Tuesday, August 28, 2007

No longer a virgin.

That's right ladies and gentleman, I'm no longer a virgin, a public temper tantrum virgin that is. I'm no stranger to my kids acting up in public, some of you may even of read about a recent Target experience. But last night I was officially inducted into the embarrassment hall of fame.

We went out to dinner last night with family and brought Dylan with us. We left Justin with my mom because it was just easier that way. After dinner we took her into Geppetto's, a toy store, which was close to the restaurant. I should of turned and ran while I still had the chance. All of the toys were easily within her reach and there was a Thomas the Train track set out for kids to play with. All of these things screamed at me "This is a disaster waiting to happen!" Dylan was being so well behaved though, holding her Auntie's hand and asking about the waiter we had at dinner, I thought everything would be fine.

Everything started out that way, until it was time to leave. Dylan had made her way over to the Thomas the Train set and we were all ready to leave. I told her she could go a pick out a couple of little plastic zoo animals and then it was time to leave. Nothing, she didn't even acknowledge me. So I tried again, and again nothing. I then went up to her and told her it was time to leave and she could either come with me and hold my hand or I was going to pick her up and drag her out of the store. Nothing, so I took a deep breath, picked her up and so the nightmare began.

She started kicking and screaming "Get me outta here, let me down!" I walked past Bryan and said "Her shoes are back there somewhere grab them we're leaving." I tried talking to her outside of the store but she wouldn't stop screaming at me, "I want a toy." Then that's when the hitting began. Bryan took over at that point and we started the long march back to the car.

The kicking, screaming and hitting continued with Bryan. We tried sitting her down again, to talk to her and get her to calm down. It was at that moment I noticed a man sitting in his car staring at us. While we were trying to talk to her I could just feel his eyes burning holes through me and just waiting to see how these "horrible parents" were going to handle this situation. There was no reasoning with this child at this point she was too far gone in her tantrum, so we continued on through the parking lot with eyes all over us. I could almost hear the voices "Look at them, look at their kid. Oh my god what are they doing to that poor kid?"

We finally made it back to our car and I thought things at that point would be okay. Oh no, why would they be? We then we had to wrestle her into her car seat. Let me tell you that kid is freakishly strong. If Bryan hadn't been there I don't know what I would of done. I wouldn't have been able to carry her from that store all the way to our car, while she was having a wild tantrum. And I know I wouldn't have been able to get her in her car seat. She finally stopped screaming about 5 minutes from home. I turned back to see if she was asleep, nope we just had one very pissed off child in the back seat.

After it was all over and we were back home, Bryan told me, "You did good, you didn't give into her or give her what she wanted even though she was throwing a fit." Deep down I know he's right and I'm proud of myself for that. I know there are some parents who would have caved and given their kids what they wanted just to save themselves the embarrassment of a public tantrum. Still for some reason I can't shake the "I'm a failure" vibe today.

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