Whining @ Jewel

We stayed at home most of the day. Audrey had three liquidy diapers during the day, and Ronin didn't have any #2's during the day, but had 3 marathon liquidy diapers in the last half hour before bedtime. I REALLY hope this starts to taper off tomorrow.

We needed to go to the grocery so we packed the kids in the car around 5p to go to Jewel. Since it was going to be a relatively quick jaunt, I didn't pack the food bag or bring any toys along. Denis wanted to drive by a park district to check out the amenities so we headed toward the park before going to the grocery. It was dreary and raining outside so we didn't get out of the car. Nikko started to get whiny and I wondered if it was because he saw me put a lollipop I found in the car into my purse, but his whines were escalating and I wondered if he had wanted to go play in the playgrounds instead. Nikko was whining and screaming pretty badly. Audrey took it well sitting next to him, not minding his thrashing and hands flailing, but when Nikko hit her in the face with a DVD cover in his hand, she erupted in screams and the party was over to her. We got to the grocery and Nikko stopped crying momentarily because he was walking to the store and he was curious. Once inside I saw a rubber toy crocodile sitting on a display so I handed it to Nikko and he seemed to enjoy carrying it for a while. As I walked up and down the aisles, splitting the list with Denis, Nikko was getting whiny again. He started dragging down my purse, wanting to look inside. I tried to show him that there wasn't any food in my purse, and then he caught a glimpse of my black wallet. That turned his focus on to getting my Costco card out, and I cursed myself for not bringing Nikko's own Costco card along. Of course I lost that war and surrendered my card so he would be calmer. We met up with Denis again and checked out. I really don't understand what's going on in Nikko's head lately. And I really don't like this new phase of whining and screaming he's entered. It's definitely a communication barrier that will improve when his speech and overall communication skills improve. But it also seems to be these basic wants he has regarding fruit snacks or another coveted object, which fuel his whining when he doesn't get them right away. The word WAIT is not in his vocabulary. When he hears the word Wait, or Stop, they are triggers for him to scream louder and thrash around even more. I am exhausted trying to correct and/or redirect this boy. I would really like to get back to a place where his personality shines instead of this whining.

I have another eye appointment tomorrow at 10a and Atz said she can come over to watch the kids because her daughter has a field trip in the morning. I didn't refuse, but do feel badly because she will have to sit here while Nikko goes ballistic. She knows what to expect, and yet I feel very guilty about it. I do realize, though, that I am probably doing Nikko a disservice if I don't expose him to different people. If he's always around just me, then he will not learn to transition around different people. I'm telling myself that. Now I have to go on and believe it!!