My husband and I ask ourselves this almost every time we take our kids somewhere.
Tonight it was to a college soccer game.
Our older kids did great, thanks in large part to the fact that wouldn't let them sit anywhere near each other.
Cameron= another story. When I was driving on the freeway earlier today, he rolled down the window and threw something out. When we got to the soccer game, I realized that that something was his left shoe.
"Fantastic," I griped.
"Awww," said a group of college girls who were sitting in the row in front of us. "He's adorable!"
"Looks can be deceiving," I told them.
Just as I predicted, Cameron's cuteness was short lived. Three minutes later, he was pinching me and going limp.
"Done! Done!" he cried.
Then he arched his back and screamed. This was because the couple seated next to us were eating churros. And he wanted one.
"It's been fun," I told my family as I heaved him over my shoulders and hurried toward the nearest exit.
I spent the rest of the game in the women's restroom, watching my son stand under the electric hand dryer. And listening to other people use the bathroom.
It was super fun.
***
Where is the most awesome place you've hung out for long periods of time with your cranky/tired small child?
My husband and I always joke that when our older kids were toddlers, we spent more time in the parking lot of our church than inside the building.
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Sometimes I wish I could get away with standing under the electric hand dryer. Those things are fun. I was using one the other day that was super high powered and it was making squeaking sounds as I put my hands together. So...I started trying to make different notes. Some guy walked in and gave me a weird look and I had to stop.
I read this & thought "Where have I spent extended amounts of time with my cranky/tired young children?" and it hit me.
The damn pediatrician's exam room!!!
You know, the days when you have 3 kids in tow & 2 of them are sick and you called at the last minute & they worked you into the schedule? And you get there & they stick you in an exam room in a super-quiet hallway & you JUST KNOW that every person who walks past can hear every little peep from your kids? And they suddenly feel ALL BETTER & start tearing apart the room & fighting with each other & then you need to pee really bad & you can't go off & leave your 3 crazy children in the exam room alone?
I don't usually cuss, but....that damn pediatrician's exam room just seems to fit!
I've never done anything that exciting. The nursing room at church is my favorite hangout. My little one will not sit through a single meeting, let alone three hours in a row. Sometimes we don't make it through the opening hymn.
Sandy
I spent 3 mid-afternoon hours at a college football tailgate party crunched up in the back of my SUV looking at one Hi-Lites magazine when my 2 year old could ALMOST make it through the day without a nap. I entertained him until he fell asleep across my legs and then spent the rest of the time trying not to wake the beast and nodding oddly to parking-lot passers by who looking through the windows could see ME sitting in the back of my car but not my sleeping child. Awesomesauce.
So there was this wedding and it was held at a house in Philly. The house was incredible--stone mansion, absolutely unbelievable. The wedding was for a younger couple, the bride being the daughter of my husband's cousin (yeah...unnecessarily complicated, I know...but wanted to illustrate that we *had* to be there since it's family. Meh.). So my 9-month old decides to have a nuclear meltdown and needed nursing (anything to make you shut up: "Here...take my boob."). So the mother of the bride ushers me to her bedroom. oh my gosh.....think the worst episode of "Hoarders" you've ever seen. My son, who was the fastest nurser in the history of time, took an hour to wrap. It was the longest hour of my life. Couldn't get out of the room fast enough it was so gross!!!!!
Oh, and skirt's really cute too. ;)
Oh Jana, too many places to count... too many places.
But I completely feel your pain when it comes to the question of "Why do we even try?" Our family motto is "THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!" I find myself saying it at every birthday party, family vacation, and random "fun" outing. I'm going to embroider it on a pillow. Or tatoo it to their foreheads.
I'd say the most memorable for everyone else was when I took her into the small mother's room at church--the one connected to the font. She screamed and screamed. Finally my husband poked his head in and said, "Honey, do you want me to take her?" "No, why?" "Well, it's a little distracting because everyone can hear her screaming in the Gospel Doctrine class." ...
Or walking the dirty popcorn filled hall rather than watching the movie:)
My sis- and mom-in-law went to go see Jane Eyre this spring at a cute little theater here in Boise. They also took my niece, who just turned 1. Luckily, the theater has this pleasant little atrium my sis-in-law was able to let her baby wander around until the movie finished. You can get away with a newborn in a theater...but a mobile toddler?
I forgot what happened to me just 2 days ago! We went to Target for a little clothes shopping for mommy and 2 minutes away from the store my 7-year-old puked in the backseat. We couldn't take her in the store, so my husband was amazing and stayed in the gross-smelling van with all 4 kids while I did some speed-shopping. The 7-year-old was fine...od'ed on Redvines.
Outside an antique mall, last day of vacation, approximately 110 degrees outside! She was screaming as loud as she could, I was sitting determined to wait her out and people thought I was the worst mother ever. Hour later, bag of gummy snacks, and a stroller - we were on our way again! UGH!!!!!!!!
I tried taking my infant daughter to the rodeo and she showed me how much she liked it by screaming. I spent the whole rodeo in the...you guessed it...women's restroom. At least there was a folding chair in there and a long, long line of nice women to chat with.
All of this makes me think that next time I take my 2 year old somewhere, I should take her to the bathroom first, refuse to let her leave, and finally "relent" by going where we're actually supposed to go!
I'm going to say my OWN house, trapped in my bedroom with a fussy infant during my own daughter's second birthday party. If I actually tried to leave with him, he would scream and try to latch onto my breast, through my shirt, in front of everyone. If I went into my room to nurse him, he wanted none of it. So there we were stuck, completely missing my daughter's party. Good times!
Child #1 (4yo)-not too many places. She is disturbingly well behaved in most out-of-our-house locations. Child #2 (10 weeks)-Many nursing moments in the backseat of van as we try to enter or leave somewhere; frequently with a whiny 4yo who wants to go, go, go.
I've spent an immense amount of time at playgrounds! Fridays and Saturdays used to be my time to go out with friends--not anymore. Now as I look around and it is 6 or 7 pm on a weekend, I am giving into my new social life! FUN!
In the car in a motel parking lot in Ohio (twice)during a week's vacation when 2 year old daughter wouldn't stop screaming in the middle of the night that she wanted to go home to her house; that her bottom was sore (uti finally diagnosed) and that we needed to stop touching her bottom.(no mommy or daddy mentioned during the tirade). I was imagining Protective Service or the Ohio troopers showing up.
I spent two or three hours in the emergency room with one of my darling daughters when she was two. She had dislocated her shoulder. However, after x-rays, etc, she popped it back in place- just before the doctor walked in!
We use the playroom at the library (with sound proof glass) or we go outside. As soon as one starts to be cranky - OKAY EVERYONE OUTSIDE! It usually works. Either that, or it's naptime!
www.librarianmom.com
I was once stuck in a gas station parking lot with my sister (her car wouldn't start and we were waiting for a tow truck) and my niece. the only thing that would keep my niece busy was trying to peel skin off my feet (yes she was a little wierd) I don't like to have my feet touched but had to put up with it for a long time to avaiod huge fits.
Wheeeeee!!!! Life in the fast lane.
In the bathroom too but my child was too young and in too much pain to enjoy playing with the hand dryer (really bad GERD). I was totally traumatized at a restaurant one time because my daughter wouldn't stop screaming. I went into the totally non-child friendly bathroom with no change table, changed her diaper on my lap in a stall but the screaming continued. I went back in, sat on the toilet again and nursed and that didn't help. Actually the other toilets flushing completely freaked her out. Finally my friend had to come get me, saying, "Who cares? Babies cry." but my baby was wailing at the top of her lungs, not crying. I got my food packed to go and drove home. Of course she fell asleep within 5 minutes of me starting the car. Argh!
I read your comments, and I laughed so hard! Knowing when to say "It's time to go now" really helped me when I finally realized that sometimes this is the only option for sanity and for peace. I'm strong willed and I never liked to "give in" to what I thought was just a child throwing a fit, but somehow public humiliation trumps that.
Actually, in the bathroom as well. Watching the toilet flush over and over and over. Good times.
Last weekend I brought my then 7 week old son down to a friends house for a get together...we spent the entire time in the dining room by ourselves because he didn't want to sleep because it was too loud, needless to say I didn't get much visiting in!!
www.wrfamilystories.blogspot.com
We've sat in the car, listening to books on cd while the other parent finishes the errand. We've walked the halls during church (as far away from people as possible). And during my sis-in-law's graduation ceremony, I walked the halls with my alternating wailing and crawling 9 month old whie all of my in-laws watched the ceremony. Good times.
I had one like that and now he's almost all grown up and the most fun kid ever. Hold on tight and savor the time when he wants you-those years are short even thought the days are long. My doctor predicted that he would be very successful in life and he's on his way.
xo jana
this is what he does for fun now
www.thesurfboardman.com
The front seat of the car in more motel parking lots than I can count.
My oldest son was the loudest baby ever and we didn't want to give up family vacations, so if the baby started fussing, I'd wind up nursing him in the car, waiting for him to fall back asleep so that I could try to maneuver him back into the room without waking up.
My youngest son refused to sleep in motel rooms -- so the crying/parking lot cycle started again.
It's humanly possible to sleep in the front seat of the minivan. It's even less comfortable than sleeping in the tent.
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