Let me start by saying this - whomever coined the phrase "terrible two's" clearly had not yet met a three-year old. RP had her moments during the "terrible two's," but I'd take those days over what I am coining the "temperamental three's." Yesterday is a perfect example of WHY.
I had been dying to take RP to the movie theater for her first official movie, so I was delighted to see that Disney had released a new Winnie the Pooh movie, which looked to be PERFECT for the occasion. We got ready and headed over to the theater, and after purchasing the pre-requisite movie theater snacks, we headed into the theater itself. It was already dark in there, and RP wasn't too keen on walking into a big, loud, dark room (they were already playing some of the previews when we got there) but she put on a brave face and went in. We found seats, I gave RP her M&M's, and we sat back to wait for the show to begin.
RP loved the movie and did a great job throughout. A couple of times she got antsy and wanted to sit on my lap, and she made a few comments out loud, but for the most part she really couldn't have been better behaved. When the show was over, we left and I asked RP if she was okay with me heading into one of the department stores (the movie theater is attached to the mall) and she was actually excited about being out and about and getting to walk through the mall.
Along the way we came across a play area that has the little motorized cars that you can sit in and they rock back and forth. I dug three quarters out of my purse (highway robbery in my opinion, but oh well!) and RP proceeded to enjoy her ride in the large pink ice cream truck vehicle she had chosen to check out. After the ride was over she naturally wanted to do it again, and I promised that if she was a good girl in the store we could ride it again when we came out.
Needless to say, RP was NOT a very happy camper about this, and proceeded to let me know throughout the entire store. She tugged on her monkey, whined about stopping to look at stuff, and asked me repeatedly if she could go on the car now. Ugh. When we didn't leave right away she started to cry, and I could see a major temper tantrum brewing and tried to cut it off at the pass, but no matter what I said it seemed to only add fuel to the fire and she soon erupted into full fledged crying, screaming, and stomping her feet. Threats that if she kept it up there would be no car didn't work as she was too worked up to listen, so I picked her up and proceeded to carry her through the store, her screams and cries getting louder and louder.
When we walked past the cars that she was so desperate to ride again she literally started to claw at my shoulder, kick and produce blood-curdling screams at the top of her lungs, letting everyone in the mall KNOW that she was mad and wanted to ride the cars. Thank god I was carrying her because I have no doubt she would have ripped the monkey backpack off her back in an effort to get back to the cars, but I was none too happy about the display she was putting on, especially since she was kicking me and literally screaming in my face.
That walk out of the mall was the longest of my life, but we finally made it outside, where RP declared that we were NOT going bye-bye and that she was riding the cars. Yeah, that didn't happen and she walked to the car (by this point I had to put her down - my arms were killing me from hanging on to her during her tantrum and I was afraid I'd drop her) crying and begging me to go back inside. This lasted all the way home - yes, all the way home in the car, which was also the longest car ride I've ever taken - until I put her in bed, removed every toy and book from her vicinity, and let her know that she needed to take a nap and reset herself before there were more consequences than losing toys and books from her bed. Thank GOD she woke up in a much better mood, but still having some issues with the day.
The kicker of the entire day? When my beautiful little girl, who had to be reminded several times during dinner what it meant to be a good girl at the dinner table, looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why you so grumpy today?" Really, RP" Really? **sigh**
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