The title says it all, “A Horrible End to a Near Perfect Day.” Today was Rowan’s first day at school. He did quite well. He ate all his lunch. He took his nap albeit shorter than normal. He played with the other kids. You couldn’t have asked for a better first day.
When I arrive to pick Rowan up, he didn’t notice me. I swear he looked at me a couple of times, but he just kept playing. I walked in with another dad so that might have confused him. The teacher said, “Rowan, look who’s here” and he immediately noticed me and came running. He even gave me a big hug.
The rest of the day was uneventful. We played. He had dinner though he didn’t eat as much as usual. Then it was time for bed. He didn’t want to put on his pjs. He was disagreeable for a brief moment but that was it. After getting his pjs on we started our normal nightly routine to get him ready for bed.
Finally I said, “Rowan, time for bed.” He fought and said in his own way he was not ready. Fine. It happens from time to time. This went on for a little more than an hour. Finally I said “Time to go up to your room.” It was like I had just said the most horrible thing ever.
He started wiggling and fighting to get out of my arms. Then the crying started. The meltdown had begun. I haven’t seen the kid cry like this since Sunday. Yeah, it was that bad.
The crying continued for a while. He really didn’t want to go to bed even though he was sleepy. I can’t help but think this might be what the “terrible 2s” are like. In the end he did finally go to sleep.