The Public Tantrum

We have now experienced our first (of many I'm sure) complete & total tantrum in public. I take responsibility for this one.....I'm a big believer in preventing bad behavior based on nap times, feedings, bed time, etc. But after two nights doing the night time routine by myself & going on a third (due to guitar practice stuff for church) I decided after dinner last night to get out of the house in order to avoid that 'what do we do for 1.5 hours after dinner before bedtime' time - which can be too much tv time when I'm exhausted. And I desperately needed to get some dog food for my poor neglected animal.

So, off we go to Wal-Mart. Should've gone to Kroger - just a short 5 minutes from my house. But I decide on Wal-Mart because I also wanted to get some storage containers & look at pool toys (I've been thinking she's tiring of my make-shift pool toys.....AKA tupperware!). Wal-Mart is more like 15-20 minutes away.

Well, one should not go into the toy department of Wal-Mart at 7:30 at night with a child who is approaching bedtime. Mackenzie may not have learned anything from this experience. But mommy did. From now on, it's Kroger at that hour. And certainly not the toy section if we do end up at Wal-Mart.

I got her out of her cart to play with a ball while I looked over the poor selection of pool toys. (If she was in the cart holding the ball, I'd have to bend over and get the ball every 2 seconds). She played with it up & down the aisles as I searched in vain for a good set of pool toys. I figured I'd at least get the ball for the pool. At a whopping $2, I knew that was not worth getting her upset over.

But when I attempted to get her back in the cart with the ball, a complete and total meltdown occured. Flailing arms hitting me. Screams that make strangers stare. Good times. I tried to reason with her. Impossible. I held her hands down and tried waiting til she took a break. The break didn't come too fast, and my legs hurt from squatting. I threw her sideways on my hip and walked out of the toy department, figuring if I wasn't standing in front of a row of dolls that might help. Nope. Screams continued. Limp body when I tried to pick her up. Still flailing. I again hold her hands, and this time sit on the floor to wait it out. Still wasn't having it.

I debate what to do, and decide to forcefully put her in the cart - enduring the flailing arm slaps in order to head out of the store since I can't carry her from the back of the store on my side - too far & too heavy for this pregnant lady! I realize the next section is the shoe department. I find a bench to sit on here for trying on shoes, kind of hidden from the main aisles (away from the onlookers!) and figure I can wait it out here.

But when I sit down and try to ignore her, she starts saying 'Up Mommy? Up Mommy?' to be held. So, I hold her and she starts to do the I'm trying to calm down but I'm still crying sound - hard to describe but they all do it, so maybe you can picture it. It was as if she forgot why she was crying, was no longer mad, and instead wanted me to help her calm down. Funny kid! She then didn't want to be put down, so I continue through Wal-Mart holding her/resting her on the cart handle while I push. I eventually got her back in the cart when I picked up some cereal and opened it for her to have a bite (she didn't eat much dinner, so hunger probably factored in as well to the episode). And then, she was as sweet as she could be. I have a feeling living with a 2 year old will be like living with Jekyll & Hyde.