Supporting you in motherhood, one little blog post at a time
Our day has been perfection. A day at the beach topped off with a family movie night.
Mad Dog was ever resourceful in creating tonight’s movie cuisine.
Is it considered to be popcorn chicken if Mad Dog throws some chicken nuggets in some bowls of popcorn for the boys’ dinner?
The boys think he’s a genius of course.
I’ll admit it. I’ve been avoiding long public outings with little T.Puzzle on the days he is home with me. I just don’t have it in me. The span of my motherhood experience (going on almost six years), has seen more than its share of bad situations in which one or more of my children reaches meltdown status at the most inopportune moments.
I can’t avoid the public forever so I took little T.Puzzle to the mall.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
It is not.
At the mall there are several transitions that have to transpire. As each transition builds upon the last the odds of little T.Puzzle reaching meltdown status increase exponentially.
First, the dreaded play area. This is where I have to watch him like a hawk so he doesn’t tackle innocent toddlers or bite someone who rankles him.
So far so good. He did okay.
Then on to the train.
My favorite.
We actually had a great time.
After that, it was lunchtime and then a potty break.
He was handling all these many transitions like a pro. I can absolutely tell he is maturing and can be coached verbally to avoid tantrums…
That is until it was time to leave the Thomas the Train table at Books.A.Million.
Yikes!!
I’m still not out of the woods yet, people. And my apologies to all the passersby who witnessed little T.Puzzle’s unfortunate descent into the realm of tantrum.
He is who he is. He’s a kid with a colorful personality that gets frustrated if you ask too much of him. Is it really his fault that he melted down or mine because I didn’t leave earlier?
You can’t change a leopard’s spots, but you can keep him locked in his room until he’s eighteen, right?
I have been experimenting with the boys’ tae kwon do schedules. Of course it means more work and planning for me, but I think it is necessary. I am now splitting them up into a junior’s class for Full Speed and keeping little T.Puzze in the tiny tigers class.
The results have been significant especially for little T.Puzzle. He has shown great improvement with the absence of Full Speed in his class. As for Full Speed, he is concentrating better surrounded by the older crowd of the junior’s class. Overall, this new schedule change seems to be a win-win.
These great improvements haven’t completely erased my bad tae kwon do memories. As little T.Puzzle was lining up for the start of tiny tigers yesterday, a new student was crying and didn’t want to go on the mat. By the end of class the new student had adjusted and wound up having a great time. The instructor wanted to commend him and that’s when talk shifted to, “If you think this kid’s start was rough, let’s all remember how T.Puzzle was when he first started and where he is now.”
Before you know it, parent after parent threw in their own unique memory and story of how little T.Puzzle was practically out of his mind not wanting to do tae kwon do when he started.
“Remember how he hid under the table in the corner?” one said.
Another piped in, “Or how he would refuse to do jumping jacks or listen to anything the instructor would say?”
“Don’t forget how he would throw himself on the floor and not move,” said another.
Ah, this is the stuff of which legends are made…
Is it normal to want to cry when you purchase your soon-to-be-kindergartener’s school supplies?
I am so not a fan of change.
In order to counteract my anxiety about his approaching kindergarten start date, I purchased Full Speed’s supplies early.
It hasn’t really helped that gnawing edge of dread in the pit of my stomach.
At least I tried.
The cashier was thankfully a mother and did not seem to question my slightly erratic and emotional behavior. It took a lot of concentration to keep my tears at bay while signing the electronic credit card apparatus at Target.
I also didn’t want to self-disclose too much since I know how uncomfortable it can be to have to listen to someone else’s issues. I’m the kind of person that seems to elicit strange, personal confessions from random people I meet during the day. It’s usually awkward when someone in the post office line starts telling me about their recent toenail surgery in detail or how their boyfriend won’t claim paternity of their baby (both true stories!).
So, I kept my thoughts of change to myself. I didn’t share that Full Speed would be starting kindergarten days after little T.Puzzle has his first of two eye surgeries. I didn’t share that I hoped that by simply gathering up all of Full Speed’s needed supplies early, that this would somehow make these two enormous events less intimidating for me.
Now, what else can I attempt to micromanage in the next couple weeks?
Any suggestions?
Mad Dog has encouraged me to post the following:
Mad Dog left me a note (I’m serious) containing the breakdown of the Lightning Bolt’s statistics. At season’s end the Lightning Bolts were 15-0 with over 120 goals scored (I think Full Speed scored about 5 of those) with only 6 goals allowed (two of these we accidentally scored on ourselves–it can get confusing out there).
Full Speed was the youngest and least experienced of the bunch but hands down brought the most comittment and enthusiasm. His skills improved considerably over the course of the six week season.
Mad Dog would also like to take complete ownership of his team’s success. He believes his leadership and superior game tactics led the Lightning Bolts to their storied season. He is already formulating a book tentatively called “The Winner’s Circle: Musings of a Great Man”.
If you want my opinion (please don’t read this Mad Dog because I really want you to dedicate your book to writesforallmommies), I believe we lucked out with players that were older, experienced and happened to possess mad soccer skills. I couldn’t believe how some of these kids could march that ball up and down the field and get in shot after shot. They were certainly a talented bunch.
It’s all subjective, right?
You can check out more of my subjectivity in MY upcoming book, “Always ‘Agree’ with Your Husband and Pray He Doesn’t Read Your Blog”.
I’d dedicate it to Mad Dog, of course!