Manic Monday

You can definitely tell when it is Monday at my house. If the kids aren't fussing or fighting about something, then they are just finding ways to cause trouble. So far today they have dumped out a jar of paper clips, emptied out a box of pencils TWICE, found a stash of erasers which my daughter wants to chew on, and pretended the staplers were trains. And the office in which these items are located is OFF LIMITS unless I am in there to supervise. All I have to do is run downstairs to throw in a load of laundry, which only takes about 2 to 3 minutes, and they are right back in there making a mess. So I find myself cleaning up the same thing over and over and over again. That is probably one of the reasons I feel like I never get anything done. I mean, it is already noon and I haven't even showered or gotten dressed yet (one of the few perks of being a stay-at-home mom)!
Then there are the tantrums, which seem to occur more frequently on Mondays. My kids have had a few minor skirmishes this morning when one won't share with the other. My daughter and I have bumped heads about getting dressed and changing her diapers. Even though it is winter, she wanted to run around naked. She took off her jamas and refused to put them back on. She thought it was funny when I had to chase her around the family room to put her clothes on. She has managed to keep them on but we could have done without the screaming and kicking. Then for no apparent reason she came running after me, screaming and crying when I was about to answer the phone. I dont know what that was about but it was quickly followed by another tantrum. This time, she apparently wanted the slice of bologna intended for her brother's sandwich (or so she thought). She was mad and let me know it. She deliberately knocked my cup of coffee off the counter and proceeded to bang her head on the kitchen floor. Can someone say naptime?
I don't know why Mondays are so rotten. Maybe it is because my husband has been here all weekend to keep them in line and lay down the law. So when they wake up on Monday and he isn't here, they think they can just run wild. Or maybe it is because we usually don't have anything planned. We still follow our breakfast, lunch, snack, naptime schedule but that is about it. The rest of the day is pretty much wide open. My son doesn't have school and my daughter doesn't have gymnastics. I don't usually run errands; I save them for when my son is at school. And they just spent all weekend playing with evey toy they own and do not seem paticularly interested in any of them on Mondays. Maybe they are just bored and boredom spells trouble at my house.