One of Those Days

Are you having one? I am. It started at 6:45 a.m. Colson woke up early, crying. By 7:20 we were playing with playdough; not my first choice for an early-morning activity, but apparently someone smaller was today's activity director. In my mind, I knew if I could just make it to 10 a.m. I would be okay, because we were headed to Pump It Up. Fast forward - in Pump It Up, having a blast. I was helping a friend's child when I hear a mom telling her child "it's okay." I look over and realize that Colson had hit her girl. I could not rush over because then the friend's child might fall, so I waited until he was safe and then grabbed Colson. Back to helping the other child, and Colson hits another girl. Both girls were sitting in the "P" (in Arena A), which is where he thought he should be. The mom of the first victim gave me the look. Do you know what I'm talking about? The look that conveys,"How can you let your child do that? How are you such a horrible mother that your child would even think to put his hands on another, innocent child? Should your child really be in a public place with other children?" To which I wanted to say,"My son is normally quite loving. He's been up since 6:45 a.m. and is not his normal self. I'm sure your beautiful angel also has moments when she is a terror, and I would love nothing more than to be there to witness one and give you "the look" right back." Instead, I took Colson out and sat with him on the bench. When he signed "yes" he was ready to be kind, we tried again. In the bounce house, laughing and having fun, telling his friends to "come on" and jump with him, I figured all was well again. Wrong! A boy came in, was jumping for a few minutes with no problem. Then Colson gets the look in his eye and smacks the boy on the forehead while he's lying down. That was it - I apologized to the boy and took Colson to the car. I know in the grand scheme of things it's small, and he will have these days. But isn't it so frustrating that your child's actions reflect directly on you, even though he has a will and a mind of his own? I know that I need to train him now to reap the benefits later on, but being the people-pleaser that I am, I can't stand it when someone who doesn't know me judges me. It just makes me want to judge and critique them right back. Ah, the human in me rears its ugly head yet again. Thanks for letting me vent, and thanks to Dawn and Elisabeth, who let their kids play with my guy even after witnessing the smackdowns. Tomorrow's another day!