Saturday, September 12, 2009

Tiaras Tears and Tantrums...



Today I took Munchkin to have some passport pictures taken... What should have been a simple task turned into a monumental task of epic proportions to cajole a completely reluctant Munchkin to even look towards the camera never mind get one that would meet the strict passport criteria! Thankfully it didn't need to be perfect as was just for school purposes but I really didn't want to send in a picture of a wailing, red cheeked tear stained child to have on permanent record!

I have used the chemist before to have a passport picture taken of the little boy I worked with previously. That was also a challenge as was for an actual passport and he didn't want to play ball either. I knew this was the place to go to as the staff working there have the patience of Job when it comes to getting an acceptable picture. Today, they would need it. After 10 minutes of Munchkin not complying, whinging, me bribing her etc etc... I decided she needed to have a break to calm down and I took her away to have some juice and a biscuit in a nearby quiet cafe. When her face had returned to a normal colour and not some shade of crimson or scarlet, I returned to the chemist and told them "be ready"... He took out the camera, I placed Munchkin in front of the white screen and then I proceeded to leap around like an idiot, singing in an operatic Miss Piggy voice and then the impossible happened... she smiled! SNAP picture taken and job done. I didn't care at that time that I had attracted an audience who thought I had escaped from the local asylum.

I should have called it a day after getting that first task marked off my to-do-list but I foolhardily plowed on with my next mission... getting some new shoes for her. I won't go into details but it involved me walking out with her new shoes in a bag, her barefoot and having a mini meltdown...

You would think then I'd go home? No, not me. Being a total glutton for punishment I headed to the local supermarket as needed to collect her birthday cake for her party tomorrow. I think it was total sensory overload for her at that stage as the manager ended up coming over to see if he could assist us at the checkout as she was in total meltdown at that stage. Her big sister was mortified with her behaviour at this time so we just rushed through, shoving the purchases higgeldy piggeldy into bags. All the time, the manager was trying to talk to Munchkin about Santa not coming to naughty girls and for once, I didn't bother trying to explain her aspergers, I just adopted her attitude and decided to blank him too...

My little princess is fast asleep now and I just looked in on her and smiled at how beautiful and lovely she is. Days like today are not too often and the lesson I have learned is to not leave everything on the long finger til I have to do it all on the one day. I didn't prepare her for what we were doing today either so I only have myself to blame when it all goes wrong!

10 comments:

Jean said...

it's amazing how they melt our hearts when they sleep (the little monkies)..what a day petunia...it warrants a foot massage while sipping an ice cold glass of pinot grigio
weren't you tempted to kick the manager in the goolies? sounds like he NEEDED one XXX

jazzygal said...

Oh Petunia, do not blame yourself. We all fall into that trap. We can't always get it right.

In retrospect, when it's all over and the dust has settled and we look at their angelic faces in peaceful sleep we always think of how hard it's been for them. Something we don't always think of when we plough ahead with, lets be honest, the neccessary jobs. In fairness, when they are having a good day or when we achieve something with them and all is well again the temptation is there to squeeze just one more job in.

We've all done it .... and we'll all do it again!

Well done though, you handled Mr Manager perfectly!

As for the operatic Ms Piggy ... are you rehearsing for next weekend????!! xx Jazzy

Lisa said...

one day at a time Sweetie! Shoe shopping for us involves taking boxes home on appro' (from the kids shop in the meridian Greystones) and bringing back the ones that didnt fit.
Passport photo was similar, except I will match your smiley shot (passport office forgave us) and raise you one air conditioner input tap that got turned on to pour water all over carpet where the "white wall" was.

Happy Happy Birthday to Munchkin for tomorrow and happy day of birth to her clever mummy! xx

grufalomum said...

Oh Petunia - you brave lady - passport photos + shoe shopping + supermarket all in one day **eck** - but at least you all survived! and have today to look forward too .... Happy Birthday Munchkin (btw)

On the passport photo front -
We tried our local chemist too, once with no success!. Luckily the very kind assistant suggested that we just take the photo at home, using a white sheet as the background. We must have taken about 50 shots - looking in every direction EXCEPT the one that we wanted!

Eventually we got a few shots that we thought might do, so with memory card in hand we returned to the chemist shop. Unfortunately they didnt think the shots exactly meet the passport office criteria - but we sent 2 sets anyway with the application & a cover letter explaining that Dash had autism and these were the best shots we could get and it worked - 1 passport arrived several days later!!!!
but oh I am so not looking forward to redoing it next yr!

Have a wonderful birthday party for Munchkin and we are looking forward to seeing the pics & hearing her antics xx :)))

tazzy said...

What a day! We've all had them. Unfortunately autism doesn't seem too concerned with the fact that jobs still have to get done, and sometimes we just have to plod on through and mop up the mess after! We're going to have the whole passport picture thing soon - think I'll have a go at home first!! Happy happy birthday to the little munchkin! May all her birthday wishes come true!

Anonymous said...

phew, I feel exhausted for you and can completely empathesis. DS needs his passport renewed and photo's for school and I've put it off like the plague!
I always find myself apologising to DS when he sleeps peacefully for putting him through too much in one days, it's so so hard not to feel we are to blame even though we aren't.

Hioe Munchkin has a wonderful birthday. Happy Birthday big girl!!

Tulippy said...

Lovely blog, I too have been putting off getting photos taken. As for shoe shopping it can be a total nightmare, I need to bring him on his own.All the best.

Petunia said...

Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes :) We had a lovely day today which completely wipes clean yesterday! She was a little angel and enjoyed her party. xxx

sandra said...

belated birthday greetings to munchkin, i am sure she is asleep now, welcome back tracy another great post, love sandra and ryan xx

Anonymous said...

jeez Petunia, Im tired reading your antics lol. I learned many moons ago to cut my losses. On the days where I have tonnes to do I just cut it in half and get someone else to do the things I cant. I second Jean's comment about the goolie kick for the manager ( I hear the words " Bog off Bog off" when someone interferes when its unnecessary and making matters worse!).
Im so glad you all had a brill day, the pics are gorgeous - as always lol
Hennie
xxxx

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