MELTDOWN

Last weekend I had my 5 year Meredith College reunion!  (More about that in another post.)  It was so very good to see some friends who no longer live here and came for the reunion.  Johanna, my best friend and college roommate,  flew in from Texas.  Joshua and I went to pick her up from the airport on Friday afternoon.  I had it all pictured in my head about how awesome it was going to be.  I even took the camera to take a picture of Joshua and her meeting up at the baggage claim.  Well things don't always turn out like we plan, and I found that out for sure that day.  Johanna's plane got delayed to start with, so I had to reconfigure Joshua's schedule for the day.  I decided to just leave for the airport a little earlier so that Joshua could take his afternoon nap in the car.  He almost always sleeps in the car if it is around nap time and we are on the highway.  He did in fact fall asleep about 5 minutes after we left the house.  I was excited thinking that things were working as I had hoped.  About 15 minutes later he was awake and screaming in the backseat.  I had planned to just ride around with him in the car so he could sleep until closer to when Johanna's plane was suppose to finally arrive, but with him screaming I went on to the airport.  I thought that if I just got him out of the car seat and strolled him around the airport he would calm down and maybe even snooze a little bit more.  He did calm down for maybe about 5 minutes, but then he lost it again and proceeded to have the biggest meltdown I have ever seen.  Carrying him didn't work, the stroller didn't work, driving around didn't work....nothing.  He had just eaten, so I knew he wasn't hungry.  He had just reached his max for not napping and wanted me to know it.  I decided that since he was screaming, and it was getting a little embarrassing in the airport and the airport parking lot, that I would stick him back in his car seat and just do laps around the airport until Johanna's flight finally arrived.  I couldn't leave to go home because she could be there any time and my house is not close to the airport.  An hour after the screaming began her plane finally got there.  I jumped out of the car and got in the back seat as soon as she came out to the curb.  I informed her that she would be driving us home.  I don't even think I said hello, and I definitely didn't even hug her neck...gasp.  About 5 minutes before we got home I decided to go ahead and take his shoes off so that hopefully he would go down for a MUCH needed nap as soon as we walked in the door, and shortly after the shoes came off he was asleep.  I think we got about 3 minutes of silence in the car.  So, an hour and 45 minutes after the screaming began he finally went to sleep.  I got home with a huge headache and shot nerves.  Johanna and I went off to the reunion later that night and had a great time, so the day wasn't a total bust.

This meltdown was definitely a first for me.  It was NOT fun, but I'm sure there are worse meltdowns and tantrums to come...ha!