Meltdown City

Ever have one of those days when the kids just completely melt?  I'm sure I could have avoided this, but in other ways not so much. Let me give you the backstory.

I had a stomach bug on Thursday. I was not at full capacity on Friday, but feeling well enough to take care of the kids on my own. I was still a little weak and fatigued, but well enough to walk Boogs to school.  Having accomplished nothing the day before, my type-A personality kicked into high gear and I tried to accomplish the tasks and errands that I couldn't do the day before. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

After walking Boogs to school, I took the two younger kids to the grocery store. I usually go to the store on Monday or Tuesday, and I because of one thing or another didn't go and desperately needed to go by Friday.  Done. Little kids were pretty good. I was still feeling a little tired, but task accomplished.

I had to exchange some shirts for Hubby. I also had planned to do that on Monday, but couldn't. I thought I could get it done on Friday because Boogs was supposed to start a Spanish class that would last an hour and give me an extra hour before I had to pick him up from school. Having him in that class may help me accomplish getting at least one more errand done after the little kids wake up from naps and before I had to pick up Boogs from school.

But due to some miscommunication between the school and the PTA coordinator for the classes, the classes did not begin yesterday but are to start next week. I'm glad I listened to my spidey sense and double checked with both the coordinator and the school. And despite being told the class would start yesterday, I decided to make sure that he would really be in class and not just hanging around after school by himself. And oh, what do you know?  He would have been left hanging around because the school was told the class was starting yesterday because the coordinator forgot to tell them that class was actually starting next week. Yes, I was that mom that had to point out the mistake. I did it as nicely as possible and even offered to walk the kids who were hanging around outside the class back up to the office.

I walked my kids home and decided, "What the hay? Let's exchange Daddy's shirts at the mall." I even tried to bribe them with a yummy pretzel if they were good. Well one thing led to another and it took longer than I expected. I wanted to zip in and out and have pretzels in hand within 15 minutes of entering the store. But no. Wasn't in the cards.  And this was the result (warning to those with a soft heart...ahem Lolo and Lola...lots of crying and melting going on)...To all watching, no judging please ;) But I will accept shipments of chocolate and empathy :)

This last video may be the absolute saddest. After Mr. Bananas has climbed the stairs repeatedly and faster with every attempt, I thought it best to put up a gate at the bottom of the stairs. I did it for his safety and so that I could finish making dinner :) Otherwise, I was running up and down the stairs every few minutes to get the baby.  Here is the result of my decision. Kinda breaks your heart, doesn't it? Especially as he signs, "All Done, All done." I think he meant he was all done with the gate...