The Great Getaway

I have always appreciated alone time, but yesterday was one of those days when that time couldn’t come quickly enough. It just came in the form of a trip my pre-kid self never would’ve counted as a getaway. Kenna decided that right before naptime would be the appropriate time to throw a massive tantrum. What was the cause? She wanted to pick out the Captain America book to read before going to sleep. Why couldn’t she pick it out? Because her brother already had. But here’s the kicker: we were all going to read the book together. It wasn’t like she would be missing out on the wonderful literature that the book is. That didn’t matter to her 3-year-old mind. She just cared that she wasn’t the one who got to get it off the bookshelf and hold it. I started off by trying to understand and reason with her. That got us nowhere. So then she was given a choice: choose a different book or go to bed immediately. She finally calmed down enough for us to read together, but as soon as reading time was over, she lost it again.

Long story short, for a total of two hours, she cried and threw a fit. No matter the approach I attempted to take, including letting her wear herself out, it wasn’t working. In the meantime, I had a baby who needed to nurse, a son who wanted me to lay with him for a few minutes, a dishwasher that needed to be emptied, dirty dishes that needed to be loaded, laundry to attend to, a work call to make, emails to return and countless other tasks that have not gotten my attention for the last few weeks. Couple that with the fact that I haven’t gotten a solid night’s sleep in months and I was at my breaking point.

Thankfully Kenna’s tantrum finally came to an end. What made it stop? A phone call from her dad. About to lose it myself, I called Matt and told him what was going on. He said he’d talk to her. Now, I know she listens better to him when he’s home than she does me (which is irritating enough), but really? Would talking to her over the phone work? Yes, in fact it did. She quieted down and fell asleep. While I was relieved that she had stopped crying, I was less than thrilled by the fact that she listened to her dad over the phone better than she did to me who was in front of her.

So, irritated and emotionally spent, I put on my coat and headed out the door shortly after Matt got home. I needed some space and some breathing room. Where did I go? To the grocery store. I never thought I would view a grocery shopping trip as a chance to getaway, but with days like yesterday, you sometimes have to change your standards and find your peace in less obvious places.