22 April 2008

In the Category of "Not the Smartest Thing I've Ever Done"

Riley had a total meltdown this morning as we were on our way out the door to daycare. I proceeded to also have a meltdown and really yelled for the first time in a while.

As I was holding him on my lap on the floor, rocking back and forth asking, "Little man, what can Mama do to help you?" I thought about the fact that in the hubbub of the morning, I had stupidly decided that the twins could wait to have breakfast at school and I could wait until I got to work.

Bad plan. DUH.

The following conversation ensued:

"Ri-Man, are you hungry?"
"YES! YES!" [sob, sniffle] "YES! CRACKER! OATMEAL! ORANGE!" [sniffle, snuffle, sob]

I had packed the twins oatmeal to have at school, but clearly a stop-gap measure was needed. I got them each a cracker to eat in the car on the way to daycare, and things were much, much better.

Well, except for the fact that I yelled at about ten other drivers who were really not doing anything that bad because I could not wait to get to work and make my oatmeal. Or as the twins call it, oatmealoatmeal.

Lesson learned.

*****************************************
Happy Earth Day!
Happy twenty-two months, twins!
Go, Obama!

15 comments:

Angela said...

I can't count the number of times my children have had meltdowns because they needed food, it usually happens afterschool and on days when they played rather than actually ate their lunch. Sigh. Glad you figured it out and the kids calmed down, now if only those other annoying drivers would just get off the road, life would be perfect.

Anonymous said...

ditto...and I'm sure the drivers did something wrong, they were on the road right:) Forgive yourself today, big hugs!

lots of love,
lil'sis

culiex said...

I call that agenda anxiety....when you are more focused on getting the Next Thing done and out of the way at the expense of listening to what your
child(ren) want. Guilty on a daily basis.

Glad you found your pants, though I'm kind of bummed it was before you bought a new pair because I am a jeans whore and have more pairs than I know what to do with. And yes....GO OBAMA!!!!

Kelly Innes said...

I shout at drivers all the time, nothing to do with hunger....chocolate cake gets the best results, I find. Good for blowing off steam too!!

Julia said...

Awww.... poor kid. Glad the cracker did the trick.
And I am pretty sure those drivers all sucked. Cause you know I know the drivers you speak of.

Rachel said...

It's funny how often it is something simple, like not enough food or sleep, that sets everyone off. I have been there. Hugs all around.

laura jean 2 said...

Yep, that'll do it. You didn't HALT - Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. Everytime my kids are misbehaving or have a meltdown it seems they are hungry, angry, lonely or tired.

Anonymous said...

It seems to really be either food or sleep at least 75% of the time. They are so creatures of routine and consistency at this age...although, I guess to a smaller extent, so are we.

I hope the rest of your day is better!! And yes, GO OBAMA!

moo said...

It always seems to occur to me AFTER THE FACT that DUH, perhaps this child is hungry and that is why he is biting me in frustration.

*sigh* one day we'll get this parenting thing.

Anonymous said...

I know I have commented before that I have a little guy much like Ri-man...(he's still a little skittish but much better)...we finally realized that the root of many of his meltdowns was low blood sugar. In fact the other day he had a bad meltdown (and he's 7.5 years old) and I practically force fed him some o.j. (think Steel Magnolias) and he was better in literally 30 seconds. But you did the right thing - you sat down and asked - and I have to say he was pretty astute to know what he wanted.

BrooklynGirl said...

Kudos to you for figuring it out!

Annagrace said...

Obama!

OTRgirl said...

I'm laughing cause I can picture myself doing something similar. Somehow trying to be so efficient that it becomes a mistake!

Glad you figured it all out. I get horribly irritable when I need food. For the longest time when we were dating and first married, Jrex thought it was all in my head. Now he just gives me food. ;-)

Anonymous said...

13 year old girl. My husband is TERRIFIED of her when she is hungry. We halt everything and feed her. She also get's really testy when tired, sigh, she grew INTO it, not out of it! LOL

Mouthy Girl said...

I'm with you, Snick. Buddha is meltdown city these days. If he's hungry or the least bit tired at the time, it's like a freaking nuclear war.

Yelling? Yeah. Me. Lately. A lot. I hate it.

You're a problem-solver - that's for sure. Have cracker, will travel.