This weekend my bestie and her 15 month old little girl were in town to visit.
After a great morning at the park and an afternoon at the pool we loaded up the kids and went to dinner.
About 15 minutes in, Jamie decided he was DONE.
He did not want to eat, so he threw his food everywhere.
He did not want to be sitting in the highchair, so he did everything in his power to get up.
And most importantly, he wasn't going to do any of this quietly. He wanted to make sure every last person in that restaurant knew he was there.
It was the worst restaurant meltdown I've personally experienced as a mom.
I tried all the usual tricks...but nothing worked.
To make matters worse, my friends daughter was the epitome of good child behavior.
She sat quietly. Ate her food. Played games when she was done.
Was my friend judging my mom skills? Absolutely not. But I was judging myself big time.
Embarrassed beyond belief, I lost my mom cool.
At one point I actually grabbed his arm and in my stern mom voice told him
"You're being ridiculous. This behavior is unacceptable"
Which backfired completely and only magnified the screaming.
Duh.
Not exactly sure how I thought my 1 year old was going to react to that.
His reasoning skills are pretty much non-existent.
And the word "no" is pretty much his least favorite word in the English language.
As I handed him off to my husband to be taken outside it dawned on me.
He had a busy day. He's teething. And he only had 1 nap. It's now almost bedtime and I'm expecting way too much. I'd pushed him too far, and then I yelled at him for acting out.
Mom fail.
This toddler business is tough work. Just when I think I'm loving his new found independence, I'm reminded of the sometimes not so fun stuff that comes along with it. I also have to tell myself it's normal. He's testing his boundaries. This is what kids do and it doesn't mean I'm a bad mom or that I'm doing something wrong. It just happens.
So this morning when I was in the pediatricians office for the big one year checkup, and we're going over all the things an average 1 year old should be doing, the nurse asks
"Does he demonstrate some negative behavior"
I actually laughed out loud and said, yep, he's got that one down.
8 comments:
Ha- I am sorry to be laughing Emily....god when this time comes for us we are SCREWED! I think that it is to be expected though, like you said he had a long day....well I sure hope you had LOTS of drinks at dinner!!!!
Haha I love that last line! Oh the joys of an over tired baby (scratch that) TODDLER. I do the same thing. I push and push until he's through. I've gotta get better at knowing Ethan's limits as well.
Well, kids are sometimes like that. They have moments that they want to shout and let everyone noticed that they existed, getting attention. hahaha. This is based on my personal experiences.
Cassy from Beginner Free Guitar Lessons
It was a busy day! Poor Jamie was so tired. How are those poor little teeth of his?
Thanks so much for sharing this - glad to know I'm not the only one that finds myself trying to reason with my baby/toddler!!
Don't stress it Momma! We had a restaurant meltdown the other while we were eating with friends of ours who don't have kids yet. I'm sure they are rethinking them after that meal!
I wouldn't feel too bad about it. Trust me there's some moms out there who wouldn't even have realized the nap situation.
it is hard! i do this a lot as well. usually when he is acting out, I can trace it back to teething, no nap, hungry, etc.
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