A day like yesterday

Yesterday was a day like.. there are a bunch of errands (outside the house) to be done and I'm home alone.. with 2 children under the age of 5. Who knows when Jason is going to be home.. so I just need to grit my teeth and try to get as much done as I can. With my children.

Yes, even I thought I'd lost my mind.

We went to the bank. And that was fine. Thank goodness for drive-thrus where children can remain strapped down. In their car seats I mean.

Then I needed to return something (and buy something else) at Old Navy. Which meant unstrapping wild children and walking into a mall. On a Saturday. And I could either park very far away and walk from the other end of the mall OR walk past an arcade/food court or walk past a bunch of ride on toys. And I started to realize these people's clever plan.. and hate them.

I chose to walk past the rides. BUT I cleverly used the stroller to block Lily's view while I pointed out a Christmas wreath in the window of a store on the opposite side. I won that round. But oh, she certainly won all the rest of the rounds on that visit. She had a small tantrum in the store because she didn't want to try on a jacket for next year because it wasn't red. She spotted the rides on the way out of the mall and I had to drag (yes, actually drag) her out. She was crazy in the parking lot, refused to get in the car, and I'm pretty sure there was screaming of some sort. Why is there always people around when the screaming happens?

She promised she would be good in the next store. And I believed her.

Target. I returned one thing and bought more formula for Noah. She was okay for the most part in the store, riding in the large part of the carriage. Yes, I'm one of those parents. But I don't let her stand up- she has to sit down at all times.. on her butt, not her feet. She leaped out about 7 or 8 months ago when I was paying and Jason next to her but not watching. Etc. (Another story for another day.) So now I have to tell her about 25 times a trip to sit on her butt, not her feet. It's awesome. Not really.

She started acting up on the way out because she wanted pizza. And she saw they had pizza. But I told her no. She started yelling as we went through the doors. With no other arsenal in my bag of tricks, someone must have been looking out for me from above. Just as we got outside, a police car drove by slowly- and I told Lily they were looking for the little girl that was screaming, so she better be quiet before they think it was her. And she was. Miraculously.

I put everything in the car except my children and we walked the cart to the nearby cart receptacle.  Then Lily wouldn't get out and there were feet and arms everywhere. When I finally did get her out she didn't want to stay still, and not run over, while I got Noah out. Then when all that was done and we somehow hobbled to the car, she didn't want to get in. Familiar? Except this time she was actually laying on the pavement. I can't even..

I can't remember how I got all of us in the car. Probably threatened to just go home and not on to anymore stores. Which.. I don't know.

The last stop was actually the one I was most afraid of. And after the middle two stops, I really must have been an idiot to try what I assumed would be the final and most difficult stop of the day my life. I tried to prepare myself and Lily. And when we got off the highway.. and she saw the McDonalds.. that was it. THAT was her motivation. And I took it. Even though.. I don't care for fast food.. especially for my children. But sometimes.. as a mother, we have to take things like this.. and just.. deal with it. For our own sanity and the sake of eating other meals with food bought at that grocery store we really need to get to.

And she was good. She was really good. Sat in the grocery cart the entire time, just playing around with items that I was stacking around her. Sat there quietly while I paid. It was craziness. Noah was actually the only problem the whole time.. started crying as I was checking out. But I just replaced the binky that he'd taken out of his mouth himself, and everything was right with the world again.

Then we went to McDonald's. Because I kind of had to. And although she changed her mind 10 times about whether she wanted a cheeseburger or chicken- it was fine. Until she got home and got upset all over again because she had wanted chicken not a cheeseburger. Ohmagoodness kid.