E's First Full-Blown Tantrum!

It had been about 4 years since I've been in the gym (Zach and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary... coincidence? Probably not.) but I'm back, feelin' the burn and loving it! Sort of. The workouts are great but leaving Ellery in child care while tears are streaming down her face, heartbreaking. The first day was fabulous. She saw all of the toys, turned around and said "bye mommy!" and off I went. The next day the tears started and it's gotten worse. Way worse. She'll think of any reason not to go in, from asking to see Nola, needing water, saying her clean diaper is dirty to even putting herself into a voluntary timeout. The girls that work at the YMCA are very sweet and always try to distract her with activities. There's art projects, games, puppets, a Dora house, books galore, a train table and more but each time I come back to get her she's sitting in the same corner saying "wait mommy." Really heartbreaking. I thought I had this great idea to bring cousin Jordan along to show Ellery all of the cool stuff to do but no such luck. She still cries when we pull up and still sits in the same corner saying "wait mommy." Ugh. I know it will get better and I keep telling myself it's only 1 hour and this is a good introduction to having to leave her at preschool for 4 but it doesn't make it any easier rounding that corner and hearing "Nooooo Y!!!" Beck on the other hand is too young to care. As long as his belly is full, his diaper is not and he's got a swing to sit in, he's a happy camper. He is such a good baby.

Today took the cake. I told her we were going to the Y and she turned into a little monster. She fought me while putting her shoes on (thank God for velcro!) then she said she wanted to go to sleep, then she laid on the kitchen floor and screamed. I was putting Beck in the car and she lost it because she realized that it really was happening. I peeled her off the kitchen floor, tried to avoid the flailing feet and arms and finally got her buckled. She was thinking of everything she could to stall the inevitable. Here's a few of the things she screamed on the way there... "feed Nola!"... "this way!" (pointing in the opposite direction of the Y) and when I made that dreaded left hand turn and passed the gas station... "mama gas! mama gas!"... and when we passed the BMX bike track "dirt!" She was clinging to anything that she saw out her window. Her entire face, neck and shirt were wet from tears and snot. And when I tried to get her out of the car she kicked the seat in front of her and held onto her car seat buckles. I placed her on the ground and she collapsed into dead weight refusing to walk. At the house I was thinking "oh she's going to have to get over it" to, "is it really worth it to get an hour workout in for all of this?" to, "oh no you didn't. now you've gone and really pissed me off. NOW YOU'RE DEFINITELY GOING!!" I had Beck in one arm and used my other to yank her off the pavement and when she wouldn't stop kicking I drug her by the arm (not my proudest parenting moment but I think we've all had one or two) and we went in. As soon as the doors opened, all of the heads turned to see what the commotion was. I have to say it felt really good to hand her over at that moment. As I walked away part of me was laughing because of how ridiculous the last 45 minutes had been. I climbed onto the eliptical and 15 minutes later saw the dreaded blue shirt with the words "child watch" printed on it coming my way. Well crap. Well, crap was right... Beck had a blowout and they needed me to come change him. If it aint one it's the other! I was able to change him and sneak out without Ellery catching sight of me and wouldn't you know it, when I came to pick them up she had a smile on her face and they said she did great. She even got a sticker for how well she did. So maybe we're getting somewhere.