The Night We Payed Santa Claus a Visit...

***Super Long Blog Warning! You don't really have to read it, I just couldn't stop myself from typing. I have the same problem when I tell a story. But at least this way you don't have to be tormented by my long story unless you submit yourself to it, and then you only have yourself to blame when you realize all the time you invested into a mediocre story. Enjoy!********
So it all started innocently a few playgroups ago. The McDonald's in town re-opened after a LONG LONG remodeling process and so it was decided that we should meet there for playgroup. All was well and fine, I explained to the kids that there would be no Happy Meals because it was breakfast (so no melt downs), I explained that we were going to meet our playgroup friends and I expected everyone to play nicely, "OR ELSE!", I explained that when it was time to go I would give a 5 minute warning and then we would go without tears or tantrums (after all...Santa Claus is watching). So I was feeling pretty good about my parenting and the preparation I put into the excursion. So the kids played and enjoyed their pancakes while I chatted with the girls...for about 5 minutes. That is when Abizella came up to me and said that she pee peed. We are toilet training so it wasn't too off the wall of a comment. I wasn't worried, she was in a diaper. About 2 minutes later my friend M came up to me and said that Abizella was soaked. Doh! Now how could she be soaked through at 10:00 in the morning? Oh, well if you don't change her diaper in the morning, that's how. When I got her dressed that morning her diaper was dry so I figured Pops must have changed her before he left for work. But what I wasn't taking into consideration was that Abizella now posses the ability to "hold it" for the whole night. She obviously had relieved her self a few times by 10:00 a.m. So I asked my friends to keep an eye on the boys while I hauled her out to the car in the freezing cold to change her. When I pulled her pants down there was A LOT more going on besides a wet diaper! I had no choice but to take the frozen wipes and do the best I could to clean her up. Oh ya, did I mention that I didn't have another diaper for her, let alone a change of clothes? So much for my great preparation! I crammed her into one of Tadpole's diapers. She was a lot better sport than I was! After wrapping her in a blanket I found in the car, I ran back inside McDonald's with Abizella tucked under my arm to grab the boys, pretend everything was okay, and hit the road. I sat my little burrito Abizella at a table with strict instructions not to move an inch and turned to the 2-story climbing structure, with a 12-year old age limit, to grab Superkid. Much to my relief I saw him dash by with some friends. I told him we had to leave now, He actually said,” Okay Mom" so I turned to strap in Tadpole. Of course by this point Abizella was streaking through McDonald's and Tadpole had LOST IT! And where was that darling little Superkid? Nowhere to be seen. After yelling (in my most patient, putting-on-a-good-face-mom voice possible), I rolled up my sleeves, threw caution to the wind and tested the weight limit on the new play land. At that point I was more willing to have the whole play land coming crashing down around me than wait for Superkid to willingly re-appear. I found him giggling in the top most reaches of the play land. I said, "Superkid, we have to leave NOW!" Now you can guess how popular that was after being there for about 10 minutes. You can hardly blame the kid for gearing up to melt down. I saw it coming across his face and before he let out his first bellow I said, "Superkid, if you come now, without crying, we can come to play again." He kind of raised his brow and looked up at me like, "Ya, when? Will we really EVER come back?" I then remembered the flyer on the tray that our breakfast came with. It said Santa Claus would be coming to McDonalds in a week. In desperation I played my biggest card, "Superkid, if you leave RIGHT NOW WITHOUT CRYING we can come back next week when Santa Claus is here." He said, "Okay Mom." and ran down and put his shoes on and we were out the door (after wrestling my little streaker and the screaming baby). When we got to the car I said, "Superkid, thank-you for coming to the car without crying. Because you were so obedient, we can come back and play again sometime." From the backseat I heard, "You mean when Santa Claus is at McDonald's!" Doh!

Now I am the first to admit it wasn't my finest parenting moment. I know bribery should be shunned ...blah blah blah... Would it have been that bad to just let Abizella play in an insy winsy diaper and look like a white trash Mom? Apparently yes.

So the Toads found themselves paying Santa Claus a visit last night. Although when we got to McDonald's Santa Claus wasn't looking so good. The kids were all zonked in the car. A quick decision was made to go visit Santa "at his next stop" at the Mall (and choke up the big money) and hope that Santa gain some weight and grow a beard before we got there.

We were happy to see a chubby, bearded Santa at the Mall, but I have to say that his age is starting to catch up to him. Not as jovial as he was in yesteryear. I think the real low point was when he said to Abizella, "Hold still for the picture" in a not so jolly tone. It creeped Abizella out, she wasn't so sure about the red suit in the first place. But after prodding our old friend I at least got him to ask the kids what they want for Christmas. And would you believe it? The McDonald's at the mall was CLOSED (and by closed I mean shut down)! Guess where we ended up driving back to for dinner?

Let's not lose sight of the ball; in the end Superkid did get to see Santa Claus. I am just hoping that in the future he will show up at the church Christmas party. And for now on, Abizella has an emergency pair of pants in the car!