Santa 2012 (aka Parenting Fail of 2012)

 My little man did such a stellar job waiting to see Santa. The line was 30+ minutes. No big deal for him (except for the last 3 minutes of course). He waited patiently to tell Santa that he wanted "tucks and cars" for Christmas. B and I were happy with what seemed like a non-fearful 2 year old as he bashfully approached the big man. He sat nicely, smiled (sort of), and collected his reindeer antler hat.

Not 3 feet from Santa he entered full on meltdown mode. Tears and snot and slack body and running from us and crying "cars and tucks, mama! cars and tucks!" as I tried to waddle after him in a busy mall. And it was then that I remembered that I don't tell anything exciting to my 2 year old until itwillhappenwithoutadoubtinabout2seconds.

But Santa? Santa forgot to give him his "cars and tucks." Trying to explain the concept of time ("buddy, Santa has to go make your cars and truck" "Teddy, we have to wait for Santa to brings cars and trucks to our house on Christmas") to a tantruming, hungry, and now tired 2 year old? Impossible. Listening to his disappointed cries for most of the 30 minute ride home? Heartbreaking.

Thus commences the parenting fail of 2012. And then we did what any guilt-stricken parents would do. We took him to get pizza. And we all felt better.


(For comparison, here is the pic from last year. This comparison gets me every time! He looks so little boyish now!)