Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Freeze-Out Week at WME *

The boys played hockey Sunday morning (7:15am, oh Lordy) to win 2-1 after an exciting game! We came home to a second breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and fruit before drifting in to a bit of Sunday afternoon stupor around 10am. At noon, we regrouped and decided that Chris and the kids would come to my hockey game later, an away game but not very far from where we live. We agreed on the time we would leave and then went back to assorted fun.

Thirty minutes before our set departure, I called half-hour and reminded everyone to be ready (bathroom, shoes, jackets, book for the car, etc.) to go at 3:15pm. Fifteen minutes later, Lars was sitting in front of his computer, wearing his shoes, parka and hat, determined to play his game until the last possible second. Ross was exactly where he had been and when I offered a gentle reminder to get ready, he said, "Oh, I'm not going. I'll call Ryan and go to his house."

"No, you may not invite yourself over to a friend's house. Get your shoes and coat, we're leaving in thirteen minutes." Ross turned off the xBox and stood up, which seemed like a good sign until his face went purple and he burst into shouts.

"I'M NOT GOING AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO," he raged. He stormed around, mainly for his own benefit as Chris and Lars were playing computer games and I was packing my things, for the next ten minutes. At the two-minutes-to-go mark, Lars went to the bathroom and Chris brought my things out to the car. I collected Ross, still writhing, hooking him under one leg and the opposing arm, grabbing his jacket off the chair as we headed to the door. I carried him out to the car, dumped him in, and shut the door. [Begin full-scale temper tantrum here. Not pretty.]

Chris headed back toward the house, intending to get boots for Ross but I called him off. "But we're going to an ICE rink," Chris said, "His feet will be cold!"

"Oh, I hope so! I put his jacket in there with him and we'll carry him from the car to the bleachers. He can stick his feet in my shoes while I'm on the ice, for warmth, but he'll just have to stay wherever we put him - they'll be too big for him to walk around in." Chris got into the car somewhat reluctantly and off we went.

Ross fussed the whole way to the rink, about 40 minutes. Lars endured the ride with his hands over his ears. When we got there, Ross was carried in and deposited in a seat at the away end, near where my team would sit. Lars got to come to the dressing room to get my shoes and to be adored by my teammates, who are mostly all moms and suckers for adorable blond boys who won their Mites game that morning. When Lars went away with my shoes, I got more than a few strange looks, so I explained why Ross was shoeless in the stands. Oooooh - you've never seen more snickering moms!

We skated hard for a shut-out win, 2-0. I got the first goal on a gorgeous breakaway, stealing the puck in the neutral zone and managing to keep it with me long enough to stun the goalie so I could wedge it into the net. My fans (all three of them, I might add) went wild!

In the car on the way home, I wondered aloud how many times the boys would be caught under-prepared before they would figure out that Chris and I mean business and that we will get our way? Ross piped up, "Well, it's happened to me TWO times already and I STILL haven't learned!"



* For more frozen toes, be sure to check Emmay's post!

6 comments:

Lady Epiphany said...

Well, they were warned. And Lars, although the big little brother at 2 years younger seems to have "gotten it".

I am feeling generous today. I'm awarding 2 WMP:

- a point for calling off the boots, because I think I would've still squirreled them into the car

- a half point for carrying the tantruming Ross by an elbow and a knee to the car

- a half point for a locker room full of moms snickering at your shoeless wonder

Ginger Johnson said...

I can't give you a point for the boots because
A. I did the same thing to my three-year old and
B. I made him WALK through the parking lot shoe-less (granted, it wasn't winter)

BUT
I will give you one point for carrying the tantruming Ross to the car and one point for sticking to your guns.

GO KAREN!

Kids Special Needs said...

That is hilarious.

Poor Lars, having to listen to that in the car ;o(

Keep up the good work ;o)

emmay said...

Well deserved points!!

Chaotic Joy said...

The last line of this is what made me laugh out loud. An obvious challenge issued by Ross. This should be very entertaining. I'll pop some popcorn.

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I try SOOOOOOOOOOOO hard not to give advice...esp. from the WME Mom, since if you take it, you might not earn as many points, but 9 is a might old for 3-year-old temper tantrums, so may I remind you of a technique that appears to have worked well with you? When a child acts a particular age, that child is telling you that he or she missed some important something (activities, loving, parenting, developmental milestones) that he or she truly needs before he or she can move on. Thus, I would explain carefully and lovingly to Ross that you care SO much that you want him to have all the time he needs to work through being three. then I would see to it that he gets THREE... Blue's Clue's and Dora only on T.v. No electronic games. No answering the telephone, going to friends' houses, or playing hockey. Read him bedtime stories, but make sure bedtime is no later than 7:30 p.m. for three. On weekends, include a nap... that's definitely 3. Explain that he can let you know when he thinks he's ready to move on to 4. I'm betting he won't want 3 for 9... if you're patient, it does work (look..you're all grown up)