Unforgettable.

Unforgettable...and I don't mean that in the good way that most people would say it...today was a pretty okay kind of day...we went shopping this morning (Me, Mazzy, and Carver), to get a few groceries and to buy Carver's best friend Xander a birthday present. Lunch and nap was pretty uneventful. Then we packed up the "diaper bag" and headed off to a 3 year old birthday party...I might add here that we had to pull Mike off the roof of our house to attend (he was ripping shingles off our upstairs bathroom roof and reapplying Ice and Water Shield) he wasn't finished applying the Ice and Water Shield when we left...

So off to the birthday party we went, Carver was shy as usual, but warmed up after a bit. Mazzy and Parker were so cute together (for those of you that don't know Maz and Parker are 4 days apart in age and go to the same daycare) Carver played and had fun with minimal whining (it's a bit tough with a bunch of three year old boys that always want the same toys...boys, boys.) He even ate some dinner (I've got a picky eater so "Thanks" for the PB and J Sara:) He was doing okay until the present opening...I should mention we have been over and over what to do at someone elses birthday party..Carver even picked out Xander's present ALL by himself...he knows that the present are not for him, but he really wanted to help Xander with opening his presents and Xander, being the sweet boy he his, agreed...then Carver was getting grabby and wanted to open the whole present and wanted to take it away from after he opened it, oh it was going south and I could see what was going to happen...Ohh yuck, I had to pick him up and move him because he wouldn't listen to me and let Xander do it himself...Then IT JUST GOT WORSE!!!!!!! This is the 3rd time I have ever seen Carver have a tantrum of this sort, screaming, hitting and no where near reasonable in any way. We had to leave the party:( We were embarrassed beyond belief and for the first time, we really questioned our parenting ability. I should have never let him "help" even a little bit, I have seen kids do this before at parties and never thought it was a good idea. It takes away from the "Birthday Kid".

Maybe we aren't strict enough, maybe we don't have enough rules, maybe we don't use time out enough or that counting thing, maybe our kid will never learn to listen to us, or maybe, just maybe - he is just a three year old that loves birthdays, parties, and his friends and his parents..maybe he had too much sugar, not enough of a nap, maybe I, yup ME the adult, should have stuck to the rules (watch & don't help the birthday boy!!) and my kid wouldn't have ended up in a meltdown...this parenting thing is way hard sometimes...