Time to Regroup...

In case you were wondering, Caleb is feeling fine. He's been fine since Wednesday. Barely a runny nose....no fever....good spirits....back to normal. Just to be sure, however, the kids and I stayed home for two whole days. Wednesday and Thursday, we stayed in the house, getting a little housework done and driving each other crazy. By last night, Caleb and Hannah were both being naughty just for the sake of being naughty. Chris suggested it was because they were sick of staying home for so long, so I said, "That's it! Tomorrow, we leave the house!" So, I woke up this morning with a list of errands to run. It was pouring rain, but I decided that we needed to leave the house anyways, for our sanity. We went to three stores (all over the Twin Cities so there was some driving involved) and we made it home by lunchtime. This is when my 4-year old turned against me....

On the way home from the last store, Caleb started to have a little meltdown, which only happens when he's over-tired (and rarely, at that). He wanted some fruit snacks but I told him that he would need to have lunch first. He started whining, then he started crying, and then he said "Mom! You have bugs on you!". (Apparently, that is the kind of insult 4-year olds give when they are mad at their mothers. Who knew?) We were almost home, so I figured his mood would improve once he was out of the car. Nope. I unbuckled his seatbelt only for him to flop onto the floor of the Tahoe and WAIL that he wanted to go to McDonald's. Calmly, I told him that we weren't going to McDonald's today, but I'd make him the grilled cheese sandwich he previously asked for. That's when the SCREAMING started. Flopping, crying, screaming---it was a full-out tantrum. I ignored him, and brought Hannah and our purchases in the house. When I came back out to the garage, he was STILL screaming at the top of his lungs. I realized then that a few neighbors were working in their garages and could hear Caleb's tantrum loud and clear. I said "Caleb, everyone can hear you." He stopped crying, looked around the cul-de-sac and decided it was time to go in the house. Whew!! I figured the episode was over and we could get on with our day. Wrong....

I started making lunch when we got inside, working at the stove, making the grilled cheese sandwiches I had promised. My back was turned to Caleb, but I was quite relieved to not hear any wailing coming from his direction. All of a sudden, *thwap*! Something hard and heavy smacked me in the back. I looked to see what it was and found a size 10 child's Sketchers tennis shoe sitting on the floor. Caleb was staring at me, waiting for my reaction, with a proud and amused look on his face.
"Time out," I said, and went back to the sandwiches. Again, the wailing and screaming began.
"I DON'T WANT A TIME-OUT!!!!!" Caleb screamed and went to hide under the kitchen table. By this time, I was quite exasperated with his crabbiness and Hannah was watching Caleb with a "What the heck?" look on her face. She went over to the table and attempted to talk Caleb out of his hiding spot (in her Hannah-speak, of course). That's when my adorable and loving 4-year old said "Hannah, go over there and spit on Mom." I couldn't believe my ears! Enlisting the help of his little sister to gain revenge on his mom. Niiiice. I can understand the whole "siblings in kahoots" thing (with three younger siblings, I've been there myself), but I didn't think it started at such a young age!! After lunch, I actually got him to lay down for about 20 minutes by telling him that he needed to "regroup and relax and make his anger and sadness disappear". To my surprise, it worked and he said "Okay". (Maybe I should go back to my first attempted college major of child psychology?? Haha...probably not!!) I can say that he's a bit more cooperative after his quiet time but it's still going to be an early bedtime tonight. (And we're definitely not going to sit around the house tomorrow---it just makes us all crazy, I think!!)