I should have known by the blood curdling scream as I picked Henry up off his bike, that it wasn't going to be a good idea to go to the store. But he usually calms down right away when he sees us going outside, or in the car. But oh, no not this time. He screamed all the way to the store. He screamed as I dragged him through the parking lot. He screamed as I forced him down into the cart seat, buckling him in, as the bag boys watched me from the smoking area. He screamed as we entered the produce section. 'OK', I said to myself, 'maybe he'd be better off walking.' Nope. He screamed as he fell to the dirty floor, rolling back and forth, kicking his little legs.
"Maybe," I replied.
"What?! You don't spank him?"
"No." (Should I be?)
"Well maybe you should start," she said as she rolled her eyes
in disbelief that this sad girl was raising this poor child.
It doesn't help that I look like I'm 18.
Isle two. All I need is like four things. Four. It shouldn't be this hard, or this embarrassing, or this frustrating, or this "I can't believe I'm THAT mother dragging a screaming child through the store"...
A younger woman pulled her head out of the freezer, "Why don't you give him a pacifier already?" Really? You don't think I tried that already and got it thrown back into my face. Come on, do you think I am that stupid? Seriously chick-you must not be a mother.
Last isle, spagetti sauce that's it. I even grabbed the first one I saw. Get me out of here!
Then sweet old grandma Susie came up. She's an employee of the store.
"Are you giving trouble to your mama?"
Silence. Can a 19 month old be embarrassed?
"And not one little tear. Your mama's spoiling you!"
Susie proceeds to take me to the check out line. Maybe her boss encouraged her to get this embarrassment of a mother out of his store!
Check out lady stares at me with empathy. Or maybe pity. "How old is he?"
"19 months."
"Have you ever heard of the terrible twos?"
Of course I have lady, I wasn't raised in the stone age.
"It looks like you've got to worse of the worse on your hands."
Thanks lady. How's that for encouragement!
Maybe it's his natural inborn stubbornness.
Maybe it's his daddy's red-headedness coming out.
Maybe it's my bratiness shining through.
Or maybe it was just gas. Oh lets hope it was gas.
But something makes me think it wasn't.
3 comments:
Unbelievable. Do people honestly think their idiot comments are helping. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!
You are a great mother. You son is fantastic. And don't worry, we've all been there.
Oh, the joys of parenthood. He sounds perfectly normal to me (with a bunch of Daniel thrown in--he used to pitch fits like this all the time, until he was about 18).
People can be so rude and judgmental. But it sounds like you handled it with grace!
It never ceases to amaze me what some people feel the need to say when a mom is CLEARLY having a hard time. So very helpful. I can't leave the house without someone telling me I "have my hands full" regardless of how my boys are behaving.
I remember someone telling me that the "terrible twos" should be called the "terrible 18 months through 3s"...and I tend to agree! Such a treat to deal with kiddos moods :)
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