I have zero idea what went down at home while I dealt with the rental property, but Desiree was not herself as we made our way to Gilbert Gardens. I’d never seen her so unhappy before. Sometimes, I poke around the parenting forums to see what others are going through and how they handle it. There are countless stories about toddler tantrums. As I told Dub the other day, Desi has her moments. But it wasn’t until that afternoon I realized she’d never had a true meltdown before. At least not until now. She screamed the entire way to the house. And when I carried her inside, she actually fought me. Yes, Desi, my sweet potato kicked and slapped me and pulled my hair. Sophia said nothing and ignored the whole thing, so I suppose whatever this was about started with her, and she was glad to escape the child’s wrath. One thing I learned after reading all those accounts was that these tantrums don’t last long, and ignoring is actually the best solution. If you try to fix it by scolding them or even bargaining with them, you could make it worse, so I bit my tongue and just took it. Good thing she wasn’t at a good vantage point to do any real damage.
I did, however, set some ground rules when I put her down. Regardless of what the forums say to do, I am the one who sets the tone for this family, and in this family, we don’t do emotional outbursts like that. I’m very serious about this being a new chapter of our lives, and I want it to begin on a good note. So, I told her she can holler all she wants, but she’s gonna have to stay outside and do it because she’s not bringing all that noise into our new house. She continued screaming and stamping her little foot but calmed down pretty quickly, since she really wanted to go inside. I sat her down in the living room with some building blocks while Sophia and I hung our pictures. Once everything was in order, we chilled in the living room for the first and probably only time and enjoyed the fruit of our labor.
Rosie was in one of her clingy moods and joined us, so I played with her for a moment.
“You know what?” I said to her. “I know exactly what you need. Wait here.”
I went upstairs and changed into my workout gear.
“I’m gonna introduce you to Gilbert Gardens! You’re gonna love it.”
As soon as she saw the leash, she knew it was game on and began barking and jumping around. We headed out. I was so excited to share my favorite place with her, I kinda forgot how long the trails around the lake and the Arboretum are. Rosie had a great time, but my knees were screaming by the time we go home. I hadn’t jogged a long distance in a while, but that pain was different from being out of shape. I’m definitely getting old.
We all stayed close for the rest of the afternoon, even Rosie. I guess I finally wore her out, heh. That evening, the first of our new neighbors came to welcome us. The Whitney family live in the first house on our street across from the splash park. Neil, however, has actually lived in the neighborhood for a long time. Judging from his son’s age, he and I may have moved to San Sequoia around the same time. It’s kinda funny that he and I could have met earlier but never ran into each other. He bought that house for his family. He and his ex-fiancee had Karson, their son, when they were just dating. Neil was pretty keen on getting married and raising him together, so he proposed. She accepted, but was very focused on her career and never prioritized planning the wedding. Neil bought the house, thinking they would all live there together one day only for her to call off the engagement. They shared custody for a while until Karson decided to live with Neil full time. And later, and Neil met and married Kaila. It’s so funny to me how sims tell me their entire life’s story after only knowing me for three seconds. Unlike Chi Chi, Neil doesn’t talk a lot. He’s just very expressive when he does. As a fellow expressive man, it was great to be on the receiving end.
Karson didn’t say much, but he was giving big spoiled brat vibes. Kaila was very extra. The Whitney family was definitely an interesting bunch. When they left, I put Desi to bed. Then Sophia and I christened a few rooms, hee hee.
