Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Mommy Needs A Drink!

Is there a full moon tonight? The tantrums started as we were leaving the Kindercare tonight. We were there late celebrating the annual open house and Anna had spent 2 hours bouncing in the bounce house, decorating cupcakes and playing relay games. She had been her sweet, charming little self the entire time. But, all good things must come to an end, right? So, on our way out the door, she decided she really must have crackers. That was fine...she could have crackers, no problem. But, she decided that the ones at the exit door were not good enough and she needed some other crackers (i still don't know exactly what she wanted). I told her that the crackers at the door were her only option...well, this instantly threw her into a fit of rage.

So now she's on the ground screaming for crackers that don't even exist...blocking the front door her arms and legs flailing. I knew immediately that nothing I could say would tame this wild beast, so with my bag, keys and Josie in one hand, I scooped Anna off the floor with the other and headed out the door. Needless to say, it was a struggle all the way to the car and even more of a struggle to actually pin this child down long enough to strap her into the carseat. The drive home was misery...between sobs and sniffles she just kept screaming for these imaginary crackers. And when we got home, it only got better...

Once unrestrained and out of the car, she continued to put on this show right in our driveway for the entire neighborhood to witness. Of course, everyone was out to enjoy what had been their calm, peaceful evening. One couple was out walking their dogs, 3 of the local kids were throwing around a baseball and my other neighbor was out washing his car. After a quick, but pointless attempt to coerce Anna into the house, I just left her out there to deal with her own hot mess. Don't worry, it was brief...just long enough for me to catch my breath, ask God for some additional patience and stick Josie somewhere safe so I can deal with her seemingly possessed big sister.

I go outside and AGAIN, I scoop her off the pavement and practically have to drag her inside. Once inside, I try to calm her down asking her to use her words to tell me what it was she wanted. Well, now she wanted cheese. Ok, I can do cheese! We have like 50 different cheeses in the fridge...YAY! so, I pull them out one after the other and to my disarray none of them are good enough. She doesn't want this cheese, doesn't want that cheese...she decides she wants some cheese that again, just doesn't exist. The tantrum resumes.

That's it, this child is clearly beyond all exhaustion. So with legs and arms flailing again, I drag her upstairs kicking and screaming. I have to literally pin her down just to get a new diaper on. Pajamas are completely out of the question at this point in time...I will sneak them on her later after she's fallen asleep. I kiss her, tell her I love her, give her her blankie and off I go to make my drink! The kind of screaming that commenced, was screaming that I probably haven't heard from her since she was a newborn. For those of you who have had fussy newborns, you know what I mean....barely able to breath, screaming that almost sounds like gargling, face beat red. The intensity died down after a few minutes of this and I could finally understand the words beneath the screams. She wanted a bath, wanted to brush her teeth, read a book...all the things we normally do before bed...but we aren't normally this tired, so i let her go until she sobbed herself to sleep.

Ironically, I just talked to my sister who said that her kids were so unbearable tonight that she told my mom "I don't think I can be their mom anymore"!! LOL

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1 comment:

Kimmy said...

Today was just one of those days! It had to have been a full moon!!

Just remember Anna is just 3 so there is much more to come!!!! Josie will not be long behind her!

I just kept thinking....Remember to breathe....

I will never forget the image of Cole yanking Ellies head foreward by her hair today in the car!