The other night Derek had a complete meltdown in the middle of the grocery store because we couldn't go on checkout 7. And in one of my less proud parenting moments, I nearly joined him. For chrissake, what do you do in that situation? Stand there and unload the groceries at the closed checkstand? Ask a clerk to open it? Leave the groceries? Leave some money on the checkstand to cover it and walk out? Leave him at home to set the house on fire and go grocery shopping by myself? Yell at him to suck it up and go through the checkstand that's open and give anybody who wants to think about criticizing me the death stare? That last one will get the job done, but cleaning up the bodies, and the ensuing indictments and prosecution, is a little messy. Perhaps there is a solution that avoids the rigidity all together?
Other compulsions, so y'all know what I'm dealing with here:
Only wants to ride certain numbered buses at certain times.
Refuses certain types of transportations sometimes, but not others. (For instance, usually okay with the bike, but not always)
Won't go down some aisles in the store.
Refuses to ride yellow or blue line trains. Will only ride the red line.
Will not walk down the street when a light up ahead is green, only when the light is red. Actually getting better about this, but it's still a very slow process to get down a busy street. Downtown Portland is nearly impossible.
Sliding doors. He must be the one who controls them, so we have to wait for them to close completely before we can go, at busy times, that's five minutes or more.
Insists that stove dials be turned to a certain number (not always the number I want) until I yell at him that it's not his job and he runs away crying.
Must control what number of minutes the microwave is set for. Often too much or too little.
How do I convince him it DOESN'T MATTER which checkout we go through, just that we go through one? It DOESN'T MATTER which bus we take, only that we get to speech therapy on time? That the number on the stove dial or the microwave dial DEPENDS on what we're cooking, not on his whim? And how can I get my groceries delivered for free so I don't have to put up with this crap?
(That's lipstick in the picture, by the way)
3 comments:
Wow, sweetie, I don't know how to help him understand. I feel for you both.
On the other hand, I realized this morning that I think you will be here visiting me in exactly two weeks, and that makes me very happy. What does Derek think of the ocean? Is there anything in particular you would like to do while you're here?
I had such a nice time with you both during your visit! I think you should update your blog now that you're back home. You can use some of the pictures I took... if you want...
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