Hour 53 2:00 – 3:00 PM

Luke was downstairs rummaging through the grub but otherwise quiet for 40 minutes.  Yay.  But at 2:40 Brooke starts hollering.  I figure it is time for the final push – Sara should be on the road right now…right?

So I go see Brooke who is crying in middle of a pink heap of clothes, dolls, shoes, and blankets.  She has completely dissembled her bed sheet and thrown it on the floor.  That will be there when Mom gets back.
 
Let Max out of his room and bring the hooligans downstairs to turn on the tv.  Max really wants Timmy Time – which I like because it has no commercials.  Brooke MUST HAVE DORA.  Timmy gets put on, and Brooke begins her hissy fit.  This is not going well. 

I send Luke upstairs to check if there are any Dora episodes on the DVR in my bedroom…I wouldn’t mind having her off to herself for a while.  Meanwhile Brooke is in my lap on the red chair bawling her eyes out at having to watch Timmy.  Luke eventually comes back and says There's no Dora upstairs.  So I grab the remote and turn on Dora downstairs.  Max responds by flying across the room like a screaming banshee to slap the side of the TV where the menu keys are as his form of protest. 

Now the TV is displaying the menu system and my remote is trying to change the TV’s Brightness & Contrast.  Both kids hate that…so they are scream-crying at each other.  In the battle of Scream-Cry Idol, Brooke wins.  Max hates it when Brooke screams, so he ripped her blankie out of her hands and threw it in the air.  That makes her scream again even louder.  So Max responds by picking up her blankie again, and with the flair of a matador, whips it over his head and behind his shoulder into the kitchen area landing on top of Mom’s daisies and tipping the whole thing over.  Miraculously the vase stayed up on the breakfast bar but the flowers and all the water spilled out all over the floor. 

That’s it – Dad is going nuclear – Popcorn.