So, after my last post about Drew and his struggles with not being the baby anymore, things have been going really well for him. It was as if that one day was all he needed to confirm that he was indeed not the baby and it was going to be okay.
Now that we have figured that one out Drew has been trying to decide if having a little brother gives him any wiggle room. Does Mom really have the ability to enforce the rules? The answer is a resounding yes.
After loosing his plasma car privilege last week I thought we had seen the worst of his "world-ending" experiences. Last week's melt down was the tip of the ice burg. Drew just earned back the plasma car yesterday. But while we were on our walk yesterday he claimed that he was too tired to ride the car all the way home and I ended up carrying it the last 2 blocks. I warned him that if he was not able to ride the car for our entire walk it would not be available for walks anymore. But today he assured me that he wanted to ride the plasma car again and would be able to ride it the whole way without help.
I saw this one coming a mile away, so I stopped him at our front door and got down to make eye contact with him and told him, "I will not be carrying your car today. If we leave the house with you riding the car you have to be responsible for getting it home." He was sure and promised I would not need to assist him this time.
But low-and-behold at the exact mid point of our walk he decided to get off the car. At first he did not ask me to carry it. He just said he was going to "pick it up on the way back." But when I told him we were not coming back that way he realized I was actually going to leave the car there. This is where things got interesting. I could tell this was all a big test so I stuck to my guns. Things started falling apart fast. So I quickly told him if he could not make a good choice we would turn around and go straight home the way we came. I know his little three-year-old mind was thinking "we are on a walk, far from home, you are carrying the baby and walking the dog, I don't think you can make me." So he bolted in the other direction. He was quite surprised that I was able to grab his little hand, scoot the plasma car off the sidewalk into some bushes and begin marching his little body home.
To say he had a melt down would be an understatement. He came completely unglued. So much so that I knew we needed damage control. So I parked his little bottom on a short retaining wall and calmly told him he needed to listen very carefully. We were going straight home and his choices were gone. The only choice left was whether he was going to walk on his own or I was going to hold his hand. He chose by not choosing so I got to "walk" him home holding his hand. Fortunately for me God saw fit to make parents bigger and stronger during the teaching years so it was not difficult even with Jay and Bella.
Once we got home we managed to work through the tantrum and come to an understanding that mama still means business even though there is another baby in the house (or in mom's arms). Drew's car is "grounded" in the garage (no I didn't leave it in the neighbor's bushes forever) and Drew is back to walking on our afternoon outing. Despite the biggest meltdown I have ever seen from one of my own children, we were able to patch things up and even read stories together before nap time with happy snuggles.
Sigh. Another battle strategically won by the Mama. Some we pick, some we let go in order to win the war. This battle was a must-win.
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