Monster-man

Kellen was in one of his moods today...Man-oh-man! We got home and he started in immediately with "Watch Pirate...Watch Pirate...Watch Pirate." (Pirates of the Caribbean, by the way - and yes, I know that it has some violent parts in it - Matt made sure to point that out to me...a thing which had never crossed my mind when I let Kellen watch it at first).

"No Kellen. It's a weeknight and we don't want TV during the week. Mommy let you earlier this week but not tonight. No watch Pirate."

Huge tears well up in his eyes as if I had just just whipped him...he proceeds to throw himself onto the floor...face first, mind you...and throws a monstrous fit, screaming his head off. Does he actually think that this behavior is going to change my mind??? So I pick him up and tell him softly, "It's ok to be upset, but if you're going to cry and behave like this, you're going to go to your room and sit in the rocking chair until you can calm down." Then I carry him into his room, sit him down in the rocking chair, and tell him that he can join me in the living room when he's decided that he is all through crying. A few minutes later I look in his room and he's stopped crying and has crawled into his bed, shoes (sandals, actually) and all. So I walk in and take his shoes off to make him more comfortable, right? WRONG! This simple action sets off yet another Kellen-bomb. YIKES!!! So we go through a repeat of the above scenario...Then he decides that he's all through in his room and he's hungry. So we're off to eat a pancake for dinner. The monster-storm has passed, at least for the moment.

Fast forward a few moments when I have to run outside to check on something...fish bowl centerpieces we have stored from our wedding that may be used for an upcoming wedding in September...gone out of the house for 1-2 minutes, TOPS. When I come back in Kellen has gotten into the - you guessed it!, DVD cabinet and pulled out both Shrek DVD's. I look at him and he puts his head down - he knows he's done something he's not supposed to. "Come here." He starts crying as he's walking to me, bawling actually. "Turn around so you can get your spanking." He obeys, gets his spanking. "Go stand in the hall." Again, he obeys, bawling the entire time. "Are you allowed to get into the cabinet?"

"NO!" He wales. "No cabinet!" (Only when he says cabinet, it doesn't sound like cabinet...bless his heart...but I know what he's trying to say and what he means - he's never heard the word that this sounds like).

"No cabinet, Kellen. You aren't allowed to get into the cabinet because you get out the DVD's and you mess them up and break them. Then you can't watch them at all. That's why you can't get into the cabinet. No cabinet, Kellen. Stop getting in there. Tell Mommy you're sorry."

With tears streaming down his face, (mind you, he's been standing in the hallway for a few minutes, bawling the entire time) he turns to me, "I sorry." he whimpers, then buries his head into my shoulder, acting like his world is going to end, just clinging to me.

"It's ok, Kellen. You aren't in trouble anymore. It's ok, baby. Mommy's here." Almost anything to make him stop being so upset at this point in time. Anything, of course, other than watching something on TV...then he's won the power struggle and that just can't happen.