The Major Ordeal

We get to the mall for our Gymboree class and Rhys tells me he needs to go to the restroom. We get out of the car and into the mall he shoots off to the escalator, per usual. This time he cozies up to an older woman, and before I am able to get on the escalator a man gets in front of me. I've got my eye on him and he's looking at me. The guy thinks he's looking at him and starts to wave at Rhys where upon he turns his back on him.

We get to the main floor and he makes a break to the second escalator towards Gymboree. That's when I excuse myself past the guy. The guy then asks 'Is he your son?' cause he's kinda freaking out seeing Rhys go one way, and the lady Rhys was standing near go another. I nod and he's relieved. I head up to the second escalator and see a mall worker standing at the top, she gives me a look and points towards Gymboree. I nod again and thank her. I walk in and see Rhys half way up the gate attempting to enter into the play area. I grab him and proceed to walk him upstairs to the food court and restrooms.

Our excursion to the restrooms goes well, and we go back downstairs arriving just a little early for class. He's climbing on the fixtures and jumping around doing his impression of 'Dodzilldo' (Godzilla). This encourages a couple of other little boys to do the same. Soon the room is filled with boys walking and growling like Dodzilldo. The teacher comes into the room and pulls him off the fixture asking him to get down before he hurts himself.

Soon enough we all go into class. We get situated Rhys is doing ok but then comes the first obstacle course. He does that alright until he decides that he wants to do it again and "NO" he doesn't want to stand on his shape to wait for the rest of the group to have their turn. We go into time out. Instead of calming down, he's getting worked up, getting really loud and swatting at me. I just want to break down and cry. I tell him if he doesn't calm down and tell me he's ready to go back to the group then we will leave.

What happens for the next 10 minutes or so is an eventual exit back towards the car with several stops along the way, trying to reason with him. I'm trying to get him to say "Sorry Mommy. I want to go back and play". But he refuses and says instead "I don wanna say it" except it’s a little garbled and really LOUD and angry! We're back on the ground floor right in front of Macy's and that's when he decides to fling himself on the floor and play dead. I get down on my knees and loose it. I start to cry. What am I going to do with him? There is no reasoning.


Soon we've got an audience. People start passing us on the way to and from the parking lot. At one point there's at least 10 people milling around in addition to 2 security guards! Everyone is asking is he ok? Do I need any help? Did he fall? Is he hurt? All the while Rhys is playing dead on the floor, eyes rapidly blinking to sneak peeks to see who's there. I'm calmly answering them. No he's fine. He's just throwing a tantrum. I even go into the whole Gymboree story.

After what seems a lifetime I pull him up by his hands and make him stand on his own. I ask him if he wants to go back and play and he answers 'Yes I wanna play'. We calmly walk back to the class and rejoin the group. We're in there for a few minutes before it's snack time and the adults leave. During the break a woman asks me how old he is and then we're chit chatting. I don't really remember what we talked about other than compared notes between Rhys and her charge. She reassures me that it's just his age and that he'll settle down soon. I'm just a mess and feel really weepy.

We go back into the play room and finish up the last few minutes of class and on the way out Rhys pushes a giant play tube. I look inside to see if anyone is there and yes there is a little boy in there. I ask if he's ok, and his mom replies for him that he's fine. She smiles sweetly and continues to say that in fact he loved being pushed and that it's really hard to have such an active child and 'Bless my heart for holding up so well'. I nearly loose it again!

Before leaving we go upstairs for a little lunch. Next stop is Target for something red for Henry to wear for Spirit Week and Jr. Olympics at school. I rush through because even though he's behaving not so bad now I fear for what might come. We finish and now go pick Henry up. There I find out from his teacher that Henry was play fighting with his friend and actually 'kicked' him 'in the privates'. Nice. Both my kids are delinquents.

On a brighter note I saw this on the way home!