviors but it never sticks. I don't think he means any harm by it and he actually probably thinks he's helping.
As much as we need the break, it's not fair to anyone to put them in this situation.
Lizze's Mom is wise to suggest splitting up the visits. It sucks but it makes sense. Perhaps every once in awhile we can try to be totally childless and see how it goes but overall, splitting things up is the right thing to do.
It's just one of those things that has always been a problem with Gavin but it's become more of an issue as the boys have gotten older and begin push back.
It is what it is...
Lizze and I didn't do anything spectacular tonight. Money is often a limiting factor for us and tonight was no exception. We did go walk the mall because it was raining and we're going to try and transition to walking the mall when it's too cold outside to walk.
We picked up a Little Ceasars pizza on the way home and caught up on some shows before bed. Super exciting right?
At the end of the day it was a break and we are so grateful to Lizze's parents for helping us get said break tonight.
A good night's sleep is long overdue and with any luck, we'll both be able to sleep in.
