So I took a much needed mental break and my head is much more clear. The break? I finished constructing Amy's Step2 Sand and Water Table (Naturally Playful Sand and Water Activity Center) (birthday present from the grandparents). I expect the big kids to use this as much or more than Amy. My only ill feeling toward this toy is that I know within a week the lid will have been left off and I'll now have an indoor and an outdoor liter box to clean regularly.
I came back in the house to find Noah eatting push pop ice cream on one of the pieces of furniture . We ask the kids not to eat on the furniture and this ice cream is particularly messy for Noah (Noah who can't drink milk without spilling it on his clothes and the floor). He doesn't use this as a push up, instead as he eats it down he slides his finger between the wrapper and the ice cream and squashes the wrapper down so that his tongue can eat the ice cream out like an anteater. I raised my voice and snapped at him not because I was angry but because of some natural instinct that said I should because he has been told hundreds of times not to do that but I instantly felt bad that I had snapped at such an innocent and good child and I made a quick course correction.