I call this photo: “The Calm Before I Lost My Cool”

It was March, 2017.

A simple doctor appointment for plantar warts.

He wouldn’t let the doctor look at the warts; kept hiding his foot, kept pulling away.  After about 15 minutes of this little dance,  I could see that the doctor had other patients to get to and I didn’t want to waste the office visit, so I said enough is enough and I grabbed his foot and attempted to hold it still so the doctor could get a quick look.

And then all hell broke loose.

Aiden threw an absolute FIT like no other child of mine had ever done.  He screamed! He kicked! He twisted and turned so that I couldn’t even hold his foot still — the doctor didn’t even get a chance to take a peek. So I let go of his foot, and he quickly slid himself off the table and stood up.

You’d think that would have been the end of it, right? But no. He was still pissed! He kept screaming and flinging his arms around, and he yelled mean things such as “I HATE THIS STUPID DOCTOR!!” Then he quickly turned around, grabbed all that paper from the table and shredded it like a Tasmanian Devil. He was all, “Ahhhhhhhhh!” and “Ahhhhhhh!” and “Ahhhhhhh!” — white table paper was flying everywhere!!

It was bad, folks. I mean, BAD – worst fit any of my kids has ever thrown. He was absolutely out of control, and I was like a deer caught in the headlights. I stood there like a first-time mom who had no clue what was up. I actually started laughing once he began shredding the table paper because it was so unlike him or anything  I had ever gone through in all of my mommying years. It was so awful that it just made me laugh!

The doctor stood there with big eyes, sincerely shocked by what she was seeing, like whoa… what’s up with this kid?!!  And she was probably thinking he did this all the time at home because there I was, standing there laughing, just saying “Aiden!! Oh my gosh!” over and over again. I half expected her to start writing in his chart, something like: child behaves badly, destroys medical office, mother seems amused… 

Finally she scribbled out a prescription for an ointment, handed the paper to me, and quickly stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Then Aiden stopped the fit. Just like that. Like a light switch. Instant calm in the room.  Peace. Quiet.

He looked up at me, smiled, and with a confident tone said, “Now can we go to Target for my new Disney Pixar Race Car?”

I said, “What?!! Are you flip’n kidding me? NO, we aren’t going to Target to buy you a race car! You acted awful! What was that fit about? Why did you act like that?!!”

He frowned, folded his arms across his chest, and said, “Because!! I didn’t want her to see my foot!!”

Well, there you have it. Ask a dumb question, right? What answer was I expecting?

That was two and a half years ago. Aiden is six now, going into the first grade, and I’m happy to say that that doctor visit was his very first and last temper tantrum! I still can’t believe he did that. And oh, I did end up buying him that race car he wanted. But not on that day.

(I probably waited a day or two!)