Long Day

I kept Janey home today---I'm not a fan of driving when the streets are like tunnels from all the snow, and my son called and said he still wasn't at school after over 3 hours in the bus. So I thought we'd have a day at home. Janey was fairly cheerful, but I am half out of my mind. The tough issue today was toileting. I am trying hard to put Janey in underwear during the day, not because she is trained, but just to give her an idea when she's wet, and because she only pees about twice a day, so it saves on expensive pullups (which are really GoodNights type things now, she's too big for pullups). But today she CONSTANTLY took her pants off, and stained herself a little, and got her hands dirty, and rubbed her hands on things around the house, and so on (trying to give you the picture without being over vivid here). I spend the whole day putting her pants back on, washing her, washing things around the house, trying to get the point across to her to keep her pants on, etc. This last round I put on a pullup, just thinking maybe she wanted one and that would help her keep it on. She came to me a few minutes ago, filthy again and without a pullup, and I couldn't find where she put it. At times like that it takes all my patience not to yell at her. It's just not how I want to spend my days with her. I tried to have a lot of time with her---reading, playing with pegs, looking at a big pile of sample greeting cards she usually likes to fold and look at, but nothing really made her happy. She constantly asked for chicken, which we will have for supper, and for "straw boxes", juice boxes and for videos. It's like I had one image of the day, as a homeschooling, cozy, time together type day, and she had another, as a let it all hang out, eat and watch TV day. Which I guess isn't that different than many typical kids, but the difference with her is that there's no reasoning. She doesn't understand that. Lately I've been coming to the conclusion she understands less of what I say than I even thought. When she asks for something and I say we don't have it, I don't think she has a clue what that means. She will just keep asking, and then say loudly and pointedly "SAY PLEASE!", thinking that's what I holding out for. The other day she really wanted chips, and her brother William had some in his room. I told her "go get some from William" and I realized, since she was motivated and completely eager for chips but still didn't go, that I don't think she even understood that. I am never sure if she knows William and Freddy apart, or what "room" means, or even "go get". She can SAY all those things, as part of set phrases, but I don't think she understands them. Her talking can delude even me, who should know better. All in all, a very long day. And a hugely long winter.