Sometimes doing simple things can be anything but. Take tonight's outing with the boys for example.
The first stop of the night was Blockbuster. All the kids movies that are not new releases are $1. So the deal is that each of the boys gets to pick 2 movies from this section. Like a moth to a flame, Nico immediately finds 2 copies of Kung Fu Panda and hugs them tightly to his chest. "Mommy, Kung Fu Panda! Mommy, Kung Fu Panda! KUNG FU PANDA!!"
Now, here's a little background for you. We OWN Kung Fu Panda. In fact, Nico has already seen it several times today. Well, not exactly. He hasn't seen the whole movie several times today. Just his favorite scenes. He knows how to work the DVD player to find all the fighting scenes which he reinacts with Mateo, jumping from couch to couch, screaming and kicking and punching. He always take the role of the bad guy who he calls "black tiger". His favorite toy is a black tiger action figure that came in his Happy Meal months ago. Not knowing the location of this toy at all times is enough to bring on a full hysterical crying melt down. So, it's not very surprising that this is his choice.
"Mommy, Kung Fu Panda! Mommy, Kung Fu Panda! KUNG FU PANDA!!" He's voice is starting to go up an octave as he frantically waves the movies in front of me. "Yeah," I say calmly, "You're right. That is Kung Fu Panda. We have that at home. Go pick something else."
"Ahhhhh!!!!! Nooooo!!!!! I want Kung Fu Panda, I want Kung Fu Panda, I want Kung Fu Panda..."
I know there's some correct response on my part, but I just want to leave, so I say, "Ok, let's get Kung Fu Panda! Give the movies to mommy. I have to pay for them." Nico seems satified and hands over the 2 copies of Kung Fu Panda. Mateo, who thankfully gets the idea that he is suppose to pick two different movies that we DON"T own, gives me his two picks. I whisper to the cashier to please return the 2 copies of Kung Fu Panda to the shelf after we leave and discreetly hide the other 2 in our bag after paying.
I distract Nico by talking about our next stop. Ice Cream. Mateo knows exactly what he wants, which of course, is what Nico wants too. The cone with rainbow sprinkles. When we get to Baskin Robbins both boys run over to the cones and start pointing at them.
"What kind of ice cream do you want?" I ask.
"I want rainbow sprinkles" says Mateo
"I want rainbow sprinkles too!" chimes in Nico.
"Ok, yeah, I know. But what kind of ice cream? Vanilla? Chocolate?"
Mateo lets out a sigh and and gives me an exasperated look. "Mommy. Rain. Bow. Sprinkles. Ok?"
The cashier looks even more exasperated then Mateo as she snaps her gum loudly. Ok. I get it. Just order. So I get 2 rainbow sprinkle cones with vanilla ice cream, figuring I can't go wrong with vanilla. I get my favorite peanut butter sundae for myself because that's the reason I agreed to come here in the first place. My only motivation for leaving my house.
As soon as Nico is handed his cone, he expertly scrapes all the sprinkles off the cone with his teeth in less than a minute. He then hands the cone to me and declares that he's all done. No wonder he still weighs less than 30 lbs. I put the cone in a plastic dish and start to eat my sundae. Mateo does a better job on his cone, but is equally fascinated by my sundae which he insists he needs several bites of. Oh well, less calories for me, guess it's a good thing. Nico, meanwhile, has found a frozen ice cream cake with a dinosaur on it and is quite insistent that we need to buy it. "Maybe for your birthday." I say. Then, " Hey, look a bus!" I say pointing out the window trying to distract him.
Surprisingly it works and Nico comes to the window and starts a running commentray on every vehicle that passes by. Only problem is he wants me to pay attention and acknowledge everything he says. "I see a truck mommy. A truck! A TRUCK!"
"Oh, yeah, a truck. Nice." I say.
"I see a blue car. A BLUE CAR!" And so it continues.
"Hey, Nico. Do you want this ice cream?" I ask
"No."
"Are you sure?"
" No, no, no ice cream." he says in a calm certain tone
"Ok it's going in the garbage. Let's go." I reply.
Nico remains unresponsive, so I figure he's ok with this and I toss his almost untouched ice cream into the trash can. Is he really related to me? How can you just throw out ice cream? It isn't until we are in the car that it dawns on him what has actually happened.
"My ice cream? My ice cream?" he asks as I'm buckling him into his car seat.
"Nico, remember we threw it out. You said you were done."
"Noooooo!!!!! ICE CREAM! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!"
"Do you want some of mommy's ice cream?" I ask feebly offering him the rest of my sundae.
"Noooooooo!!!!" he screeches giving me the most pissed off look. Mateo, however, knows an opportunity when he sees it and jumps on it.
"Ooo, yes mommy! I want that ice cream. Please." And there goes my treat. I hand it to Mateo, telling myself I didn't need the calories anyway. Miraculously, Nico stops crying about halfway home and a calm settles over us. I pull into our garage and start to take Nico out of his car seat. He turns his head and looks at me and says, "Mommy, Kung Fu Panda?"