I'm glad he doesn't mind being measured, because it shows he knows that he might not get on a ride he's already been on, if he squishes down or if he's borderline and goes on something jolting before, etc etc.
Well I found my notes and they weren't helpful. I'll keep winging it.
*******
So I see big strong hubby on the bench, near to tears. What has happened? He said "I feel so stupid", and told me that while on Screamin' the second time, he thought his lanyard was in danger, but then he figured that it was stuck under the harness and would be fine. But just as they started the loop, he felt it tug, and then the pouch went flying past his face.
His pouch, containing his and Eamon's APs.
So we spent the next who-knows-how-long seeking out the guest services people inside DCA, and she was really kind. After we waited for a large group to get some mysterious issue solved, she was ready to help us quickly. Told us that they search the tracks with flashlights every night, and turn things into lost and found. So if it's found it would be over there before the park opened the next morning. If they find it, although they'll destroy the card, they would mark it in the accounts so that R and E can get free replacements. If they do NOT find it, it's just considered lost, and we will get to pay the $20 replacement fee each.
For that night, as we were heading back over to DL, she gave them cards to use that night. And boom, we were done with the official AP stuff that night. Robert was still really upset, and still is actually. Even the knowledge that so many people lose things on Screamin' that they have a protocol for it isn't helping him feel less bad. I think it's that he had a strong feeling there would be a problem, but continued on anyway, without asking to have the harness reset, or holding on to the lanyard. I understand that, we have that feeling about a tooth accident Eamon had at only 6 months old and we KNEW he was getting too tired to sit in the highchair (he'd never sat in one before), and then the food came and we focused on that instead, and whammo, E's face hit the table and he lost a brand new tooth. But this is just an AP, just $40 if they aren't found (they were NOT found that night), and it's easily solved, unlike E's tooth and the problems he had with two teeth that came through shortly after that accident (they disintegrated and had to be pulled, which is why he has the gap toothed smile).
It took quite awhile to do all that, to talk R down from his ledge, so to speak, and to continue on with our happy evening.
My last picture of the Pixar Play Parade was taken around 5:42. Then there was TSMM and Screamin', then the time getting to Guest Service and the time there. I then have a totally black picture taken at 7:52.
Aha! I have now figured it out.
Yeah, this is the Not Pretty part. It's possible you guys will figure it out MUCH quicker than we did. I've given you some hints, and there's a total absence of something that you might have noticed, especially given how obnoxiously detailed I like to make my reports.
So we were having problems with E having "the wants". If you read a different post of mine, you know that Robert was in charge of money, and was having problems curbing his giving in to the wants, and I was being ignored, so the kid who wasn't supposed to get more than ONE souvenir and some pressed pennies had already charmed his way into a few "those aren't really souvenirs, no, he needs those" take-home-things along with the pressed pennies. It was driving me BATTY.
E was starting to talk about getting another build your own lightsaber, and I had told him many times that that wasn't going to happen. MAYBE it will happen during our visit to WDW, whenever that happens, but it was not going to happen at DLR for quite awhile, because it was just too big and bulky.
As we walked towards Tomorrowland, knowing that E had been in the stroller since the parade and we'd been munching behind him in crowded circumstances, I will still NEVER know how he knew to ask for some of the popcorn in the "Potato Head bucket". Kid's amazing. I don't know how he knew it was back there, let alone what was in it (we've never bought popcorn at DLR before. ever.) . He had a handful or so, and then dumped it on the ground accidentally. Whoopsie! In the past he would have been upset, but this time, as we moved it with our feet over towards the fence near Plaza Inn, he said that it would be for the birds. I remember that things were gearing up, yet again, for the parade, and we had to squish over and work fast so as not to be swept up ourselves in the "you can't stand here" pre-parade stuff.
So we decided to go on Star Tours. Which, of course, has no way out but into the "dump shop".
Now our flight to the Endor moon was quite exciting; but YIKES it was our pilot's first time, and he got us into all sorts of trouble! But we made it back safe and sound, despite almost hitting something at the very end, and that was good. We decided not to get on another starship, after all, trip insurance would pay us back since it was the pilot's fault we missed the moon entirely, and we decided to call it a day, in terms of space flight. E still loves the ride.
Then we hit Star Traders, and the fun began. Whining? Check. Yelling at us? Check. Stomping his feet? Check. Doing a new thing of crossing his arms in front of his chest and turning his back as we talk to him? Check check triple check.
I'm tempted to say "and that was just Robert!" and make it a joke, but it wasn't R and it wasn't funny.
We told him that he could choose ONE souvenir "tomorrow" after thinking about what he wanted. E decided to say that "tomorrow is an idiot!" over and over and over. Robert was getting angry. I was getting bewildered. Eamon was getting outta hand. E started to YELL about tomorrow being an idiot.
We took it outside. Where E proceeded to have the mother of all tantrums (though still nowhere near as bad as he used to have before we knew about corn syrup products...those were the great great grandfather of tantrums). Robert was getting really angry, and the look on his face was scary! I was worried about what passers-by were thinking about R's face and his intentions.
So I stepped in, because I'm quite often better with the tantrums, and I have long practice in smiling through them because my resting face is stern so my stern face is scary, and I like to NOT be scary, especially when already concerned about passers-by! Well of course that never sits right with Robert; he never quite gets it, in that moment, why I'm taking over, and gets insulted that I would even THINK anything bad about it, and here I'm going to say "blah blah blah", not to be disrespectful of Robert, but this happens each time it happens, and then later on, Robert admits that he was really angry, that he's sorry for looking scary, thanks me for taking over, I did such a good job, etc etc etc. Someday he's going to remember this right then, but for now, I'm just trying to ignore it.
So I stepped in, ignored Robert's protests, and held my 43 inch tall, 42 pounds, screeching passel of kiddo while he flailed. It seemed like it went on for.ever. We were sitting near the DVC kiosk across from Star Traders. Just like when I was still nursing him in public, I was so focused on him I didn't look at anyone walking by, but I imagine some nasty glares were thrown our way. Possibly some "poor thems" too. I like to think it was more "poor thems" with a smattering of "what a great job she's doing", but I don't know. I was focused on my kid.
I'll have to ask Robert or Eamon what I said that finally calmed him down. I really can't remember, but I remember being VERY proud of myself afterwards. I've remembered with the help of E. I reminded him that he loved Robert and didn't want to hurt him, and somehow that pulled him out of it. Turned things right around. We slowly figured out that on the NEXT day he could choose his souvenir, and he slowly agreed (note: he had agreed to this countless times before and during the trip!), and it ended up in a HUGE family hug that went on and on.
And of course in that time, we realized that it had been Way Too Long since we'd eaten, though we did have some popcorn, and depending on the popcorn's ingredients, that might have been part of the problem. But hunger was a definite problem.
We hadn't eaten since our late breakfast, and maybe a MoJo bar and a bit of water, and that popcorn. Those things were tricking ME, making me not think about my stomach, and might have tricked the guys' stomachs, but ultimately we needed real food.
Alas, when 3 people NEED food, that's a bad time to figure out WHAT food! In the role I've been taking on more and more since hubby's diabetes diagnosis, I've slowly realized that his orneriness when hungry isn't just orneriness, but a real problem and condition, and that any nasty mood swing needs to be ignored as NEEDS are met, I decided that Royal Street Veranda would be good, if the line weren't too long.
We got to Frontierland, where Eamon called a halt to the proceedings as he very very very much wanted to shoot the guns in that gallery thing. We had put him off off and more off on several trips with it, and frankly, even though it was NOT the time to wait to eat, I also didn't want to get screamed at again. So we did something they both like to do. I went off to the Rancho bathrooms, and discovered that there were NO lines inside Rancho. When I got back they were talking about running low on quarters, so I got $5 more at the machine, but when I turned back around they were gone! Of course, they tell the same story. They saw me, then turned around and I was gone.
We all found each other and I told them of my Rancho discovery, so we went in there asap. Had our usual, E having the bean/cheese burrito, and the adults sharing the no-meat Burrito Sonora. All was deeeelicious. E was freezing, but refused to sit near the heat lamp thing, so cuddled up next to me, which made eating difficult!
While cuddling and eating, E got really sentimental about being there at
Disneyland. And insisted I take a picture of what was left of his food, to "remember the trip".
He has the bar in his mouth and she was swinging on that. When I snapped the shot I thought "I wonder if she thought about the fact that her bottom would be in trip reports online, when she got the job?"
