Mama Byrd

Just when you think you’re doing a good job as a parent…

First of all, I want to apologize to any of you who may have been at the OBU vs. HSU women’s game last night, and not just because OBU lost.

We took all three of our kids to the basketball game last night, including Phillip, our 16-month-old. You would think after 3 kids we would know not to take a 16-month-old to a college basketball game, especially not the Battle of the Ravine, where the environment is crowded, hostile, and LOUD!

Phillip lasted half-way through the first half. Then he had a freak fit. I tried letting him climb up and down the bleachers in the upper corner of the visitor’s side– the one place in the gym that was empty. He wanted to throw himself down the stairs– literally.

I picked him up and took him to the lobby to let him run around. He made a mad break for the door to the gym and tried to join the game on the court.

I picked him up again, to contain him, and he flipped out. He cried, he screamed, he kicked me, he hit me– he had a cow. We went up to the top corner of the OBU side, where it was relatively empty except for a couple of other people with kids. Big mistake. I held him for a while as he beat me up and screamed at me, and the couple in front of me with perfectly behaved 19-month-old twins turned around to stare at us.

So I put him down. He threw himself onto the floor and pounded his fists into the bleachers while the couple beside us discreetly dialed 9-1-1 on their cell phone. I scooped him back up to take him outside before DHS could find us. Not that we had anywhere to hide.

Phillip has learned to throw a 2-year-old sized fit, especially when he’s in public. We went outside and looked at the moon, but it took another 10-15 minutes before he finally calmed down. He just kept pointing at the moon, saying, “Moon! Moon!” with a frantic expression on his face, like maybe I was going to try to take him there next. Who could tell– crazy mom is always trying to take me to inappropriate places like the most crowded sporting event in town. Maybe we would rocket up to space next.

In all fairness, the other two kids were perfectly behaved and I felt terrible when we had to round them back up at the end of the first half of the women’s game to take Phillip home. I promised that next time Daddy would bring them by himself and vowed never to bring Phillip to another OBU vs. HSU basketball game– at least not until he’s old enough to enjoy it.

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 23rd, 2007