Today I was "That Mom"

Today I was "that mom." You know, the one with a baby on her hip and the toddler running around like crazy. The mom with the kid that's crying for food or a toy. The mom with two kids that are just screaming their lungs off. The mom that looks beaten down by life and is just trying to keep it together. The mom that bribes her kids with juice and food so, they'll give her a minute of peace.

Today that was me.

First, we had to drive over an hour to get to a doctor's appointment that I had. When we got there C was going nuts. He ran around the office and was drawing on everything he could, including the poster on the wall. Luckily, the staff was super nice but, I could tell by the end of the visit it was getting to them. I tried redirection, I tried talking calmly, I tried holding him. I tried everything I could think of without bribing him. Finally, I broke down and gave him some crackers. That held him for 5 minutes. Then we moved on to raisins. After that, he just kept crying until I gave him more crackers.

And of course he didn't eat his lunch an hour later.

Luckily, after we got home and took a nap he got to run around outside and burn off some energy. But, it started all over at dinner time. He refused to eat his dinner and sat at the table and cried. This time I explained to him that if he didn't eat his dinner he wasn't going to get any other food. He was fine with that and went to play.

What has happened to my sweet little boy?!