I think you already know I compose blog posts in my head a lot. I have this running dialogue...sometimes I get a chance to dump it out here. And sometimes I feel like I want to eschew
So it was all good, right?
You'd think I would have learned not to gloat.
We got back into town w/more than 30 minutes to spare before we needed to pick up the other 2 kids at school, and the rear view mirror contained 4 sleepy but open eyes looking at me...so I made the executive decision to stop at one of my favorite stores for a while. I scooped up Dewey and Colleen was already protesting. I tugged her out of the car and lo and behold Grumpy Gus showed up! At this point, I was thinking alright, whatever, we just need to walk this off. We got in to the carts and to avoid kicking other shoppers, I put Colleen in the cart, thinking Dewey would enjoy the freedom to be able to walk and explore. It took about 90 seconds for Dewey to realize that a) he was not going in the cart. b) he was not going to be able to push the cart. I'm sure you all have met an opinionated 2yo at some point, right? How about a tired, opinionated 2yo? Yeah? You see what's coming next? Cue tragic screaming over mom's heinous offense. Now cue the deep breath, the louder screams. The determined-to-not-give-this-up-and-let-everyone-even-those-in-the-rest-of-the-strip-mall-I-mean-everyone-know-just-how-wronged-you've-been screams! And no, stickers are not cool right now. Nope, neither is this dumb dollar bin toy you thought I'd like to carry around. What's that? Do I want to go in the cart? Um, no, I want to scream and tell everyone how mean you are!!
I almost couldn't believe it...Colleen was sort of shocked out of her tantrum! I am doubting she has experienced the full effect of a scream-fest! Lucky her. I figured, ok, plan B. SWITCH! Want to make an angry 2yo even angrier? Give him something he wants, but not on his terms. (Or something like that...) I tend to pride myself on my resolve, but I was not feeling it. We needed to get out fast. That or buy everyone ear plugs!
We left.
I wish I could say the screaming ended.
We sat, parked by the side of the road near the school and listened to the radio, thankfully enjoying some peace as I sewed yet another badge on my mommy scouts vest.
What did I say about gloating too soon?
I didn't get a great report from school.
Colleen couldn't handle the fact that the other 2 were getting picked up from school, all excited to collect their lunches, backpacks, etc and tell me everything they did...it wasn't about her. Cue annoying behaviors. Cue disrespect, disobedience and disregard for relationships already built. I usually can predict and prepare for those kinds of things, but I failed to do so today. Never mind that, I pulled a stellar plan out of my pocket and addressed the behavior. Got worried that it wouldn't turn out. Had about 3 minutes where I stressed that the other kids were being put through unnecessary junk...and then - ta da! My persistence paid off! Congratulating myself for keeping my cool and handling that w/o consulting a book! (Gloat much?) We made it home. I was feeling ready for bed!! Then it hit me that I had never set out the meat for dinner. No one wanted to cook.
So we were off to the nearest china buffet kind of thing. BLECH, but whatever, there's veggies, right? We sit down, we pray, everyone is excited to go and get a plate. Except the one person who is unable to extract himself from his high chair all on his own. Cue dramatic flopping...much like the lady in the image above! We didn't leave him, honest, we took turns! We even offered him a plate of food before we served ourselves! Oh, those are the moments when I want to laugh or cry...breathe in, breathe out...both Dave and I had noticed a man we consider a friend, a principal we had both worked w/over the years, sitting on the other side of the half wall across the room. We each noticed him and I know we've had conversations before about the quality of his character and how we've enjoyed working w/and for him. Not only that, but he was Curly Sue's principal last year too! Well, we were too busy to go and talk and didn't want to bug him during dinner anyway, so we settled into our meal. He said Hi to Dave at one point but then when he was done eating he came over to our table. He is always kind and chats w/each of the kids, and you know they love the attention! Then he said that he wanted to commend us and that we should be proud of what we do. Like always, I started to say that the kids are so good that it's easy but he stopped me to say it again. He said the meal was on him, gave us a smile and told us to enjoy. I tried to protest!! But he just said something nice again - I really was kind of not listening! THAT'S when I really wanted to cry! The whole day kind seemed to get bogged down w/just doing and not caring what other people thought or whatever...I really don't care but sometimes it's still nice to be noticed, right? I highly doubt he reads here, but please, please, understand how grateful I am, if you do!!
Thus putting a sweet finishing touch on my train-wreck of a day...
I don't think for a minute that writing a blog post about how my day ended well (read: gloating again!) does a justice to explain how blessed I am/we are. I/We couldn't do what we do w/o others. It is by the grace of God that I have found myself just where I am! I was moping just last night to Dave that in less than a month I will be turning 35 (ACK! I said it! Now you know!! ERASE THAT FROM YOUR BRAIN!) and I feel like I haven't gotten to/don't get to do the really cool stuff that I want to...boo hoo...wah wah...poor me who has 2 wonderful parents and went to good schools, college, had/has great friends, found a prince to marry, was blessed w/an awesome kid who is a blend of me and the prince, was blessed w/a sweet girl to call our own even though she's genetically not, is given the chance to build bonds and relationships w/many little people, has been on lots of trips and seen various parts of the world, and on and on...I did nothing to deserve any of this. So I guess I'm just trying to say that I am thankful for my day, and not just the last part of it, but all of it =) Yes, even the other not so fun parts!! THE END.
PS that I will write a real update soon. I think...
