The Perfect Day... Until It Wasn't

Katie R.

This is the last weekend we don’t have plans before the New Year so we decided to get things done around the house, run errands, etc.  I originally wanted to go to Boston, but Joe reminded me that these ideas are always better in theory and I am sure he was right.

So we woke up the normal time and Joe worked on getting some trim done before we divided and conquered.  Joe and Wes went to the dump, Panera and home for a nap.  Andrew and I went everywhere.

With a 3 year old, especially my 3 year old, running errands is always questionable.  Physically he’s able to handle it; it’s the mental part that is the unknown.  First we went to a holiday bazaar close to our home.  It’s very small but we like to support the local churches, schools, businesses as much as possible so we stopped by. I found 2 necklaces, Andrew found a gift for his grandmas, he chose an ornament for “me-self”, a pumpkin whoopie pie, a US states game, a puzzle and then we scored the motherload, the Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus from Rudolph.  And our grand total for all of this $9. 

 

Santa and Mrs. Claus

In good spirits we headed to JCPennys to look for some curtains.  Fail.  Andrew was fine we just didn’t see any we liked.  Next we were off to Quechee for some Christmas gift shopping and lunch.  We were there for over 2 hours and Andrew was perfect.  Yes, you heard me correctly, I couldn’t believe he was my child.  He listened to everything I said, sat and ate his lunch like an angel and we shopped for hours.  We made one more stop on the way home which again took over an hour and again he was great.

Riding an "antique" Chuckie Cheese ride in Quechee.  Pretty sure it could fall apart at any minute

We got home to a sleeping Wes and Joe took Andrew out to play and on a walk.  I was on the phone with my mom saying how great Andrew was and Wes was being really good too.  A few minutes after they got home we told Andrew we weren’t going back outside and he lost his freakin’ mind. 

For the next 2 hours, which were the longest 2 hours ever, he would be ok for about 5 minutes and then would throw a fit for the next 10 minutes.  Dinner was whatever we could throw together because both kids were cranky.  Finally he took a shower, had a glass of water and was in bed by 6:45.  I went in at 7 to tell him to turn out the light and give him one last kiss and he was asleep with the light on… with Santa and Mrs. Claus tucked in his arms of course.

So I guess I will take 10 hours of a great Andrew followed by 2 hours of a the not-so-great Andrew.  Or next time we just put him to bed at 5!