As a working mother I find that I really want to make the most of the time I have with my children, both after work/school and on the weekends. This limited amount of free time and my wacky personality cause me to want to find the most awesome things to do EVER and make this time that my children will treasure forever! We’ll take Gavin to the Bouncy House for no reason, except that we’re awesome parents! We’ll surprise him by taking him to the indoor playground at Chick Fil A for some delicious chicken and hours of merriment! Ooh, ooh, I know let’s take him to the toy store and let him pick out something and then take him to Friendly’s for ice cream, it’ll be so fun! OMG, LET’S TAKE ALL OF HIS MEMORY GAMES AND LAY THEM ALL OUT AND HAVE THE BIGGEST MEMORY GAME OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!
Those are my dreams, guys. But reality, she’s a harsh mistress that more often than not laughs at both me and my plans. I say this a lot and I’m going to say it again: Maybe it’s just me. Is my child the only child that can take what could be the most epic of toddler days and turn them into huge, steaming, pile of dog turds?! He can’t be the only kid, right? RIGHT?
Let’s take the scenarios from above, which have all happened, shall we?
Gavin pre-meltdown at the Children’s Museum
Dream: We will take Gavin to the bouncy house and he will frolic happily with the other children for hours, then he will ask to go potty before we leave. When we get in the car he will say, with all the sincerity a 3 year old can muster, “Mom and Dad, you guys are the greatest! Can we go home now and lay down, I’m so tired.”
Reality: It’s getting close to closing time so we tell Gavin it’s time to go. It starts with the bottom lip quivering and ends with him writhing around on the lobby floor sans shoes screaming at the top of his lungs that he doesn’t want to go. Meanwhile the tweens behind the counter snap their gum and look at me like “who the hell let that lady have a kid?” The screaming continues in the car until Gavin passes out, we transfer him to bed only for him to wake at 3 a.m. to let us know that he peed the bed because, of course, he wouldn’t pee before we left.
Chick Fil-A: Each meal comes with a free side of WTF.
Dream: On the way home from school, on a Friday, we’ll surprise Gavin by taking him to get his most favorite chicken in the world and let him play on their indoor playground for a bit. Jim and I will sit right outside of the playground and have a relaxing meal to wrap up the week. Yay! no cooking.
Reality: “BUT MOM I WANT YOU TO COME AND SLIDE DOWN THE SLIDE.” “Gavin, this playground is for kids, not mommies, I’ll just watch, OK?” “BUT, BUT, BUT, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! “Gavin, if you can’t act properly in public we’re going to have to leave.” We pack up our dinners to go and carry a flailing toddler out of the restaurant. Happy Friday!
The Toy Store: IN THE HELL WAS I THINKING? I deserved whatever I got on this one. Sometimes even I am amazed by my own stupidity.
Memory: Fun for the whole family. So why can’t we play it eleventy million times IN a ROW?!?!
Dream: We’ll surprise Gavin by setting up all of his Memory cards on the floor while he’s in the bath. He’ll get out of the bath and squeal with delight because it’s his most favorite game and we’ll sit around and play and sip luke-warm hot chocolate. When we’re done Gavin will give us both a hug and a kiss and scamper off to bed.
Reality: Gavin squeals with delight and we have an awesome time playing. Maybe we finally got it! Then the game is over and all the matches have been found. It’s 8 p.m. and instead of scampering off to bed Gavin is busy crying the world’s biggest tears because he “wants to play forever and never sleep.” He’s further upset by the fact that he clearly lost the parental lottery because his are the meanest EVER. Sleep Tight!
Three has been crazy town for me and Jim. Toddler emotions rival that of 100 pregnant ladies on a very hot day, I tell you. He’s not this way all the time. And we clearly adore him, because we keep trying. Well, either that, or we’re the textbook definition of insane. Tell me I’m not the only one whose dreams get shattered on pretty much weekly basis.
Lisa is just your typical working mom who juggles being a mother to her two boys, a career in real estate, and her marriage. When she’s not staring at spreadsheets or wiping noses, she enjoys an ice cold beer, reading, and hanging out with her husband and best girlfriends, preferably while eating Mexican. You can tweet with her at @luckyandsass, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Oh my gosh! My little one just turned 3 and this is so us. The swing in emotion is crazy. Thanks for sharing. I was really feeling like I was the only one carrying the kicking and screaming child out of the store.
I’m impressed he plays a whole game of Memory! With my boys it was more like 3 turns and we’re done; we don’t want to play anymore. And because we don’t believe in quitting we’d try to finish. (We finally only set out half the cards!)
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OMG I SO RELATE TO THIS.
Thank you.
Shannon recently posted..Word of 2013
totally with you. it gets better… somewhere around 4 and a half. my 2-y-o is about to turn 3. enter: tantrum city. “Why is he crying?” asks hubs. “Because I cut his sandwich in half.” drama city. but we keep on tryin’ because we believe in the awesome…
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Because I cut his sandwich in half?! Lmao!! I wish we could figure out how their little brains work!
Shannon recently posted..Word of 2013
Some humor for us parents of 3-year-olds: http://jasongood.net/365/2012/12/46-reasons-why-my-three-year-old-might-be-freaking-out/
We had the bouncy house experience, almost exactly, except almost nap time instead of almost bed time. It required our 40lb kicking screaming sack of dead weight while writhing banshee of a daughter to be carried by both parents to the car and forcibly strapped in her seat. She passed out about 45 seconds later. She also lost the parent lottery.
Oh yes. I am amazed at what can set off my child these days. I had the thrilling experience of carrying out my son kicking and screaming from the library after story time because he wouldn’t stop running around and yelling. He turns 4 in June, and I hope it improves!
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You are definitely NOT alone! I recently cut back my work hours to stay at home on Wednesdays with my kids. I had such grand plans of outings and projects for that mid-week day, but I have been kicked back to reality. If the kid doesn’t ruin the great “fun”, then regular life does – icy roads, a last minute doctor appointment, a diaper explosion. But remembering the following two things has been helping me:
1. Don’t over-plan, over-schedule, over-stimulate! Keeping my expectations low and remembering my kids’ limitations helps a LOT.
2. I try to remember that at this age (my daughter is 2 years, my son is 5 months) they are just as happy painting or playing Candy Land, as they are with some elaborate trip to the bouncy house.
HeyBeckyJ recently posted..Meal Plan Monday – 2/23 thru 3/2
Yeah – it’s impressive the things that can tip a three year old over the edge. Just this morning my boy asked for my chap-stick, I only had lip gloss but whatever. No, now plain lip gloss wouldn’t cut it, tears and wails over there not being any sparkles in the gloss I gave him like I had on my lips. Seriously dude, sparkles?
Carole (SurfMomma) recently posted..A Saturday Night Gone Right…
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I’ve got two of them at home right now. I feel ya! Mine actually seem to do better when we are out of the house “on adventures”. It’s getting them out the door for school in the morning, dressed for tumbling, and convincing them to not whine that is driving me batty.
I do think it gets better. I took my five year old out on a date on Saturday night and it really was all I had hoped it would be. Light at the end of the tunnel…
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HAHAHAHA YES! This is also why I NEVER mess with bedtime. It never changes. I don’t add or subtract things because meltdowns at bedtime are my kryptonite. I will cave to get him to go to sleep and then the next night, he is on to me. He will try more and more. He is the master of the loophole. SO I am probably a lame mom but whatever…it saves at least a little of my sanity.
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We try and keep things simple on weeknights. We went through the same roller coaster of disappointments before basically saying “f*** it!”. I’m happy if we can make it to bed time without any major meltdowns, by the kids or by us.
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When we lived in Houston and my husband worked crazy hours all.the.time, I used to come up with fun little outings, trips to the drive-thru, the park, library, what have you. 9 times out of 10 it would end in my frustrated because my daughter didn’t appreciate the special thing I doing for her!! Why was she so ungrateful (at 2 years old – sheesh!)??
Eventually, I realized I was doing it for me, not for her. I didn’t stop doing those things, every once in a while, but I kept it in perspective.
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Yes! I did this a ton towards the end of my pregnancy with my second child because I wanted to be sure my daughter had special “only child” memories. (She wasn’t even 2, of course she won’t remember any of it.) This would result in a very large pregnant woman dragging a screaming toddler from the indoor playground as everyone stared and wondered why I would ever want a second child if my first was so ill behaved.
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