Pickles and The Milky Way

I have to admit that today was a real downer. Quite frankly, it sucked. Emma decided that she was going to cry and whine non-stop for 3 solid hours while I had my friend Jessica and her two girls over for a play date this morning. I am strictly forbidden by Emma to hold any other little children. She totally freaks out. It's not fun. Let's see... then there was a moment where Emma and Ollie decided to squirt their cups of lemonade all over the couch. Oliver tried to tell me he was "just trying to fix the couch." Uh-huh. Yeah right.

Then there was the trip to Target to get emergency binkies for Emma. Somehow our new apartment swallowed up every one of Emma's binkies, minus one really old one that she rejects half of the time. Target was the real low point. In a moment of complete insanity I decided it would be good for the kids to blow off some steam and walk, and left the stroller in the car. We were there aprox. 7 1/2 minutes when the brawl broke out in toy aisle #6 over some stupid game. I dragged both the kids to another aisle to distract them but Ollie stormed off to find his game again. When I firmly requested that he return to his mother's side he (very loudly) responded while shaking his finger at me "LEAVE ME ALONE MAMMA." Great. I am now that Mom in Target that other Mom's stare at and shake their heads because I am dragging two screaming children by the hands out of the store. "BUT MAMMA! LEAVE ME IN THE TOYS!" It is a giant snowball effect with Oliver and Emma. Emma could be the happiest girl in the world, but the moment her brother melts, she starts wailing too. The worst part of it is, that I had to ditch the binkies I had grabbed on our way in. We left sans emergency plugs. I will have to go on a major binkie hunt tonight.

Ahhh... the whole story is not just storm clouds. There is a flicker of light here and there. As I was putting Emma in her car seat leaving Target I said to her "Emma are you a sour little pickle today?" Of course she only responded with her grumpy little grimace. However, a few moments later as I was starting the car Oliver announced "Mamma, Emma is not a sour little pickle." I said "Of course not. You're right. What is Emma then?" He thought for a second and then proclaimed "well...she's just a girl." How sweet! My kids are sweet! Woo Hoo! Alright.... things are looking up now. (Maybe)

We get home from our Target dragon slaying nightmare, and sit down to read some books. There's nothing like a bit of quiet time reading books with the kids. That is... until they start fighting over books and Emma is yelling "MINE!" As if I am floating above my own body, I hear myself once again telling the kids "Hey! You know what's fun about this?? We can do it together!" Why don't they buy it?? It never works. I end up feeling like I am trying to sell someone an awful timeshare in flood country.

Finally we read Emmma's choice "Goodnight Moon" and then follow up with Ollie's choice - one of his space books. We are looking at a page with pictures of galaxies and clouds of gas. He says "that's the Milky Way Mamma." And it is. I told him that was the Galaxy that we live in. He gets a sad look on his face and starts to whimper a little bit. When I ask him what the matter is, he tells me "Ahhhh... but Mamma, I don't want to live in the Milky Way. I want to live in another Galaxy!" I just wasn't sure how to respond to that so I changed the subject and we had a nice conversation about Buzz Aldrin and his friend Neil.

I completely adore Oliver's mind and his love for space. He wakes up every morning with something spacey as his first words. Every day he tells me he is a big boy, and just wants to be big enough to blast off in a real space ship. I don't doubt for a single second that one day he may very well be walking on the moon. I guess I have things bigger than meltdowns in Target to worry about.