The Dolphin Within Reach

I know I promised a different topic for this next post, but something so absolutely ridiculous happened last night that I just have to share it. It’s the kind of ridiculous that showcases in all its glory the complexities of being a four-year-old, and raising a four-year-old. This, friends, is a tale of mammal proportions….that of a dolphin. It will make you groan, wince, roll your eyes, and oh yes, maybe even shed a tear.

And so it begins…

Ever since the school year began (a whole week ago), Ella has been a bit of a handful. Not sure why—maybe the change in routine can be to blame. With a four-year-old, who knows? But Matt and I had it up to here (insert your own tolerance threshold) with Ella’s behavior—the whining, the crying, the screaming and carrying on. Enough with the drama! So we came up with a nice little incentive for the week. Each day that she was what we deemed to be a “good girl,” she got a sticker on the calendar leading up to the big reward—a trip to Happy Joe’s. For those of you familiar with this delightful establishment, they’re known for their mighty delicious (if I do say so myself) taco pizza, and of course the games that spit out tickets to win prizes.

So okay, Ella made it through the whole week with stickers leading right up to Wednesday – pizza day. She was teetering on the edge yesterday, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. She was a “good girl.” (Not sure why I keep putting that in quotation marks, but it IS a relative term, is it not?) One foot inside Happy Joe’s and Ella could barely contain herself…she needed to play games immediately. We tried to calm her down enough to order our pizza and then set her free. She played. Our pizza arrived. Ella barely had four bites before heading back to "Play Land." Matt joined her to help score more tickets (as any good parent would do). Finally, it was getting late. I signaled to Matt that it was “go time.” The moment of truth…. How many tickets did we have and would it be enough to get something of any value? That ruled out toy jewelry, squirt guns, tootsie rolls, giant pencils…you get my point.

We earned 400 points, not bad, but unfortunately not enough to get any of the things Ella originally started rattling off that she wanted….. not enough for Barbie or the walkie-talkies…sorry, kid. So I started giving her ideas that I thought she would like.

“How about that jump rope?”

“No.”

How about that tie-dyed dolphin?”

“No.”

“How about that tiara and some chalk?”

“No.”

I was starting to run out of worthwhile options.

“Are you sure you don’t want that dolphin?”

“No.”

“Okay. I know! How about that cool Buzz and Woody dart game?” (You know the one….it’s a target with a Velcro ball that you throw at the bull’s-eye to get points?) Fun for hours, I thought. Or at least a few minutes.

After about 10 minutes of this (which seemed more like 20), Ella finally agreed, “Yes, I want Buzz and Woody!” We have a winner, folks! Let’s go home.

All was well…we got the kids in their pajamas, put Jaisa down and then I went to lay with Ella for a minute and we talked about our fun day. Then out of the blue, she started crying, “I want the dolphin! I don’t like that Woody game!” I tried to reassure her that she made the right decision. That game was awesome! She wasn’t buying it.

The crying escalated into a full-blown melt down. In between sobs, staggered breathing and trembling I heard, “Can you go back to Happy Joe’s and get my dolphin….PLEEAASSEEE?”

“I WANT MY DOLPHIN, I WANT MY DOLPHIN, I WANT MY DOLPHIN!”

Seriously. There was nothing I could do to calm down this poor, upset, overtired, overly dramatic little girl. Matt stepped in. After 10 more minutes of this, he lost it. Anger=louder crying. After 20 minutes, I got upset. What could I do? I tried to hold her tight and shush her (it works for infants). In my head I was swearing at myself for not listening to my gut. I knew she wanted that stupid dolphin. Apparently, the sheer volume of prizes was just too overwhelming for a four-year-old to make such an important decision. Why didn’t I step in? After 30 long minutes of anguish and Ella asking, “Can you go get my dolphin?” over and over again and me replying, “Yes, Sweetie, yes”, was I really going to be the crazy mother who goes to Happy Joe’s in her pajamas just before closing to return an opened prize and request a freaking dolphin for my impossible-to-please child?

Not a chance.

Sometimes we moms just have to tell our kids what they want to hear to get a little peace and quiet.

But just in case, where else can I find a dolphin?



Tell me…what would you have done?