Put a plug in it

I can hear him whimpering in the other room. But I still have my ear plugs in so I can only sort of hear him. Yes, I have ear plugs in. My son has been screaming for the last thirty minutes. First, that his sister used all the tape (this week's obsession is scotch tape) and then, when his sister got sick of listening to the screams and decided she would rather take a nap (yes, she'd rather NAP than listen to her brother scream and cry. I can't say I blame her.), he started screaming about how he wanted to play with her.

I want to play with her!
I want to play with her!
I want to play with her!

So I had no choice. I had to put in the ear plugs. Which actually don't do much but send a clear message that I don't want to hear this boy anymore. It didn't help (you should know that neither does holding him tight or snuggling or putting him in a naughty chair or spanking him. None of these things are effective when he needs to have a come apart). So I canceled Hanukkah. Can she do that? You bet your sweet latke I can. We're going to my brother's this afternoon to have dinner and celebrate and open presents and I told him that the other three kids would get presents and he would not. Well that shut him up very quickly. And now he is mopey, but he's quiet. Probably hopeful that I'll reconsider the cancellation. Which I will, but only after he has spent a good amount of time considering his errant behavior. It's bad enough I won't put lights on our house like our neighbors. Now I'm cancelling Hanukkah. How's that for some holiday spirit. My kids hate me. Fa la la.