Beware the Grumps

We are a household of grumps.

Scooter has been just a bit out of sorts for a week or so now. He doesn't have a routine; even if Trillian and I could get organized enough to figure out a schedule, it would be pointless since everything has been thrown off by the holidays. We're working on preschool and gymnastics and other activities, but everyone has been out of the office.

Scooter has also been figuring out the implications of the move. Up until a few days ago, I don't think he saw the new house in Springfield and our apartment in Toronto as mutually exclusive. He loves the paint job in his room and playing in our backyard, but still talked about taking his new toys back to Toronto. When we explained that his toys would be coming to our new house, that we weren't going back to Toronto soon, the tears spilled over--tears of true sadness and not the usual tears of a meltdown or frustration or anger.

Trillian and I, in turn, are grumpy from dealing with Scooter's other mood swings, the wait to get into this house we've owned for a month now, the inevitable questioning of ourselves (how could we have timed things differently?), and the usual frustrations that come with setting up a new household. Some work in the house took a week longer than expected, the movers and our painter will overlap, getting our TV set up has taken 3 separate trips and 14 hours of waiting. Trillian's been trying to work throughout this, I've been making pitiful progress in my comps readings.

I can tell that our continued presence, especially since it overlapped with the holidays and other guests, has been wearing on my in-laws. As much as they love Scooter, they have had to deal with more attitude and acting out than usual. I know they'll be glad when we can all have our own space; we'll see each other frequently, probably multiple times a week, but for shorter periods of time.

With every day, I tell myself that we're closer to being in our house and settling into the life we've been working to create for our family. I'm trying to look past the unpacking and organizing and the other things that will inevitably prolong the grumpiness. Right now, I need to look right past that, because otherwise I'll skip right over grumpy and straight to harpy.