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psocopteraMidweek replacement muffins (applesauce, brown sugar) were deemed acceptable by both children.
I took Q to an indoor playground today ("Jam Time" out in Maynard, related to a plan to try to get him to nap by driving more) and he had a blast. So much so, unfortunately, that he threw a major tantrum when we needed to leave. Which I would have rolled with, except that while I was carrying him and he was thrashing and screaming, he slammed his head into my jaw again. He's done this a few times before and I HATE it. I have some ongoing TMJ problems that I can mostly manage by not doing things that bother it but when he knocks my jaw it's just this giant flare of pain in the side of my face, and it's a scary pain because it means I have no idea whether it'll hurt to chew for the rest of the day or *more* than a day or what. (Yes, he has hit my jaw hard enough before that it still felt tender and not-quite-right more than a day later.) It was mortifying at the time - I shouted "oh fuck" in front of a roomful of toddlers, more or less dropped Q, fell to my knees clutching my jaw, and was nearly in tears while I cautiously opened and closed to make sure I still could. And, just, ugh. This is not an acceptable risk to me. I mean, I feel like I actually *cannot take Q to fun places* if he's going to be so upset to leave that he throws tantrums that have this real risk of injuring me. Maybe the answer is that I need to toughen up and learn how to take a punch already, but I've *never* been good with sudden injury, and *especially* this sort of thing where it's not just pain, I'm possibly actually damaged somehow. Josh is always just like "you need to get better at wrestling! why can't you just always remember to hold and carry Q in ways that he can't hurt you!" but, like, it is hard to always remember that, and I'm just not very strong, I can't actually pick him up while he's struggling and kicking and hold him at arm's length where he can't hurt me, I have to have him in close to my body to carry him at all, and, UGH. Maybe we'll just never leave the house again.
(For the record: I told him at 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 1 minute that we were going to be leaving, and reminded him at 3 minutes to think about doing a last thing. I did forget to say "bye-bye playground" so I didn't execute the ritual quite right, and there was also some weirdness of having to go out the back to go to the bathrooms and then come back through past all the temptations to get to the shoes. But I feel like transitions have been really hard a lot lately, and, ugh, toddlers are HARD.)
Jam Time is $10 for kids, free for parents, free parking. They have some nifty wooden playground structures (ladders, slides, a bridge section with a clear plastic floor, various tunnels and doors), a small ball pit, a variety of pushtoys and riding toys, a train table, a playhouse and kitchen, a dollhouse and dolls, an area with tables for snacks, and a bouncy castle. They said Wednesday was their busiest day but there was enough stuff there that it didn't seem overcrowded. Oh, they had a tiny air hockey table and Q played his first game of air hockey with me! (By which I mean, he gently swiped the puck into his own goal several times and then wandered off.) Possibly the biggest negative (other than being half an hour out on Rt 2) is that parents have to take off their shoes too, and my feet got tired.
I took Q to an indoor playground today ("Jam Time" out in Maynard, related to a plan to try to get him to nap by driving more) and he had a blast. So much so, unfortunately, that he threw a major tantrum when we needed to leave. Which I would have rolled with, except that while I was carrying him and he was thrashing and screaming, he slammed his head into my jaw again. He's done this a few times before and I HATE it. I have some ongoing TMJ problems that I can mostly manage by not doing things that bother it but when he knocks my jaw it's just this giant flare of pain in the side of my face, and it's a scary pain because it means I have no idea whether it'll hurt to chew for the rest of the day or *more* than a day or what. (Yes, he has hit my jaw hard enough before that it still felt tender and not-quite-right more than a day later.) It was mortifying at the time - I shouted "oh fuck" in front of a roomful of toddlers, more or less dropped Q, fell to my knees clutching my jaw, and was nearly in tears while I cautiously opened and closed to make sure I still could. And, just, ugh. This is not an acceptable risk to me. I mean, I feel like I actually *cannot take Q to fun places* if he's going to be so upset to leave that he throws tantrums that have this real risk of injuring me. Maybe the answer is that I need to toughen up and learn how to take a punch already, but I've *never* been good with sudden injury, and *especially* this sort of thing where it's not just pain, I'm possibly actually damaged somehow. Josh is always just like "you need to get better at wrestling! why can't you just always remember to hold and carry Q in ways that he can't hurt you!" but, like, it is hard to always remember that, and I'm just not very strong, I can't actually pick him up while he's struggling and kicking and hold him at arm's length where he can't hurt me, I have to have him in close to my body to carry him at all, and, UGH. Maybe we'll just never leave the house again.
(For the record: I told him at 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 1 minute that we were going to be leaving, and reminded him at 3 minutes to think about doing a last thing. I did forget to say "bye-bye playground" so I didn't execute the ritual quite right, and there was also some weirdness of having to go out the back to go to the bathrooms and then come back through past all the temptations to get to the shoes. But I feel like transitions have been really hard a lot lately, and, ugh, toddlers are HARD.)
Jam Time is $10 for kids, free for parents, free parking. They have some nifty wooden playground structures (ladders, slides, a bridge section with a clear plastic floor, various tunnels and doors), a small ball pit, a variety of pushtoys and riding toys, a train table, a playhouse and kitchen, a dollhouse and dolls, an area with tables for snacks, and a bouncy castle. They said Wednesday was their busiest day but there was enough stuff there that it didn't seem overcrowded. Oh, they had a tiny air hockey table and Q played his first game of air hockey with me! (By which I mean, he gently swiped the puck into his own goal several times and then wandered off.) Possibly the biggest negative (other than being half an hour out on Rt 2) is that parents have to take off their shoes too, and my feet got tired.
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Date: 2014-01-16 05:24 am (UTC)(a) I feel like this sounds more unsympathetic and insensitive than I actually am. :^) I don't think it would be trivial for you to do this, in a "why can't you just" kind of way (which I hope I've never actually said); I mostly mention it by way of explain how *I* do it, I don't know if it would actually work for you.
(b) I have never had any sort of formal training in any sort of fighting art.
(c) Nevertheless, as to:
> but, like, it is hard to always remember that, and I'm just not very strong, I can't actually pick him up while he's struggling and kicking and hold him at arm's length where he can't hurt me, I have to have him in close to my body to carry him at all
Wrestling (at least in this context) isn't so much about controlling distance, it'd about controlling his body, especially core stuff like his hips and shoulders. If you can hold him close to you *and* put his hips where you want them, he can't kick you, and if you can put his shoulders where you want them, he can't whack you with his head. It's still not a thing you could "just do", but I think it's something you could try to learn to do, if you decided you wanted to, if that distinction makes sense.
But, all that said, I also think that teaching him not to hurt you would be a pretty good solution too. :^P And it's a bummer that he's still doing that, and I'm sorry of I've sounded unsympathetic and insensitive about it. (hug)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-16 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-16 12:40 pm (UTC)I can't remember. Is Q old enough to be explained to BEFORE you go? A reminder that if he misbehaves on going, you can't go again. With M, at a little older, we talked before going in about acceptable behavior and what would happen at good-bye time, even involving him a little as to the time (10:20 or 10:30) and choices about how to go (one last swing or one last bounce).
But it does suck and I'm sorry. You already know it gets better but as every child is different, it gets better. Take care.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-18 03:51 am (UTC)Also, yeah, getting ready to go is difficult. We tend to go places before lunch and therefore come home for lunch, so I will often talk in a peppy voice about going home for yummy lunch, and what would he like to have, and oh, by the way, Bunny is waiting for us in the car, so we should go see Bunny. It mostly works.