I know, it's a bit harsh, right? But every time I have Mac under control, he comes along with his stupid truck and it's instant tantrum. Let me contextualize this by saying that approximately 50% of our time is spent in a tantrum, 10% of our time is gearing up for a tantrum, and 20% of our time is spent recovering from a tantrum. So that leaves us a full 20% of peaceful time. And when we hit our state of zen, I don't want it interrupted.
Yesterday, I took the kids to the park. As soon as we pulled up, I saw the truck. There was nowhere to go but out of the car, so I parked as far away as I could and started to get the kids out of the car. But Mac's sugar sensor was on high alert, and she ID'd the truck right away. I cringed as she pointed it out. She was soo cute about it, too. She gets really excited when she hears the truck music. Now let me say that we had already had ice cream with lunch not thirty minutes earlier, so there was no way I was letting her get ice cream. Mean..maybe? But in taking stock of Mac's eating habits, I recently realized that she can log upwards of 2 or even 3 ice cream treats in one day if she spends different parts of the day with different family members. Each of us gives her a treat unaware that the other already did so. As a result, I'm really trying to make sure that her snack intake becomes more reasonable. Two ice creams in less than an hour does not constitute "reasonable."
Of course, this means nothing to Mac. As soon as I said no to the ice cream, the tears started. Don't get me wrong, I felt bad, but I wasn't going to budge on this. So she cried, told me she was mad at me, pointed out the truck a million times as it sat there for a ridiculously long amount of time. But finally the truck left and we were able to concentrate on playing.
Not an hour later that stupid truck came back. Talk about a mental head slap - I silently cursed him and prayed that Mac somehow wouldn't hear him. No such luck. She may not hear me talk when I am two feet away from her, but she could hear the truck from across the park. Seriously, why did he need to come back so soon. I take it personally, like they are trying to trap parents into buying treats by creating mass hysteria among all of the children. They figure that nobody can say no. Well, I can!
