"I Can't Take You Anywhere!"

It is getting very difficult to take Ethan places. Granted, we had good luck when we went out for Mexican food at a local restaurant on Saturday night. However, going shopping is getting difficult because he is not happy being restrained in his stroller. Having him at school was difficult because he just wanted to run down the open hallway. The same proved to be true when we went to visit Great Grandma Lue today at the swing nursing home, where she is recovering from her hospital stay. Ethan was very grumpy and just wanted to keep escaping from grandma's room and running down the hall (There were many nurses and patients who were NOT amused!) A nice elderly man saw us in the hall and said, "Would she like this balloon? We were going to throw it away anyway . . ." hmmm. . . even the cast-off balloon wouldn't keep E. entertained. Finally we took some of poor grandma's crackers and 1/2 cookie off her table and Ethan ate eagerly, saying "more" for the first time when he wanted another bite of cookie. Ah, small successes. He then whined on the 1/2 hour drive home, only to be appeased when mom repeatedly played "I'm a Little Teapot" for him from one of his CDs. (no other song would do) The sacrifices we make as parents . . . .