J and I had a wonderful weekend. We drove down to Missouri on Friday to visit family / see his dad. Despite J puking twice on the way down, all over his carseat and himself, then again while we were sleeping, it was a marvelous trip. He was happy and up beat all of Friday, even with the puking. The only negative was at the very end when I accidently squished his toe in the car door. It wasn't bad. It was red for ten minutes.
We spent Saturday with my family, went to the park and had lunch with my cousin and his two toddlers, J was even a good boy at a Church service remembering my grandparents Saturday afternoon. After Church, we drove the back roads to his father's work. He works in a farm supply/hardware store. We were early so we walked around a bit. Dealing with his dad was even a nice encounter. I headed back to my grandparent's house, took myself out to dinner, watched a sunset, and listened to audiobooks I had downloaded. It was a beautiful Saturday.
Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day in Southeast Missouri. Sun shining, a few random clouds, seventy degrees. I woke up early, worked out, went for a walk to Main St. in their small town, then went to a Church lunch my aunt was working at. After the lunch, my aunt and I went shopping. She has two sons, a husband, and two grandsons, so she needs girl time every once in a while. We got back from shopping, I packed up my stuff, went through some of my grandparent's stuff that was boxed up. I picked out some books I wanted to keep, and learned my grandparents were apparently VERY into bird watching, who knew?! hahaha I went to sleep early. It was another beautiful day.
Monday started great. I woke up early and met J and his dad back at his work. I was early, J seemed happy, his dad was decent, "This is going to be a nice 7 hour drive home," I thought to myself. After about a half hour of driving, J fell asleep for about 45 minutes. Again, I thought this is going to be one of our best trips back ever.
For the next six hours, we had the same conversation 12 times an hour, for six hours.
J: Mommy?
Me: Yes?
J: Are we home yet?
Me: No
J: -crying hysterically, out of nowhere- OMG WE'RE LOST! WE'RE NEVER GOING TO GET HOME!
Me: I promise you we are not lost
J: Mommy?
Me: Yes?
J: Can I watch on your phone?
Me: No. It's not working
J: -crying hysterically- OMG MY TOE HURTS! YOU SMASHED IN THE DOOR! YOU ARE THE WORST MOMMY! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!
In between these discussions, he'd throw shit at me or kick my seat, and he'd get a time out. We've been doing 1-2-3-Magic program for discipline, and it's been going great. How the hell are you supposed to give a 4 year old a time out while you're driving down the highway? Seriously, I'm open for ideas. I ended up pulling over every time, taking whatever toys he had found, turning off music, and ignore him for four minutes.
While ignoring him for four minutes helped, by the time we got home I was spent. I don't remember what I had done to piss him off at that point, but in our first 20 minutes home, he spent 15 in timeout. I did something else, Lord knows what, and he told me, "You're a mean mommy. You're not listening. You need a timeout!" I. WAS. LIVID.
To keep both of us safe, I said ok. I turned on the alarm and went in my room for 28 minutes. I told him he couldn't talk to me while I was up there. IT WAS AMAZING!
I think every toddler mom should make a regular "mommy time out" part of their routine. The kids will survive, you will keep your sanity, it's really a win-win. After my nap, he said sorry for not listening, I said sorry for yelling, and we watched a movie together.
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