BebeProcaWood: The Mother of All Meltdowns!

Giving big kisses to Mr. Bear!

Well Neil finally had his first temper tantrum. In public of course. There's no one to blame but myself. I should know better then to mess with nap time. Neil takes nap time very seriously, after all this is the same kid who put himself to bed during his birthday party!

I decided to take Neil for is 1 year photos. I scheduled it for 10:20 AM on a Saturday morning. Neil typically naps around 9am. I figured he would nap in the car. Big mistake. He's always napped in the car, but for some reason, he was more interested in the scenery then napping. We got to the mall early. He's awake, and quasi cranky. I think, "well, we'll stroll him around in the mall for a bit in his carriage, he'll nap then." Wrong. Neil spent the whole stroll figuring out different ways to escape out of his stroller. We finally pulled over in a quiet area of the mall and just let him loose to explore.

By the time we got to the photo studio, he was getting cranky. When he realized we weren't leaving the photo studio anytime soon to go get a nap...that's when all hell broke loose. I have never seen this lil' guy so upset. And again, I blame myself, which made me feel even worse! Nothing would console this guy...and he was just getting started. I asked the nice man behind the counter if we could come back later, with out even looking his book he said "gee, we're really busy today, maybe he'll cheer up for the camera". I just looked at him and said "you don't have kids do you"?

There was a photo sitting going on at the time, Neil was getting more and more worked up, so Jeff took him out into the mall. A woman who worked in a Spencer's was so sweet and came out with fist full of little toys to try to distract Neil, told Jeff to bring him into her store that they had all kind of lights and what not that may help distract him. Nothing!

He didn't want to be held, but he didn't want to be put down, he didn't want anything to do wit his stroller, if he was with daddy, he wanted mommy; if he was with mommy, he wanted to go back to daddy. Snack, bottle, nuk, even the beloved "Mr Bear" couldn't cheer him up. In fact I think Mr. Bear only made him want his nap even more. Mr. Bear NEVER leaves the crib. This is his buddy, so I wanted to capture a photo of him and his beloved bear, so I snuck Mr. Bear in my bag. When I busted Mr. Bear out to try to calm him down, Neil threw his arms out for Mr. Bear and buried his face in Mr. Bear and just started sobbing even more. Almost to say "Mr. Bear, how did you get here?! Where are we?! Where's our bed?!" I couldn't take it anymore.

I went back into the photo place and pretty much said "we're outta here". Then another employee offered to book us later that afternoon. The guy who refused to do so earlier decides this would be a good time for him to disappear. Punk.

We carried Neil out of the mall, kicking and screaming all the way. Jeff was embarrassed and later said "Did you see the people staring at us?!" I said "nope, I was too busy dealing with a screaming banshee!" I wasn't embarrassed though, why should I be? He's a baby! There's no reasoning with him, and I caused this. I messed with nap time. Bad Mommy!

When we got to the car he was so worked up he was dry heaving. I had him strapped in his baby seat and I said (as if I expected him to understand me?!) "You better calm down or you're going to make you self throw up"....and with in seconds, he did. Yick! Typically I never sit in the back with Neil, but due to the fact he was so upset, I had Jeff drive and I sat in the back with Neil. I rested my hand on him, using a finger to stroke the side of his face. I got him to take his pacifier...he was asleep before we even left the mall parking lot. We live too far away to go home and come back. So we went to moms house! Mom has a crib! YAY!!! Neil was so out of it, he didn't wake up, even in the bright sunshine from the car to the crib. He slept for almost 2 hours, and woke up in an awesome mood.

At 1:30 we were back for attempt #2 of photos and got some really cute shots! With out further ado.....here they are!