Hot headed red totty

Holy mackerel - little r had a colossal meltdown of epic proportions today. It was truly a sight to behold. I wish you all could have been there to witness it.

We are, quite frankly, pushing little r's limits these days. Traveling somewhere every couple of weeks with hardly a routine to be found is even wearing us adults out. But he has been doing exceptionally well being adaptable and even cooperative for the most part.

The occasional meltdown occurs, but it has been awhile since we experienced one that turns heads. And boy, did my hot headed toddler turn heads today...

We met up with some friends at the market this morning for breakfast and to pick up produce and some other fun items - our favorite "usual" Saturday morning routine. Little r was extremely well behaved during breakfast and got only a little antsy walking around the market. Nothing too out of the norm.

We decided to go to the Müller (think Target) to explore the fun toys. Our little man has a birthday coming up soon, so we were looking for good ideas. Little r is typically not that kid that falls apart in toy stores. He does really well understanding he can't have all the toys, but is cute about identifying all the things he wishes we would buy him. In fact, it's one of our favorite things to do with him because he's so darned cute.

The hot wheels were crazy cheap, so we told him he could pick out two. Guess that was my first mistake. His understanding of numbers is fairly elementary. After at least 30 minutes of incredible and darn right cute behavior in the store and the monster was unleashed.

Here it came bellowing from the depths within his tiny tummy. There was no turning back...the meltdown began. He was super tired, probably hungry, and outright pissed at us for telling him only two cars were coming home. Wow, such unappreciative behavior - ha! I'm no idiot (or maybe I am?) and knew this was not behavior to be rewarded. The hot wheels were put back on the shelves and out we went...

My little hot headed monster kicked, screamed, yelled, thrashed, and cried his heart out as we worked our way out of the store. Then he continued into the market thrashing around. It was un-freaking-believable. The last time he did this was when we were in Venice, and I lost it and utterly broke down.

I was randomly calm today. This calm was mostly likely brought about because Big R somehow stayed completely put together. It's sad to say, but we were almost laughing at the scene. Shaking our heads and passing looks at each other. This must be a survival tool we develop as parents to avoid going insane.

I hardly noticed all the eyes on us until this elder woman decided she needed to talk to us in German and broken English. I suppose we did appear as though we were in great need of assistance. The lady was actually quite nice and sympathetic and she was clearly feeling our pain. But then I looked around and noticed everyone staring. Somehow I had taught myself not to see or feel this to avoid sheer embarrassment, but there was no avoiding it today.

I looked around and felt like eyes were boring into our heads. Jaws were dropping, hands were covering people's mouths, and woman were gasping. I mean really, people, is a toddler meltdown really that extreme to you? There is no way German children never go through this. I found myself just hoping people could see we weren't hurting him. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to think calling the polizei was necessary.

We remained randomly calm when we should have been in tears, and we fought our screaming toddler until we made it to our bikes where it took another 15 minutes to chill him out enough for the bike ride home. It was fantastic! What a crazy mess.

I seriously hope to avoid such a meltdown again, but I know this was one of many more to come. It's nice to recognize that we have at least learned to take them in stride.

What do you do to survive the ultimate toddler tantrum in a public place?

 


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


 

Posted with Blogsy