Mobile Moan
The weather was nice today, 60-degree nice. It was the kind of weather that makes the baseball season seem not so far away. Indeed, we’re only about a half-week away from the Cubs’ first loss of the season.
I took advantage of the weather by toting all three kids into the park this afternoon. I was content to spend the day basking in the glow of our living room lamp, but Ellie spurred me into action by saying she wanted to meet us in the park on her way home from work so she could show off the twins to some people.
This was my first attempt at taking everyone to the park by myself. I deemed the stroller as the best way to transport the twins, so I pulled it out of my car, strapped Tory in, realized that 60-degrees isn’t that warm, and ran back in the house to grab Ian and a couple of blankets. I moved quickly through the house because I didn’t want any authorities to notice the stroller parked outside our house, and wonder why I left a four-month-old baby outside, unattended, and without a blanket in 60-degree weather.
In my haste to yank a blanket out of the closet, I accidentally pulled the mobile that was stored in the closet out as well. The mobile must stay out of Abbie’s reach and sight, or else she’ll follow me about the house shoving one of its four prongs into my knees and screaming for me to hold it for her. Abbie pounced on the fallen mobile like it was a freshly opened box of Fruit Rounds that just hit the floor. I knocked it out of her hand, grabbed her now empty hand, grabbed the blankets, grabbed Ian, and made it back outside before Tory developed the finger dexterity to unbuckle his stroller straps.
Our park excursion lacked excitement for three-fourths of our group. While Abbie ran about the grass giggling like, well, like a little girl, I stood by the boys making sure they didn’t contract hypothermia or, worse yet, fall asleep before their scheduled nap time. Ellie was late from work, and once I realized she wouldn’t arrive in time to show off the boys to anyone, I gave Abbie a few shoves in the swing, and took everyone back home.
I like to do things by birth-order, so Abbie was first back in the house, then Ian, and finally Tory. Before I could set Tory down in his gym, Abbie had the mobile in hand and was jabbing and screaming at me. She continued screaming through the front door as I loaded the stroller back in my car.
The first thing I did upon reentering the house was grab the mobile from her, and throw it back in the closet. This also made Abbie scream, but instead of the “play with me” scream, it was more of the “I hate you, you’ve ruined my life, I’m going to have to go Goth to ease my pain” scream. I ignored her as all the experts say to do when a child throws a tantrum. Several minutes of uninterrupted screaming later, I sent her to her room until she calmed down. Once she regained her composure, I opened her room and let her rejoin the family. She repaid my kindness by screaming again.
At this point, I went for the big gun: Singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” complete with hand motions. This kept her calm as long as I kept singing, but she resumed screaming as soon as that star stopped twinkling. So I sang again, while I played with her brothers, while I changed everyone’s diapers, and while I set her brothers down for naps. I think it took about 20 minutes, but she eventually forgot about the mobile again. Hopefully she’ll forget about the Goth thing too.
I took advantage of the weather by toting all three kids into the park this afternoon. I was content to spend the day basking in the glow of our living room lamp, but Ellie spurred me into action by saying she wanted to meet us in the park on her way home from work so she could show off the twins to some people.
This was my first attempt at taking everyone to the park by myself. I deemed the stroller as the best way to transport the twins, so I pulled it out of my car, strapped Tory in, realized that 60-degrees isn’t that warm, and ran back in the house to grab Ian and a couple of blankets. I moved quickly through the house because I didn’t want any authorities to notice the stroller parked outside our house, and wonder why I left a four-month-old baby outside, unattended, and without a blanket in 60-degree weather.
In my haste to yank a blanket out of the closet, I accidentally pulled the mobile that was stored in the closet out as well. The mobile must stay out of Abbie’s reach and sight, or else she’ll follow me about the house shoving one of its four prongs into my knees and screaming for me to hold it for her. Abbie pounced on the fallen mobile like it was a freshly opened box of Fruit Rounds that just hit the floor. I knocked it out of her hand, grabbed her now empty hand, grabbed the blankets, grabbed Ian, and made it back outside before Tory developed the finger dexterity to unbuckle his stroller straps.
Our park excursion lacked excitement for three-fourths of our group. While Abbie ran about the grass giggling like, well, like a little girl, I stood by the boys making sure they didn’t contract hypothermia or, worse yet, fall asleep before their scheduled nap time. Ellie was late from work, and once I realized she wouldn’t arrive in time to show off the boys to anyone, I gave Abbie a few shoves in the swing, and took everyone back home.
I like to do things by birth-order, so Abbie was first back in the house, then Ian, and finally Tory. Before I could set Tory down in his gym, Abbie had the mobile in hand and was jabbing and screaming at me. She continued screaming through the front door as I loaded the stroller back in my car.
The first thing I did upon reentering the house was grab the mobile from her, and throw it back in the closet. This also made Abbie scream, but instead of the “play with me” scream, it was more of the “I hate you, you’ve ruined my life, I’m going to have to go Goth to ease my pain” scream. I ignored her as all the experts say to do when a child throws a tantrum. Several minutes of uninterrupted screaming later, I sent her to her room until she calmed down. Once she regained her composure, I opened her room and let her rejoin the family. She repaid my kindness by screaming again.
At this point, I went for the big gun: Singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” complete with hand motions. This kept her calm as long as I kept singing, but she resumed screaming as soon as that star stopped twinkling. So I sang again, while I played with her brothers, while I changed everyone’s diapers, and while I set her brothers down for naps. I think it took about 20 minutes, but she eventually forgot about the mobile again. Hopefully she’ll forget about the Goth thing too.
posted by Matt at
10:42 PM
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