A bad day

Squiggles did not take a nap yesterday. As in, no sleep at all.

I should have known the path our day was going to take when I woke up at 9:30 and didn't hear anything on the monitor. Usually Squiggles is singing or talking to himself or, if I've been asleep too soundly, crying out for me. Yesterday there was nothing. He probably slept longer today because he was up for 30-45 minutes the night before. I went in to get him and he was sitting up quietly playing with his pillow, so I don't think he had been up for long.

He was very pleasant in the morning because he had gotten so much sleep, and asked to go out after breakfast (i.e., he took me over to the garage door and said "dis, dis!"). Yes, an outing, what a good idea little child! So we got dressed and headed out into the beautiful sunshine. We went to Babies R Us to look at a few things and then I figured we'd head to Chik-fil-a for a bite of lunch and some playtime.

He was great as we meandered through the store; but after we checked out, he started to unravel. The trigger was a giant ride-on Garfield as we left the store. I didn't have any change to turn it on, but I let him walk around it and even set him in it to "ride" the kitty. He had a lot of fun, but after a bit, I told him it was time to go. Cue meltdown!

Thinking maybe the promise of chicken nuggets and a slide would help him, we drove over to Chik-fil-a. No luck. He was crying and screaming and had already flung his socks and shoes at the back of the seat in front of him. I got out of the car to explain what we were doing, but he just screamed louder and tried to hit me (our fun new discovery, which Brian and I are not impressed with). So we left - I wasn't about to take him into public already mid-meltdown.

I managed to calm him down during the ride home using this trick I read in Parents magazine a few months back: I act out his emotions and use words to describe how I think he feels. In this case, I banged my fist on my leg and declared that I know he must be frustrated, hungry and tired, and that it's okay to feel that way. It usually works like a charm. I hoped he would fall asleep on the way home, because I figured he was tired after all the screaming. Wrong again.

We went back and forth over the next couple of hours, me trying to get him to sleep and he throwing a fit over it. So at 3:30 I gave up and we snuggled in the chair together under a blanket and watched Sesame Street.

After this "rest" and a good snack, he perked up a bit and was only slightly trying for the rest of the day. Of course, I was ready to rush out of the house as soon as Brian got home, but it all worked out. Good thing last night was Zumba night for me!