Sam's antics

Sam had a good week. He fairly easily got into the car and out when we went places (which wasn't often due to Matthew's cold) and he really didn't have any tantrums. He was helpful in cleaning up, kind to Matthew (mostly), and listened when I asked him to do this or that. That ended yesterday. Friday morning we were getting ready to go to the Y for the first time in a few days when Sam decided he wanted a particular piece of his train set. It is missing, however, and despite some good looking it was nowhere to be found. Sam was quite upset and showed his emotion in the usual way--crying and screaming. While he was crying and screaming, I managed to get his coat and boots on so we could go to the Y. I probably should have just axed the trip, but I really needed it to get away from the child's craziness for awhile as you see, that wasn't the first tantrum of the morning.

Sam sat on the floor of the laundry room after getting dressed, crying and screaming still, while I got Matthew ready and put him in the van. Sam refused to budge while these other operations were going on, opting instead to continue crying and screaming. I finally grabbed him and put him in the van too. I'm not exactly sure what his crying was about, other than he wanted to read a book instead of go to the Y and play with some other toys. He's really into procrastinating these days, so he pulls anything out of his procrastination book when it's time to go anywhere. He calmed down when we got to the Y and the trip inside was uneventful. However, when we were leaving Sam wandered down one of the hallways of the Y to go look at the workout area. We've done this before so Sam can see all the bikes and other equipment. But this time he didn't want to leave. He told me to go ahead, that he'd follow and then he'd stay there or run the other way. After a few minutes of "Come here Sam, we're leaving," I finally grabbed him. So I had Matthew on one hip and a crying, writhing Sam on the other hip. It was not pretty or easy.

I could only carry him like that for a few paces when I had to set him down. We were walking to the parking lot when I set him down and he ran down the sidewalk toward some cars. What a naughty little boy! I caught up to him and again grabbed him, crying and writhing, and walked to the van. My arms were killing me. A 25 lb. baby on one hip, a 30 lb. toddler on the other. Sam wasn't really on my hip, though, I was carrying him under my arm and he was horizontal to the ground. I was sweating (not from my actual workout), embarrassed, frustrated. We made it to the car and I got Matthew into his seat and Sam ran around the inside of the van. Not giving him the usual warning, "Time to get into your seat, Sam," I stepped into the van, grabbed Sam and put him into his seat. He wasn't happy and neither was I. Matthew seemed oblivious to the antics and emotion around him and fell asleep quickly when I started driving. Sam calmed down on the car ride home and I remember we still had a pretty bad day yesterday, although I can't really remember what happened. I guess I blocked it from my memory. Another day in the life of a toddler.