Catching up

Just wanted to catch up on all the things I wanted to write about earlier.

On Black Friday, I was happily surprised - the crowd at Target was quite orderly. (Gave Best Buy a miss, as the line was aaaaaaaaall the way around the building and snaking through the parking lot - some people had been there since 4:00 Thursday afternoon. Now that's nuts.) I got up at 3:45 Friday morning, went to Best Buy first, saw the line and said screw it, and got to Target about 4:45. Points to the employees there - they kept it orderly, and it wasn't terrible. They had employees and local police officers out front to make sure people didn't cut in line (and there were a big group of people clustered near the front door who looked like they'd intended to do just that!). Crowded, yes, but not a free-for-all. I got my camera! I need a dock for it, but I can get that later. I also got a 6 1/2 foot pre-lit Christmas tree for $30 - that was for J. He was so excited to see me bring this big box home and tell him it was for him. Unfortunately the tree ended up missing a part of the stand, so I had to return it and get a more expensive one (the special deals were all gone), but J is thrilled with it. If he wanted stuff that was on sale, I'd totally do it again next year. But only at Target. I feel pretty sure everything else was ugliness in the extreme. I wouldn't have gone to a local mall on a bet.

Later on Friday we went to Sergeant's (Western wear store) to get boots for J. PaPa gave him some money to get ropers like daddy wears. J found some black ropers, like daddy's, that he just loves - he's worn them pretty much non-stop since we got them, with the exception of bathtime and bedtime. He was also fascinated with Sergeant's - he couldn't get over the fact that they had a windmill inside the store, and he was tickled with the sofas covered in a cow-print fabric. He's told me we have to give away our sofas so we can get cow couches.

We also went to Barnes & Noble. J got a book and a DVD with the rest of the money PaPa gave him (and still had some left over!), and I got the new Josh Groban CD. Haven't had a chance to listen to all of it yet, but I like the bits I have listened to. K got the new Loreena McKennitt CD and let me burn a copy. Again, I haven't heard it all, but I like what I have heard.

Saturday - J woke up covered in poop, and K's parents went back to Louisiana. J and I went to Target to return the first tree, and we picked out the one we have now. It's 7 feet tall, pre-lit (multicolored lights - J's choice, but I like them!), and cost more than the one I got such a good deal on. Oh well, it's only money, and my child is only young and enthralled with Christmas once, right?

Behavior: J has had multiple moments that make me want to pinch his head off. He takes offense at the most random things and just starts screaming and whining fit to beat the band, and it makes me NUTS. I have a hard time maintaining any semblance of calm, and I tend to end up raising my voice and getting pretty peeved myself. Yeah, we're Italian - he's four, and we stand there and yell at each other. He got really frustrated while we were on the computer. He wanted the Wiggles, so I typed in thewiggles.com, like always. They've changed the website - he's seen the new one and played on it - so I was surprised when he started whining that he didn't want this one, he wanted the other Wiggles. Now keep in mind, I'm PMSing big-time at this point and I'm super-tired and way more bitchy than usual - not good. So I'm clicking all over the place trying to figure out what he wants, and he's just whining that he didn't want this one, he wants the other one. WHAT other one? Of course, he can't or won't explain farther, just keeps on screaming. So I'm frustrated, and trying to tell him that there are no other Wiggles that I know of, this is it, and I can't give him what he wants if I don't even know what it is. And finally he says he wants the purple one, the one with the Wiggly website. And it dawns on me - he wants the OLD website. That's what used to come up, a purple screen with the Wiggles, and they'd say, "Hi! Welcome to our Wiggly website!" He wanted THAT. So then I had to try to explain that I can't give him that, that the website has changed and it doesn't do the same things now. Finally he changed his mind and decided to do something else entirely. But damn, that nearly wore me out.

And working on "not right now" not meaning the same thing as "no". I can't tell you how many times I've told him "not right now" when he asks to do something and he just breaks out into a pure fit, screaming like it's the end of the world. I've tried explaining every way I know how that "not right now" means you'll get what you want, just not THIS SECOND, to no avail. If he doesn't get his way right when he wants it, he's gonna blow. That's killing me.

Also, the whole questioning thing. I know that's how kids learn, asking questions. But this is more like arguing purely for the sake of arguing. He asks me a question, I give him an answer, he immediately contradicts me. Over and over and over, on everything. "Mama, is it dark outside?" "Yes, J." "No, it isn't!" Um, look outside. "Mama, is dinner ready?" "No, not quite, we have x more minutes." "Yes, it is, it's ready RIGHT NOW!" And on and on. He contradicts me not on things where there could be room for disagreement, but on things where there's an answer and I've just given it to him. If it's dark outside, it is - no gray area there. If dinner isn't ready, it isn't, and no amount of screaming will make it get ready any faster. AARGH.

And today, it's back to work. Woo.