not again...

Some of you may know of the little temper tantrum that Finley had a couple of weeks ago. His big Tonka truck got stuck in the kitchen and when I tried to help and turn it around for him, he acted like his world was ending. He threw himself to the floor, put his head in his hands and cried like the situation was hopeless. Matthew and I were a little concerned at first, so Matthew walked into the kitchen and called Finley's name. He stopped crying, looked up and when Matthew asked him what was wrong, he threw his head back into his hands and started crying all over again. It was totally a fake cry, since he was able to stop himself when his name was called (he did this a few times), but it was still sad...and surprising. Finally, Matthew and I just laughed and walked away to let him finish his fit. He realized that no one was there to listen and he stopped and crawled to us. Well, this morning, he didn't want Matthew to leave for work. When the back door shut, Finley's world was turned upside down. He was standing at the coffee table and started jumping up and down crying. He still can't stand up on his own so whenever he would jump up he would also lose his balance. He would stop crying enough to catch himself, but then would go back to crying after he got his balance back. After making sure he was okay, I just walked away. It only took him 20 seconds or so to realize that nothing was going to happen when he pitched a fit and he stopped crying and crawled to me. I'm very afraid of what's going to happen when he can walk...and talk...and yell. I will no longer be able to just walk away. I'll have to run...and hide...with ear plugs!

Finley and I went to Steve and Melissa's house this morning to watch the girls while Steve and Melissa signed papers to sell their house. So, the girls and I decided to go on a walk. This poses a problem when there are two babies and not a double stroller. Anna (4 years old) assures me that she can push Finley in a little stroller that they have. He fit in it perfectly and she was able to show me that she could push him rather easily in their driveway. I later find out that driveways are much more different than a road. I put Meg (1-1/2 years old) in her stroller, Finley in the little stroller, got Anna her sandals and Allie (6 years old) her rollerblades. What a crew! We headed out of the garage, onto the driveway and coasted out into the road. What a delightful walk this was going to be. I told them that we would just go around the cul-de-sac first to try it out. I was most worried about Anna, but she was so excited to push Finley that she was concentrating and doing really well. So, we headed out on our little adventure. Allie took off on her rollerblades (I really thought she would just "walk" in her blades and not really be able to roll--boy was I wrong)! I had to yell for Allie to slow down and wait for us. Meanwhile, Anna and Finley were getting stuck about every 10 feet on the side of the road. Unlike driveways, roads slope down from the middle for drainage (something I probably should have thought about before we left). So, every 10 feet, I would help Anna and Finley get back up on the road. We got halfway around the block when Anna had had enough. So, there we were, Allie too tired to rollerblade anymore, Anna too tired to push Finley, me sweating up a storm from running back and forth, Finley getting tired and Meg as happy as can be oblivious to the turmoil going on around her. We were really only 2 blocks from both of our houses, but they both seemed like a mile away...as I started pushing two strollers. Finley in his little stroller was really light. Meg in her big stroller was heavy and I was very lopsided pushing them and turning around to make sure the girls were following close enough. Poor Anna was trudging along like she was going to faint any minute now from heat exhaustion and Allie was so tired she wanted me to pull her with Megs stroller. That lasted for about half a block. When we got closer to their house, the girls saw that her mom was home already. Apparently, that gave them a big boost of energy because I ended up running to catch up to them. Melissa was in her driveway waiting for us when we got back. She saw three happy girls with loads of energy and has no idea we just about didn't make it back from delightful, little stroll around town. What fun girls Allie, Anna and Meg are. I'm realizing how much of an adventure watching them really can be and would do it again in a heartbeat! =)