New York Day

Note: I started this post on March 26...finishing it today, April 8. But in reading this post, I can happily report, things are much better!

We have been back in NYC for 3 days after 10+ days in Michigan. Max gets incredibly spoiled in Michigan as many relatives are around and he has a line of folks to ask for items after mommy and/or daddy have already said no and many times he gets a YES! Being back in NYC has been a bit disturbing for both Max and I. In NYC there is much more discipline as there is no one here to ask for something after a no from mommy or daddy. He is revolting right now and has been slightly abusive to me with lots of hitting, hair pulling, pinching and attempts to scratch. He isn't selective either...this happens in public too as well as private. I recognize that he is displaying his dissatisfaction with boundaries, but knowing I'm doing the right thing in maintaining consistency is quite different from how I feel when he rips my hair out of my head before I can get his hands under control.

Today was finally a pretty good day after a tantrum picking him up from the gym child care. He loves the play area at the gym as it has an elaborate train set that he spent the entire time playing. When I tried to guide him out of the child center a throw on the ground screaming and crying fit ensued. When I picked him up off the ground he was flailing, hitting, pulling my hair, screaming upset. It took me about 20 minutes to calm him down and get him completely out of the building. The day prior he cried and screamed the entire 20 minute walk home. People on the street were giving me the "look"...many were sympathetic and others were "what have you done to your kid".

Ahhhh, the joys of parenting with so much input both verbal and non-verbal to make you feel so great about what you must do to attempt to raise a child...this was meant as complete sarcasm in case it didn't come clear through the writing!

After the tantrum today, we started our walk home. But, we couldn't go home yet as we had repair folks in the apartment and I didn't want Max messing around with their stuff. Instead, we went to Rigoletto for pizza...which is one of my favorite NYC pizza joints. Then we went to Magnolia Bakery for a cupcake...he was fantastic at lunch. He picked out his treat, a red velvet cupcake, which would not have been my preference, but hey, it was HIS treat not mine, right? He also had to have a "happy birthday mama" happy face for an astronomical 50 cents. Now I sound quite frugal in saying that something that cost me 50 cents is astronomical, but when you see what it is, it is highway robbery...but I still bought it for Max...a green happy face for his cupcake. We sat down and he dug right in. After eating half of his cupcake he decided it was time for the potty. He went into the bathroom and kicked me out...all the germs, scary...but I gave in and let him have his privacy. When I re-entered to help him wash his hands and such, he was fixated on the vase of magnolia flowers in the bathroom. He started picking the flowers out of the vase one by one...very gently...one for Max, one for Mama, one for Daddy, and one for Ursula (his second cousin who he had been excited to see since we were back in NYC). I explained to him that we could not steal the flowers from the bathroom, despite his very sweet intentions of passing most of them along to his favorite people.

We left the bakery and proceeded on our route home...walking. The normal 15 minute walk home at a regular adult pace took us over an hour at the Max pace...he has a ritual on each of the cellar grates he sees on the sidewalk..."3, 2, 1 JUMP!" At least three times on each grate and the grates are about 10-20 feet apart depending on the businesses. I let him have his entertainment. As we passed one of the bodega's (NYC speak for convenience store) he saw the display of flowers and decided he must get some for Mommy...how sweet. Papa gets Mommy flowers fairly regularly and usually brings Max to pick them so he has learned that Mommy likes her flowers and insisted on a flower purchase to which I happily complied.

I'm making this post sooo long, but the day was great...after arriving home I put him down (reluctantly for Max) for a quick nap before Super Soccer Stars class at Kidville. A really nice day!