Thanks, I Think
Me walking into Joann’s craft store today:
Holding onto Sabrina with one arm as she is kicking and screaming.
Yelling, “Hannah stop! Don’t walk through the parking lot without holding my hand!”
Holding Hannah’s hand on the left, Sabrina’s flailing body on my right and thinking, “This is going to be a painful trip to the craft store.”
During the shopping:
Making comments like, “that might be fun,” while allowing the girls to put whatever they want into the cart, knowing that I would have to fish out the rejects just before checkout.
Turning around to see Sabrina’s hands covered in green acrylic paint as she cries and says, “Want to smell it!” I think she thought it was lotion.
Wash her up with a baby wipe and hope that the wet paint on the shelf doesn’t cause too much trouble for some poor employee.
Think that I should clean up the mess my daughter just made, decide not to because I don’t want to find an employee with paper towels to explain the situation to.
Before checkout:
Start purging the random things that Sabrina and Hannah wanted me to buy. This sets Sabrina off again and she is now wailing, stomping, and yelling, “I hate it!”
Try to play the cool, calm mother saying in a calm voice, “If you stop your fuss, I’ll pick you up.”
She eventually stops so I pick her up and hold her on one hip. She starts to fuss again after a minute of waiting in line so I put her down again.
Checkout:
The cashier says, “Next please” and I head over with my girls. (Hannah has been so good the whole trip that I bought her a huge box of princess stickers that I wouldn’t have splurged on otherwise.) Sabrina is grabbing at my legs and following me still crying loudly.
The lady says to me, “I remember these girls.”
I say, “That’s probably because there was screaming the last time we were here too.”
She answers with a pleasant smile, “yes there was,” and continues to talk about how it’s important to tell them no sometimes.
I finish my purchase and head towards the exit. I could feel multiple sets of eyes watching me as I made my way out the door.
Oh you are so not alone! I seriously felt like I was reading a post about my own most recent outing to the store with my children. And funny enough, I had the exact same thing happen with Gracen and craft paint, except her color of choice was ‘bubblegum pink’.
Dang, Amy, that’s funny/lame/heartwarming/classic. Today I took Beanie to the library for story time. She squirmed and cried and fussed the whole time because she said the lady telling the story was talking too loud. I swear, half the time I’m worried about how to be a good mom, and half the time, I’m just worried about looking like a good mom. Half the time I have no idea how to do either. It’s amazing sometimes that we make it. 🙂
Why do people feel a need to give unsolicited advice? I can never understand why they can’t just be glad that they’re not the ones struggling with two toddlers and say something sympathetic! Thanks for giving me a laugh though–I can SO relate to every part of this post.
Also- please tell you’re Mom that she’s inspired me to make a good start in my food storage over the past few weeks. So many of the things she said FINALLY made sense to me instead of making me feel like I’d be storing a bunch of food I’d just never know how to use in an emergency.
Yes, we have all been there. I remember that happening when My girls were little and one, I’ll never tell which one, was screaming because she wanted a doll. That was in Orem and you would think with big families there you would get a little sympathy. NO..people acted like I must have been beating my daughter! I try very hard now to smile and reassure moms, when I see them in that position, that I understand and it’s all very normal. We all do the best we can and some days are great and others not so great.
Heather, anyone who is worried about being a good mom undoubtedly, is being a good mom.
Audra, I’m so happy you are feeling good about food storage. Let me know if there is ever anything I can help with.
I have had so many of those days the last one being yesterday. I had to pick up Taft and Estee was throwing the biggest fit ever. I can’t pick up anything over 5 lbs so I had to watch the fit and wait it out. It was ugly and so frustrating.
Nice to know that I am not alone in my shopping adventures. I rarely even brave craft stores anymore. You are doing a great job!
Boy o’ boy do I ever remember days like that.
Some of my boys were worse than others, but
they all had their moments.
Amy, I changed the EGG contest. I put in choices!
You are welcome to update or change your guesses.
Have a look and see what you think.