While the Neighbours Watched... Part I

Today, as I was driving home with Hannah and Jacob, I thought, "What a beautiful day. We'll play outside and the kids will love it. Thank goodness for some sun, finally." (Or something along those lines.) We arrived home and went straight from the car to the backyard. Jacob was having a blast. Hannah was having issues. Serious issues. She started by taking off her shirt. I told her she needed to put it back on because it was too cold to be running around half-naked. She freaked out. I calmly offered 2 options: put on the shirt or go inside. She freaked out even more. And by freaking out, I mean running around the yard crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. People were out. They were watching (while pretending not to). I actually had to chase her (which made me both look and feel quite silly), and she kept getting away! She was dodging me left, right, and centre. Then when I finally caught her, she collapsed in a fit of hysterical sobs, thrashing wildly while I tried to carry her into the house.

Running around your yard after a half-naked toddler who is screaming, "No! No! No! Ouch! Owieee..." is slightly embarrassing. Not being able to catch her is demoralizing. I knew I couldn't give in - I had to win this battle. But did it have to be so public? I wanted so badly just to concede and let her play shirtless just to make the screaming stop. But I prevailed. And she sat sniffling on the couch until finally she decided she would wear her shirt. Victory. And then...

She refused to wear her shoes.