We already had an appointment scheduled to visit Jen's midwife, since Eva was 1 week late past her due date. A double whammy made it worse when Nolan wanted me to wear socks and shoes instead of flip flops (you know, the important details! haha). So, with time ticking and sad-and-extraordinarily-depressed-Nolan refusing to hear any of our positive encouragements or pleas, we crammed him into the car kicking and screaming. After all, Jen started having contractions and might actually GO INTO LABOR!!!
He hasn't melted down like this in a long time. All the way to the Providence Maternal Care Clinic in inner SE Portland. Jen took the calm and cool Delaney into the waiting room and eventually the appointment, while Nolan and I stayed out in the hallway. Yep, he was still crying. We thought the toys in the waiting room might calm him down, but no way.
Often when I am parenting, flashes of Nanny 911 or Supernanny flood my brain. I loved those shows. I remember a few particular episodes when they instructed the parents to have their child sit on a mat if they need to calm down, and if they get off the mat, physically put them back on it. Over and over until they give up and stay. And so I did.
I was prepared for this battle to go on forever, but thankfully, after just about a dozen times, Nolan collapsed and decided to roll himself up in the mat. Yeah, it was probably dirty, but oh well. He actually calmed down! Something about being in his cocoon, his own little world where nobody was watching him and there was nowhere to run. As seen in the picture I took of him, I'm wondering if I can use this method of calming the next time any of our kids throws a fit at home! Sometimes the most helpful tools are just lying there in front of me!
After about 15 minutes just enjoying the silence, we had a father-son chat, laughed about the squares on the floor, and went into the waiting room and played with toys.
Then Eva was born about 10 hours later! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment