They'll Be Days Like This

Remember when you were growing up and your mom would say, "When you have kids, they're going to do what you did growing up and then it'll be pay back time."

Well, I'm here to say that it is totally true on some parts.  I don't remember all of the things I did when I was in the toddler years, but I definitely believe my kids do things I have done before which makes the saying true and thus the title, "They'll be days like this, momma said."

The first recent instance had to do with Hayden and his eating habits.  For a while now, Hayden has been a great eater.  He'd eat his food fast and good.  However, Hayden slipped into a terrible phase the passed couple of weeks.  A little while back, Hadley had a cold sore on the inside of her lip making it painful to eat.  She refused to eat anything and we tried to get her to eat some things, but more often than not, we sent her to bed hungry.  

Well, we think this triggered Hayden into a bad phase of eating because one day, he all of a sudden didn't eat as normal.  We would give him food that he liked or asked for and he would nibble like a mouse on it or not touch it at all.  Perplexed by his behavior, we asked what was wrong and he complained of a sore on the his tongue.  I saw a little sore, but really, why can't he still eat some food in a different way than normal.  It was soooo frustrating, watching him take 2+ hours to eat his normal breakfast, lunch or dinner.  He looked thinner than ever and he is already a very thin little boy.  Sandwiches went uneaten, timeouts were given that ended up super long and privileges were lost left and right.  

Finally, yesterday, the miracle happened that I had been waiting for and he ate his breakfast, lunch and dinner, super fast, normal and was happy again.  I am so glad to have the change back to normal.  It makes the mood in our house so much better because it really stinks having to not reward your child for such a long time.

The second instance was a complete disaster meltdown.  We drove over to the library like normal every week and I gave my normal speel before getting out of the car and what was expected of them.  I took out the baby, put on Hadley's teddy bear leash and we walked over to the front doors.  

My kids love to push the handicap button to open the doors and usually Hayden can push it and then Hadley can push it after him without knowing it didn't do anything new.  Well, today was different and it happened so fast that I had no clue what happened.  Hayden pushed the button and it didn't open with the first tap so he tapped it again.  Then Hadley comes over and starts trying to push it and it opens for her.  Hayden then gets furious and starts tapping the button multiple times.  Hadley rebuttals with pushing it in between him.  During their back and forth, I am trying to talk reason into them, especially Hayden, but he starts screaming and bawling and yelling "Noooo!" and Hadley responds to his emotions by starting to cry and yell, "Mommy!"  

Oh my goodness, seriously?!  It's just a button, right?  So they are really amped up now and making a huge seen while the doors are staying open for the whole inside library to hear and I all of a sudden say, "Okay, let's go to the car."

Screaming increases saying, "No!  I don't want to go to the car.  I want to go to the library.  Mommy...Mommy...Mommy!"  etc. etc.

I put them all back in the car and have them in their seats.  I tell them to be quiet and stop crying and then we'll talk.  Finally, it is calm enough for me to speak my peace about what just happened and the consequences of their actions.  I told them that because they behaved so poorly, they can only get one movie a piece, no exceptions (books are still free game).  Hayden rebuttaled with, but I want 2 movies!  I reminded him of his behavior and bad choices and said he had a choice.  He can either calm down so we can go back into the library and just pick out one movie while being good OR we can go home with nothing.  

Thankfully, he accepted my offer to go back in and we came to the agreement that Hadley could open the doors on the way in and Hayden could open the doors on the way out.  The second attempt turned out a whole lot better and I am so grateful.  I hate meltdowns so much.

So Momma said, they'll be days like this, they'll be days, they'll be days, momma said.