There are some days I just want to remember. And not just because there were so many exasperating moments. I just know that a day like today will not repeat because children change, weather changes, situations change. Adirah and I took Asher to his camp this morning. 10 am. So far things were good. Then I took Adirah for a haircut. "Where are we going?" Adirah asked for the 10th time as we were driving away from Asher's camp. "We are going to get a haircut," I finally answered. "I don't want to get a haircut! I don't want to get a haircut!" She complained. LOUDLY. So I used a technique I have invented I will call 'agree and do what she is asking and then do what I was going to do anyway'
"OK, we will just go for a drive," I answered.
I mean, being with a two year old is not unlike being with an elderly person with dementia. They both forget what just happened a few minutes ago. They both ask the same questions over and over. And both are satisfied if you give them the answer they want to hear. In the case of an elderly person, "Yes, we are standing at the train station! You are right! We will wait for the train."
Adirah has only had 2 haircuts in her short life, and both of those haircuts were positive experiences. So I thought maybe she was just protest to protest. Her own personal picket line. We drove the 20 minutes south to the special haircut place just for children. And when we pulled up to the front of the stores she exclaimed "Oh, I love this place!" She instantly forgot that she didn't want a haircut.
Her hair was cut and the ends came off in perfect circles. She has truly curly hair! Afterward, she went behind the counter without asking, looked at all the pouches where balloons were kept, chose a pink balloon and handed it to the lady at the desk. She knew what she wanted! The woman inflated the balloon and handed it to Adirah while Adirah jumped up and down and giggled with delight.
Next we walked across the street to lunch, carefully holding the balloon so it did not fly away. Adirah had refused to tie it around her wrist as the lady suggested. We made it back to the car. Balloon safe. And then we drove all the way back to pick up Asher from camp. We parked a bit far away so I put Adirah in the stroller (with the balloon) and we walked to the place to pick up Asher.
I have been experimenting with skipping Adirah's nap lately. It helps her get to bed earlier and that makes night time so much easier. So I wasn't worried about rushing home for her nap, and we were within walking distance to a few places I needed to go. So we walked to the bank, and next to the grocery store.
Then things took a turn. There is a post I wrote years ago about the %$#@* Car Carts they have at Fred Meyer. I am always thinking of ways to avoid pushing one of these huge things through the grocery store. I thought I could go in and push Adirah's stroller quickly past the huge car carts. I thought maybe there wouldn't even be any near that entrance. But with keen vision, Adirah saw them and began to yell CAR CART! CAR CART!
Asher is still small enough to fit in the cart next to Adirah. So I loaded Asher next to Adirah into the car cart and the stroller into the front of the cart. Now the balloon. Hmmm. What to do with the balloon. I tied it to the cart. But now I had to go to pee. Trouble begins when I have both kids and my own needs. The car cart was so big that when I pushed it to the entrance of the restrooms, other people had to squeeze through the hallway just to get in.
So I was thinking "I will leave this in the hallway just outside the bathroom (it has no door, like an airport bathroom) I will run in and pee, and run out." While in the bathroom stall I heard screaming. I knew it was my kids. Adirah was biting Asher's shoulder. He was stuck in the seat next to her and could not get out. I convinced him to get out and go into the mens room and I stayed with Adirah. But Adirah was becoming more an more unreasonable. "I don't want it here!" she screamed pointing to the balloon. So I untied the balloon and tried to tie it somewhere else on the cart. "NOOOO!" she screamed pushing her tiny fists into the air.
She was tired. It was not a good day to skip her nap. But now I was in a store, a few blocks away from the car, with this huge car cart. Asher came out of the bathroom, I tried to back the Car Cart out of the hallway. Adirah was now holding her balloon. And then, she let go. And the store has very high ceilings. The pink balloon was out of my reach, it was out of the reach of a very tall man who witnessed what happened.
I mean, being with a two year old is not unlike being with an elderly person with dementia. They both forget what just happened a few minutes ago. They both ask the same questions over and over. And both are satisfied if you give them the answer they want to hear. In the case of an elderly person, "Yes, we are standing at the train station! You are right! We will wait for the train."
Adirah has only had 2 haircuts in her short life, and both of those haircuts were positive experiences. So I thought maybe she was just protest to protest. Her own personal picket line. We drove the 20 minutes south to the special haircut place just for children. And when we pulled up to the front of the stores she exclaimed "Oh, I love this place!" She instantly forgot that she didn't want a haircut.
Her hair was cut and the ends came off in perfect circles. She has truly curly hair! Afterward, she went behind the counter without asking, looked at all the pouches where balloons were kept, chose a pink balloon and handed it to the lady at the desk. She knew what she wanted! The woman inflated the balloon and handed it to Adirah while Adirah jumped up and down and giggled with delight.
Next we walked across the street to lunch, carefully holding the balloon so it did not fly away. Adirah had refused to tie it around her wrist as the lady suggested. We made it back to the car. Balloon safe. And then we drove all the way back to pick up Asher from camp. We parked a bit far away so I put Adirah in the stroller (with the balloon) and we walked to the place to pick up Asher.
I have been experimenting with skipping Adirah's nap lately. It helps her get to bed earlier and that makes night time so much easier. So I wasn't worried about rushing home for her nap, and we were within walking distance to a few places I needed to go. So we walked to the bank, and next to the grocery store.
Then things took a turn. There is a post I wrote years ago about the %$#@* Car Carts they have at Fred Meyer. I am always thinking of ways to avoid pushing one of these huge things through the grocery store. I thought I could go in and push Adirah's stroller quickly past the huge car carts. I thought maybe there wouldn't even be any near that entrance. But with keen vision, Adirah saw them and began to yell CAR CART! CAR CART!
Asher is still small enough to fit in the cart next to Adirah. So I loaded Asher next to Adirah into the car cart and the stroller into the front of the cart. Now the balloon. Hmmm. What to do with the balloon. I tied it to the cart. But now I had to go to pee. Trouble begins when I have both kids and my own needs. The car cart was so big that when I pushed it to the entrance of the restrooms, other people had to squeeze through the hallway just to get in.
So I was thinking "I will leave this in the hallway just outside the bathroom (it has no door, like an airport bathroom) I will run in and pee, and run out." While in the bathroom stall I heard screaming. I knew it was my kids. Adirah was biting Asher's shoulder. He was stuck in the seat next to her and could not get out. I convinced him to get out and go into the mens room and I stayed with Adirah. But Adirah was becoming more an more unreasonable. "I don't want it here!" she screamed pointing to the balloon. So I untied the balloon and tried to tie it somewhere else on the cart. "NOOOO!" she screamed pushing her tiny fists into the air.
She was tired. It was not a good day to skip her nap. But now I was in a store, a few blocks away from the car, with this huge car cart. Asher came out of the bathroom, I tried to back the Car Cart out of the hallway. Adirah was now holding her balloon. And then, she let go. And the store has very high ceilings. The pink balloon was out of my reach, it was out of the reach of a very tall man who witnessed what happened.
So I stood in a long line at the customer service desk and when it was finally my turn I asked the woman if there was a ladder nearby. She shrugged and said I should go to the garden area and get another balloon. I explained that it was not from this store and convinced her to call for a ladder.
Adirah was becoming MORE tired and MORE unreasonable. She was crying loudly. She was unable to sit still AND she wanted her balloon. A custodian appeared with a long stick that had something on the end that looked like a vacuum cleaner part. He looped the string of the balloon on the stick and as he pulled it down, whoosh, the balloon freed itself and went back up to the ceiling. Oh cursed helium! By now Asher was so upset by hi sister's lost balloon AND he was sure it was going to pop he hunched down and covered his eyes. He may as well been watching the most climactic scene of a horror film. Next, the custodian put double sided tape on the end of the vacuum cleaner part thing, and he carefully STUCK the balloon to the end, pulled it down and triumphantly handed it to Adirah.
Adirah was becoming MORE tired and MORE unreasonable. She was crying loudly. She was unable to sit still AND she wanted her balloon. A custodian appeared with a long stick that had something on the end that looked like a vacuum cleaner part. He looped the string of the balloon on the stick and as he pulled it down, whoosh, the balloon freed itself and went back up to the ceiling. Oh cursed helium! By now Asher was so upset by hi sister's lost balloon AND he was sure it was going to pop he hunched down and covered his eyes. He may as well been watching the most climactic scene of a horror film. Next, the custodian put double sided tape on the end of the vacuum cleaner part thing, and he carefully STUCK the balloon to the end, pulled it down and triumphantly handed it to Adirah.
In the car, on the way home Asher said this: "I thought of a good idea if I am ever stuck in outer space, do you want to hear?" I took a deep breath so I could have the presence of mind to listen to Asher's idea. "I would just hang around and wait, and if another rocket ship came, I would ask if there was any room for me, and if there was no room I would ask one of the rocket ship guys to wait with me. Then the other guy could get a bigger ship for both of us and he could come back and get us!"
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