Crack That Whip

I went to pick up Daniel from school today and from the minute he got into the van, I knew I was in for it. He immediately began yelling about how Caden messed up his Spanish worksheet and how upset he was. I told the kids that I needed to run to the grocery store and Daniel began yelling that his Game Boy wasn't in the car. Sorry, I'm not going back to get it. You can play with it when you get home. He starts screaming at me. I decided to ignore it.

By the time we got to the store, he seemed to have calmed down but began screaming about his Game Boy again on the way inside the store. I told him to knock it off so that we could get groceries and we'd get it soon. We go in and Hannah helps me pick out some apples. I asked Daniel to help too but he was just screaming at me. I bent down and whispered to him that he was embarrassing himself and he needed to stop. He then begins screaming for everyone to stop looking at him. I picked him up and gave him a time out in the middle of the produce section. Meanwhile, Hannah and I are picking out various fruits and veggies. Daniel decides to get up and start picking out his own apples...oh, and he's yelling at me while doing it. I pick him up and put him on the back of the cart. I told him that if he didn't stop, we were going to have to leave.

At this point, a lady that worked in floral comes over and asks if a balloon would make him happy. I told her thank you but I was not rewarding his temper tantrum. However, Hannah's been really good so she could have one. So now, he's freaking out because he's not getting a balloon. He begins punching my chest, I put him down to try to get him to stop and he begins kicking me in the ankles. Hard. So hard, my right foot was sort of numb for an hour after.

I pick up Hannah out of the cart and set her down. I pick up Daniel, throw him over my shoulder and walk out of the store. I put him in the van and while I walked around to get Hannah in, he opened the door and took off running through the parking lot. I managed to grab him and put him back into the van and told him that if he did it again, I'd break out the 5 point harness.

Hannah's oblivious to what's going on and is thrilled with her balloon. Daniel's now screaming that we left without his apples and I told him that's what happens when you hurt mom. We get home and I didn't even ask him to get out of the car. I opened the door, unbuckled him and took him upstairs to his room, where he spent the next 3 hours. He didn't think that I would make him eat lunch up there, but I did. I told him that I was done with this. Not only was his behavior unacceptable but it was dangerous and I wasn't about to put up with it. I had to let him out so that we could go get Jacob and I tell you what, I've never seen a more compliant kid. We were even able to head back up to the store and had no problems (he even told me that he was embarrassed to go back in there because of how he had been).

This evening, Daniel decided that he was going outside. It was getting close to bathtime and I didn't want him going out. He was already out the door at this point. I told him that he could go outside tomorrow but now it was time to come in. He told me no, he was going out. I looked at him and said, "excuse me?" He looks at me and says, "I'm sorry," and starts to come back in. Then he stops and says, "no. I'm playing outside." Get your butt inside and you can spend the rest of the time in your room. He comes in but refuses to go to his room. Mike gets up and tells Daniel to go to his room. Daniel tells him no. Mike picks him up and tells him that when we tell him to do something, he needs to do it and he can stay in his room. Mike comes downstairs and asks, "now what?" LOL! Now, he stays in his room.

I wonder how long it's going to take for him to realize he's not in control.