With all good intentions, we headed to the store to pick out father's day cards.
2 greats, 2 grands, 1 dadX3 kids (b/c they all suddenly had very different opinions as we stood in the card aisle), 1 for my Dad & 1 from wife (me)
That's 9 cards in total.
Seconds into the trip, my son has picked out his card. A star wars card that...of course...has music. My daugther proceeds to helping by reading all the other cards. And my youngest is squealing about some princess card completely non-related to Father's day. I hand her that card & plead with son to stop climbing the card display. My youngest is the bored with the princess card because she has spotted a card with a tutu on the cover. The squealing starts over, a little louder, a little higher pitch. My son is now using the card display as a catapult to launch himself onto the pole standing in the middle of the aisle.
My older daughter...is declaring she just can't decide.
I begin to browse through the dozens of father's day cards.
"Mom, What are these?" "They are gift cards. Please let mommy read cards"
"Can I have a gift card?"
How random. "Um, No" "Whhhhyyy?? I never get gift cards?"
"Why do you want an itunes or applebees gift card?" "What? No, I want a gift card?"
He's now slurring his whine and stumbling around people in the aisle.
My youngest is content with her wrinkled up tutu card.
My older daughter has narrowed down the choice.
My sweet boy is quickly reminded (like a fish in a bowl...oh, I remember what's over here) that was trying to achieve a goal medal in highest pole climber.
He starts opening up every song that places music.
"Please be still. I really just want to read 3 cards. I should be able to...." I plead. He's a guy, he heard "Please..." and the rest is up to him & his imagination. She said, Please jump higher, please play all the cards.
A visit that should have taken 5 minutes has lingered to a good 15 minutes.
At this point, I know...I should have just left, I should have brought a distraction, I should have been doing something that is listed in all the parenting articles. But I don't. We're almost done and I did not want to return.
I find the rest of the cards and we head to the check out.
The older two walk the opposite direction to admire the cool gift bags.
"Guys, you are going in the wrong direction."
A teenage boy is amused by all the chaos, which made me feel good that someone was amazed being that we cleared out the card aisle.
"Let's go this way" They head my way, then walk in another direction.
"Where are you going now?"
Finally we are all together.
My son zeros in on the M&Ms always nicely placed right at his eye level.
"We just had ice cream as a treat, we are not getting M&Ms"
"Mom!!! I never get M&Ms" His qhine quickly dwindles and he is standing behind me in line nice and quiet...because on my side are the rest of the M&Ms.
He is carefully grabbing four bags of M&Ms.
I think, That's nice, that he is thinking of all four of us...
"I said, No." That made him melt. Literally, melt.
His knees buckled under. his legs turned to wet noodles, the line is moving, it is now our turn and he his creaming and screaming and completely incoherent.
I scoop him up and plop him into the cart.
The pen is the next thing at eye level.
Added bonus this one comes with a cord, a stretchy cord that he quickly figures out can spin around like a helicopter.
Whack. "Sweetie, you are hitting your sister, please stop."
Whack. "Sweetie! Stop it."
I'm signing the card box thing.
the helicopter continues, the person around me is appalled with cross arms, big eyes and a frown.
'
"Sweetie, you are hitting your sister, I said stop it!"
I grab the pen from his arm.
Melt down elevates.
My even keeled son had hit the wall.
Mumbling, squealing, huge tantrum in the car.
"I'm sad that you made a bad choice in the way you acted"
That sounded pretty good even if it went right over his head.
"It hurt my feelings and I'm disappointed. I think we need a rest"
Naps don't happen for most of the crew, but a movie will typically provide a much needed quiet time for everyone.
The evening peaked with similar choices. Too tired to help clean up the toys, not really obeying....etc. My husband tried to explain "You only get one Mom, you need to respect her." I think he threw in a few, she's a great Mom, she really loves you... Everyone is winding down with a summer privilege of watching America's Got Talent, laying in Mom/Dad's bed while we all put away laundry.
I return from my last put away to watch some with everyone to find there is no room on the bed for me. Daughters, husband, son...no room for me.
I decide to sit on the ground.
My son crawls out of bed and says, "Its okay Mom, I'll sit with you."
He curls up in my lap. My husband smiles and says, And he's right back melting Mom's heart. My eyes tear up.
My son turns to talk to me, quickly the competition arrives (little sister). He wrapped his arm around her and said, Here you can come too. then she tries to knock him over and he just melts in saddness. I divert her attention and my husband scopes her up.
I take his blanket and cover our heads.
We sat there for several minutes, hiding away, just talking.
He finally got what he had been crying out for all day, my attention.
My sweet, calm, nice...attention.
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