Rough one.

Today was a rough day.  It was my fault, mostly.  My expectations were way too high.

I thought Bertie would be super excited and happy to open presents (as he was talking about it all week).  He woke up around 7:15, and said he wanted to open gifts.  So I called Aaron (who was still in bed).  And from the start Bertram didn't want to open anything.  Didn't seem very enthralled by anything, and was just generally a brat, and ungrateful.  I was really bummed, because I kept thinking of kids who maybe had one gift under the tree (or worse, no gifts at all), and it made me sad.  He has all these things, and doesn't even care.  I know he's two.  He doesn't get it.  He's never had to do without.  Anyway, I don't know if he was still tired, or we were out of the routine or what, but it was all down hill from there.

Then we had to go to church (which was mercifully only an hour).  Getting him ready was a wrestling match.  Then he screamed about not wanting to go to church the whole way there, and sometime after we got there.  I was grouchy, Aaron was mad at me because I was grouchy.  After church I laid down.  Aaron and Bertie joined me, and watched cartoons while I slept.  Then we went to Aaron's folks house and opened a few more gifts.

Later the rest of the family started arriving.  Bertie got a few more gifts, which he actually did enjoy.  (A remote controlled car, that he's been eyeing at the mall for ages), some puzzles, and a new helicopter toy.  But he had fits off and on then too.  After a bit, he settled into a groove of being normal.

He didn't eat much at dinner, but snacked on stuff through out the day.  Later, he pooped his pants, of course.  He was telling me his bum hurt, which means he needs to poop.  But for some reason, he doesn't want to sit on the toilet and push.  So that was fun.

I felt bad, I barely got to talk to my dad.  After most everyone went home, Aaron, Lewis, Sarah, Dennis and I played Monopoly (for the 2nd Sunday in a row).  It's not my favourite game, but I didn't lose all my money first, so I consider that a win.

Bertie threw a fit at bed time, and wasn't listening, so he didn't get any books.  Then he cried in his bed a while before sleeping.  It was rough.

The whole day was rough.  Not really ideal for Christmas, but tomorrow is a new day.

Bertram's Awful, No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day.

It started at 4am.  He started to cry.  I let him go for a while, but he didn't go back to sleep.  I looked closer at the monitor, and could see he was soaked.  Aaron and I went in, and he was super wet from chest to toe, and his bed (and favourite toy, Charlie Bear) were soaked as well.  We changed everything out, and he went back to sleep fairly quickly.  He woke up next around 8, and was not too unhappy, but was very poopy.  I got him cleaned up, fed, and then we went out the door to the DMV.  (I told him it was almost time to go, and he dragged my purse over to me, and said "go!").

We were at the DMV for about 50 minutes, fairly short, by DMV standards, but fairly long by 18 month-old standards.  He lost his patience pretty quickly, and kept saying "go" and "slide".  I kept reassuring him, not that it helped.  He was really starting to melt towards the end.

We got in the car, and headed to Willow Street Park.  He was really excited when we got there.  He played on the different things, and then he wanted to swing.  So I pushed him.  (And practically gave him whiplash by stopping the swing to keep him from crashing into a wayward kid(way to go attentive parents)). And he swung for 10-15 minutes, and wanted to keep swinging, but I was getting dizzy from watching him.  So I told him we had to let other kids have a turn (it's true, all the swings were being used).  And when I got him out, he want into full tantrum mode, and threw himself to the ground.  (Scraping his forehead in the process).  He calmed down and bit, and climbed up the equipment.  Wayward kid (probably about 1 year old) and his mom were on there too.  And like a flash Wayward kid had a fistful of Bertie's hair.  I pinned Bertie down, and Wayward kid's mom worked on loosening his kung-fu grip.  By that time, Bertie was in full hysterics and it was time to go.  He'd calm down, then make a pulling his hair motion and start crying all over again.  (That continued the whole way home).

I changed him, and laid him down, He didn't sleep, he'd wet through again.  I changed him, and laid him down again, and he finally slept.  (And so did I).

He was unhappy when he woke up.  Still upset about the hair pulling incident (continuing the hair pulling motion, and pouting), and he was trying to tell me something I wasn't understanding, which upset him further, compounded by the fact that I was offering him yogurt that he didn't want.  Eventually, he was composed, and we went to the grocery store.  Once we were there, he decided he was staving.  I got him some Hawaiian rolls, and he was fairly happy.

When we got home, he was good for a bit.  He demanded to go again, so he and I walked around the block.  He was fairly happy with that and once daddy came home.

His last canine tooth is coming in, so that doesn't help things.  But he was ok in the evening, and went to sleep fairly quickly.