Winter-like weather has hit our area recently, which means it's the time of year every parent hates: hat and mitten weather (we're not quite at 'snow-suit' weather yet, which as most parents know is the equivalent to hell on earth.) Because of this, most of my time this morning was spent saying:
"Make sure you put your hat and mittens on!"
"Do you have your hat and mittens?"
"Where are your hat and mittens?!"
"For the love of PETE... put on your bloody hat and mittens!!!!"
By the time we got to school, I was over this whole thing. As we're walking in the doors of the school, I noticed that Quinn didn't have any mittens on.
"Quinn, where are your mitts?"
Quinn (while looking at me very grumpily): "They're. In. The. Car."
Sigh. "Quinn, go to the car and get your mitts."
Quinn (while crossing his arms in front of him) "NO!"
"Quinnnn...."
That's when phase one of the meldown started. He got red in the face, stomped his foot (oh yes he did!) and started yelling: "NOOOOOO...... I don't need my MITTENS!!!!!"
I quickly said to Aidan, "Aidan, take Shannon to her cubby and take her to the yard," while simultaneously grabbing Quinn and dragging him to the car, with Marin in tow behind me.
Proud Mommy moment #1: I literally threw Quinn in the van, and then locked him in. Here begins phase 2 of the meltdown, something I like to call: the nuclear explosion. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, banging on the windows, honking the horn (oh yes he did!) - you get the picture. I was standing outside with Marin, when she looked up at me and said: "Mummy, why Quinnie screaming so much?"
Oh. My. Gravy.
When he finally calmed down I took him back inside the school and said: "You can't go outside Quinn, because you don't have your mitts." (Have I mentioned that it was zero degrees outside this morning?)
I took him to his class and had him start changing his shoes. His teacher came by so I went into the class to explain to her why I was leaving a very angry and pissed off child in her midst. The bell rang and I went into the hall to see how Quinn was doing.
Proud Mommy moment #2: Quinn was in the hall in the midst of phase 3 of the meltdown, something we'll call: nuclear fall-out. His face was bright red, and he was crying and talking to one of the kindly EAs (who stopped to talk to him b/c she saw how upset he was).
Proud Mommy moment #3: As Quinn was talking to the EA he saw me, and yelled at the top of his lungs:
"I HAVE THE MEANEST MOMMY EVERRRRRRRR!!! I HATE HER!!!!"
Oh yes - he really did. This is where I bit my lip, and tried not to burst out crying. At the same time, I was using every ounce of self-control in my body to not reach over and smack him upside the head.
I crouched down next to him and said: "Quinn, you need to get it together because it's time to go into class. Is this how you want your friends to see you?"
And then I got the hell out of dodge because I didn't want to loose it at school.
Do you think 9:00 a.m. would have been too early for a martini?
After I picked him up from school I took him up to his room and talked about why we need to wear mittens when it's cold outside, and how much Mommy's feelings were hurt when he said those words. I made him think about what he did and then draw a picture to say sorry to Mom.
I got two lovely pictures, one of a bunny saying: "Mom I lov yu" and one of Quinn and I holding hands, with smiles on our faces.
Sigh... sometimes this parenting thing sucks.
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