Wish I had a picture of it

Yesterday was a major meltdown day for Brock. It started in the morning when we dropped off Wesley at school. Brock cried so loud and screamed for his brother, you could have sworn I was sawing off his arm with a dull knife. It was brutal. This meltdown continued in the preschool parking lot where he refused to get out of his car seat and rebuckled himself in. I locked him in the car, grabbed Lynzy and signed him in at school. I also warned the teachers he was in a mood. By the time I got back to the car, he was calm and ready to play at school. Public meltdown scene was avoided...until the afternoon.

Second meltdown occurred at Wal-Mart (I'm almost positive that they are used to this kind of thing.) Brock wanted to walk rather than ride in the cart. So I let him, until he walked down an aisle where I couldn't see him. Back in the cart he went and then the screaming started. And the throwing out of items from the cart to the floor of the store. And the attempts to get out of the cart and "WALK!!!" "WALK!!!" (That was his mantra throughout the store.) We promptly went to the checkout (I was not about to let a 3 year old dictate that I ditch my cart and leave the store.) and for the first time in all of my Wal-Mart shopping experiences, there was an empty checkout just waiting for me and my screaming 3 year old who was now being held by his mommy so he didn't escape. We get out of the store and into the car. Where he fights me on buckling his car seat. That takes about 10 minutes as well as a pull over to relatch it after he has unbuckled it. We finally get home and he again refuses to get out of the car. I unload the car, Lynzy and head to the house. I checked on him 2 minutes later and this is where I wish I had my camera, Brock climbed onto the dashboard, wedged himself between the windshield and the dash and closed his eyes. If I had left him alone, I think he would have slept there. After all the tension in the last 1/2 hour, he made me laugh. I even called our neighbors to come look at my crazy son. They laughed too.

Finally, Brock came out of the car with help from our nice neighbor who didn't feel like wringing his neck like his mom did and we made it to the house. He was still uncooperative and finally I stuck him in the shower to mellow him out. It worked and finally he went down for a nap. Sleep deprivation and Brock do not mix at all.

I was proud of myself for not losing my temper with him even though he would have deserved it. I didn't pull the screaming banshee in the store which deep inside I felt like screaming. And when he finally calmed down and snuggled with me in his bed, I was happy that even when he is crabby, he still loves me and I still love him. Raising kids is hard.