Going to the Park

I used my thought of popping the anxious bubble only once today, some time in the morning when Nikko was being whiny about something. I visualized the bubble coming up a tube and then popping it. I made some "Pop, pop, pop!" noises too, to see if the kids would notice. No one did amid the whining. But it worked, I didn't lose my temper except once today. That happened around 2:10pm after I had put Ronin down for a nap (which he resisted again for possibly a half hour, but ended up sleeping for an hour. Yea!) and went to check on Audrey. I decided that since Denis was home we should take Nikko out to play while the weather was good. Unfortunately, Nikko had some kind of freak-out moment while I was checking on Audrey and it woke her up. I was pissed that she was crying when she should have been sleeping longer, and I could hear Ronin crying in his crib. I wanted Nikko to JUST WAIT so I could change, put on my socks and get him ready to go outside, but he couldn't just wait. He wanted me, and NOW. I was so frustrated and I barked at Denis to get Nikko's socks and shoes on. I wasn't mad at Denis, I was mad at Nikko for not being quiet. And Nikko just stood in the kitchen and howled away. Once I got him outside, I kneeled down and stopped to make sure he was calm (he was, now that we were outside) and I gave him some hugs so that he would see I wasn't mad at him. And off to the park at the school we went.

Nikko was very excited when we saw where we were headed. He even galloped a bit. There were many little kids at the park and a basketball game in progress. Nikko spent most of the time on the rampways of the climbing apparatus, but I managed to take him down on a few slides as well. He would run down the ramp into a cement clearing and start doing a little spin or a dance. He'd turn and sashay up the ramp again, or break into a full run. A mom with her daughter and husband nearby gave him a look and then said to me, "I always worry about the ones that run full speed. They never look where they are going." I don't remember if I said anything back to her, but I definitely held my tongue and didn't apologize for Nikko's running. I think she feared he would bump into her daughter, but I was always nearby and didn't want to tell her that Nikko was an expert at running full speed and not bumping into anything or anyone. I wanted to tell her that her daughter was more likely to bump into someone than Nikko, but I didn't even go there. After 40 minutes of fun, I had to haul Nikko back home and he protested the entire way. My coaxing of juice and cookies or any snack didn't work this time, and I had to carry him home. Thank God my back wasn't hurting, but my ankle took a beating today from running after/with Nikko. Nikko was pretty mad at home, but I sat with him on the couch in front of Hi-5 and he fell asleep for an hour.

We went to Fuddrucker's for Luisa's birthday/Tristan's confirmation celebration. I worried that Nikko wouldn't want to sit down like at Tita Marina's 60th party, and sure enough he got restless early in his high chair. But I gave him fries on top of his nuggets and for some reason he became the picture of goodness the entire time we were there. It was Audrey that had a bad crying spell, and then Ronin got antsy and wanted to wander around the joint. We got out in one piece, but the bedtime routine was a little skewed since Audrey had a late bottle. Nikko wanted to jump in the tub with Ronin, but it wasn't going to happen tonight. When we finally ended up in Nikko's room for stories, he seemed tired but he didn't fall asleep right away. After the prayers, I leaned in to kiss him good night and he looked at me and leaned forward as if to kiss me, again. :) Don't know if that's really what he intended to do, but I'll take it.