There’s nothing like arriving home after a vacation. It doesn’t matter if you were staying at some multi-million dollar mansion for a week in paradise. It’s true what they say (as trite as it is)–there’s no place like home!
This morning I realized that I had left my wallet in the go-kart yesterday!! I was cleaning my purse out this a.m. when I realized my wallet was missing, and I knew immediately I had mistakenly left it there. When I called, you can imagine my relief as I started to explain what happened to the person that answered the phone at the go-karting place, and the lady cordially cut me off and asked, “Are you the one that left the pretty fat wallet?” Thank GOD! Oh, and when we got there prior to Kojo dropping us off at the airport, the lady also asked, “Did you also forget this hair clip?” Thank GOD again! My favorite hair clip! 🙂 Luckily, everything was in my wallet. I’m still going to cancel my cards in the event someone could have written down my numbers. But it looked like everything was intact. WHEW!
The flight home was great. Kwabena was a doll, and wasn’t remotely afraid during take-off.
When we arrived at the airport, Nana was supposed to meet us there, but due to car troubles with Kwasi’s car, he couldn’t make it, and we ended up having to spend $50 for a Super Shuttle, in addition to having to wait about 25 minutes. Kwabi entertained himself by playing in his car seat….playing on his chair…. and jumping into my lap.
I decided after this trip, from now on, we will arrange for our own transportation, even if it means having to shell out money for a rental car or to pay to park our own car at the airport. Waiting in the airport was very irritating. I’m just thankful Kwabi was able to enjoy himself! Imagine if he has been fussy or irritable!
Speaking of which, he’s been quite full of himself today….. Giving me the evil eye multiple times, making games of hitting me, at which he didn’t stop when I asked him to and only laughed. He really thought it was funny. Grrrr…….. And this evening when preparing him for bed, I wanted to brush his teeth, and he wanted to try to grab it from my hand so that he could suck on it. Finally, my patience wearing thin, I held him down (which I haven’t had to do in quite a while), and brushed his teeth with him screaming and hollaring.
Afterwards, he shouted at me, “That’s not nice, Mommy!” and proceeded to wail and shake and scream in a fit of tantrum for about 10-15 minutes. He even lashed out at my leg, hitting me twice, because he was so mad. I instantly picked him up from behind and put him in timeout. When I went in a minute later, he was calming down, but still pissed, so he hit me again. Again, time out for 1 minute, and I left the room.
Another minute later, I came back and asked him if he was done, and told him that hitting Mommy or anyone else when he was man was not acceptable, and that he will not do it again. He continued to whine and fuss.
Finally, I decided that this meltdown was definitely in part because I was wrong for forcing him to brush his teeth when I should have simply been patient like I usually am, and used those parenting skills to get him to cooperate instead of holding him down like I used to have to do. It’s not that holding him down isn’t an option; it is. But he’s been doing so well with brushing his teeth, that for me to resort back to holding him down….there could have been a better way.
Also, add that to the fact that he didn’t get a nap today because of traveling…. and it was already past 8 p.m. by this time….he must have been exhausted!
So I went back into his room, and distracted him by telling him it was time to go to bed, and asking him if he wanted to read some books (like we usually do). He calmed down, said yes, and laid down. I told him that before we started to read, I wanted to have a talk with him about his behavior. I told him that hitting people is not acceptable, and that it’s okay to be upset or mad sometimes, but that he can’t hit people when he’s upset. I told him that when he’s mad, he can tell me, “Mommy, I’m so mad right now!” but to not hit people. I was hoping he would answer with his usual chipper, “Okay!” but he was a bit defiant (i.e. still pissed off) and just said, “no!”
We’ll have the talk again tomorrow. LOL
But I did apologize to him for my part in our argument, and asked him if we could make up with a kiss and hug. 🙂
We read a few books, at which time he stood up and said, “Knock knock! Who’s there! PIZZA MAN!” LOL Not sure where he got that one…….. HAHAHAHA
Then we called it a night. As soon as we cuddled up together, he was out like a light.
Parenting…..always something to learn!
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