Levi and the

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

(If I had any artistic ability whatsoever, this would be accompanied by delightful illustrations that really capture the drama and tragedy of it all. But, I don't. So there aren't. Use your imagination.)

Levi's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day began when he woke up on the wrong side of the Pack-N-Play. He did not want to get out of bed, but he did not want to stay in bed either. So, since he couldn't decide what to do, he cried.

When Levi's mom got him out of bed, he yelled "NO, NO, NO, NO" the whole time he was getting a new diaper and getting dressed. But he didn't really know what he was mad about. Because he didn't know what he was so upset about, he just fussed about everything.

After playing (and fussing) for a bit, it was time for Levi to eat breakfast. "Here's your granola bar and milk!" said Levi's mom.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO" he yelled, throwing his granola bar off the plate.

"We don't yell and we don't throw food, Levi" said Levi's mom, somewhat exasperated

"noooooooooooooooooooooo" he said, just a little bit quieter. Mom wouldn't give him something else and Levi decided he was hungry enough to eat, even though he didn't want a granola bar. So, he ate his breakfast and drank his milk. This made him feel a little better. But not much.

Soon, Levi got to watch his favorite show, Sesame Street, but was very, very angry when Mom turned off the TV after it was over.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he yelled again, brandishing the remote control towards the television.

"Levi, we don't yell.", said Levi's mom. Again.

Levi began a little chant, "No, no, NO, no, NOOOOOOOOOO. No, no NO, no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" . Over and over again Levi chanted until his mom said, "Levi, that's enough. Let's play with Playdoh."

Levi did not want to play with Playdoh, but he did want to throw the containers and cutters around. So he did. The noise that throwing things made seemed to make Levi feel a little better. Then, his mom's office phone rang and she hurried back to the office to answer it (even though she wasn't, technically, supposed to be "at work" yet.). She figured Levi would keep throwing things while she was on the phone. She was wrong.

While she was gone, Levi decided to climb up on the extra tall kitchen chair to try to get the Halloween candy off the counter. Levi loved candy. Maybe candy would make him happy. Levi's mom hadn't been in the office for very long when CRASH!

Levi fell down onto the hard, kitchen floor. It hurt. A lot. And was very scary. Levi began to cry. A lot.

Levi's mom heard the crash and came running. She found Levi lying on the floor, crying and yelling. She was very worried that Levi had hurt himself badly; the kitchen chair was about as high as the counter! That's a long way to fall! Levi and his mom sat on the couch for a long time while Mom checked that nothing was obviously broken and that his head was okay. Levi cried and cried.

Levi had just calmed down a little when Levi's dad came home! But, Dad couldn't stay very long; he'd just come home to pick up his lunch, but when he saw Levi was sad, he helped Mom check Levi over and then left again. Levi didn't want his dad to leave, so he started crying again. And crying and crying. This was shaping up to be a very bad day.

Levi's mom had just calmed Levi down when his Dad came through the door! Again! Dad's flying teacher told him to come home and make sure Levi was really okay, so he did! Levi was so happy. And also, very sleepy from all the crying. Levi let Daddy rock him to sleep and then Levi's dad laid him in his bed for a nap. Maybe after a nap, he would feel better.

But, he didn't sleep very well during his nap and woke up even grumpier than before! Levi's mom, somewhat desperately, asked, "Levi, would you like to go to the playground"? This seemed like a good idea. Maybe this would help him to be happy. So, off they went.

But it was terribly windy at the playground and Levi hated wind. So, he didn't want to play much. Levi's mom tried to help him have fun by showing him how to play with his cars on the wall by the swings. Looking at the swings gave Levi an idea. He would put his car on the swing and give it a push, like Mom did for him! This sounded like great fun.

SMACK! Unfortunately, this was not great fun. Before Mom could stop the swing, it hit Levi on the nose! Levi and Mom hurried home to make sure Levi's nose wasn't hurt too badly. Mom and Dad looked it over and they decided it looked okay, just a little bruised. Since Levi was okay, Levi and Dad went outside to play for a bit, while Mom made pizza (one of Levi's favorites) for dinner. But, then Dad had to leave to go back to work. It had been a long time since Dad and Levi had time to play outside together and now Dad had to leave! This was really and truly a terrible, horrible, no good, VERY BAD day.

Levi was very sad for a while after Dad had to leave, even though Mom tried to cheer him up by playing with the soccer ball outside. Luckily, it didn't take long for the pizza to cook and soon Grumpy Levi came back inside to eat. Levi loved to eat pizza and Mom even let him watch Curious George while he ate!  Finally, Levi was happy again.

He (and his Mom!) hoped that nothing would happen between dinner and bedtime to ruin it.