Mr. Grumpball

Notice Nicolas in the photo. Doesn't that perfectly just say "Grumpball". Here's the thing with twin boys (or at least mine) if one is having a great week (meaning not cranky, stubborn, testing boundaries) it is like a tag team affect the other decides to test all boundaries. A few weeks ago Christian was really testing us with the "I don't want to go to the bathroom, I don't want to brush my teeth, hitting and ummmmm ANYTHING that describes a rebel child. We went on vacation and a switch flipped. He has since been the past two weeks easy and has really showed self control and basically a sweetheart. Within seconds of the Christian being so sweet Nicolas turned into Mr. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" . Ken and I have always say that Nicolas is a gentle soul, but when he decides he is pissed, it will be fierce. Let me just say...FIERCE! They don't happen often but when he gets mad, watch out all hell breaks out. FOR EVERYBODY!

For example: First thing this morning at 7 a.m. he was refusing to do about anything. Mr. No was in full force and even took a swipe at me. Ken must of heard this from the other room and walked in and said very firmly, "Nicolas get to the table now and listen to your mother".

There was a pause for a brief second and then Nicolas looked at Ken and screamed in a demon voice, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"! My head wiped around so fast to look at Nicolas because I thought I would see his head spinning like the exorcist. I couldn't believe it. I quickly looked at Ken, he was in shock and Christian just smiled. It was like Christian was thinking "Your turn dude, your in big trouble". Ken just looked at me and said :"umm ..well" like he was taken back not sure what to do. Ken was in shock. Sweet Nicolas has discovered he can challenge dad. I simply had to turn around because I couldn't stop laughing. Nicolas knew he had us. Ken tried to recover but there is no recovering when you say.."umm -well" to a child during a boundary challenge.

Another example: I decided to take the boys out for a walk WITH Rocky our dog. The boys wanted to ride their scooters. I am so happy at this point because it was nice out, boys seemed happy and Ken was coming home soon. Then as we were leaving the driveway, Nicolas decided he wanted his bike. I said no because I couldn't keep up with the bike with the dog and with Christian on a scooter. As we were coming down the driveway, he decided he wanted his "Cozy Coupe" instead of scooter. I said fine. Once he was in the "coupe" and we were on our way, he started DRAGGING his legs so it wouldn't go and started crying. Meanwhile, Christian is flying ahead with his scooter and Rocky is pulling me to the side of the yard to chase a squirrel. Fast forward..I get Nicolas to go back and get his scooter. Things were great for exactly 1 block then some kids with bikes came up next to us. Nicolas looked at them and started to cry "I want my bike, I want my bike" louder.....and...louder until M.E.L.T.D.O.W.N. He was dancing on the sidewalk doing the 2-step cry, leaving his scooter in someones driveway, Christian is getting way ahead near the street corner and Rocky went PSYCHO at another dog passing, slipping his head out of the leash. Oh and the 3 kids on the bikes wouldn't move and just stared at us like freaks. I honestly didn't know what to do for a second, this hasn't happened in a long time in public or where there were so many things happening at once. Then something switched in me and I knew what to do:

1. Grab Rocky by the head and put a choke hold on him to put the leash on.



2. Sprint to grab Christian (dragging Rocky with me).



3. Leave Nicolas screaming on the sidewalk.



4. Keep my thoughts silent on wanting to tell the kids on the bikes to stop staring at us like freaks and RIDE ON...obviously they could see the bikes were causing Nicolas to keep screaming "I WANT MY BIKE".



5. Scream help to my neighbors (just kidding).

Thankfully, Christian listened and he understood why he had to turn around and we had to go home. That part makes me sad when one child is being good and you have to stop the activity because the other is not being so good. Nicolas did the 2-step scream all the way home lagging about 2 houses behind. Thank god I have cool neighbors because if you didn't know us, with that scream someone probably would of called Child Protective Services.

So....this week it is Nicolas. He is fierce and you just never know..maybe in a few minutes it will switch and maybe just maybe we will get our week of both not testing us! The funny part is that both boys say to each other after a meltdown ..."Are you mad now? Are you happy again, Mommy he is happy"! Thankfully, usually the meltdowns are limited and in the house but that one in the street definitely took the cake!!!