I had two stops to make, after about an hour of playing with the kids at the library, and both were grocery stores. The first stop...pleasant. We were in and out in a flash without any catastrophes. Second stop...not so lucky!
Kroger is always a quick stop for me because I usually only go in for a few things, and I often let the kids push their own carts. After today, Gabe is the only one who will continue to receive that privilege. Adrianna decided to ram her cart into just about everything, including my legs, for the first 2 aisles. I gave her an ultimatum, "Do it again and you won't get to the push the cart anymore." Quickly, she tested me. For the record, I do give in occasionally...I choose my battles...but this was one that I was going to fight!
She quickly, and intentionally, collided her cart with Gabe's, and I immediately, took the cart from her and asked Gabe to empty its contents into his cart. He did so, a little frightened, I think. I bent over and told her that she was no longer going to push the cart because she had disobeyed. She fell to the ground and started screaming. I walked a bit further down the isle, looking for the item for which I had a coupon, and left her, about 10 feet away, throwing a fit in aisle 3.
Ignoring her, I found my item with Gabe on my heels, and then turned back to see her...she was quiet. A Kroger employee was bending down, talking to her, and offering her a sticker. I heard her say, "If you don't want a sticker, I can get you a balloon." I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head and smoke started to come from my ears. I couldn't get to that woman fast enough. I told Adri that she wasn't going to have either a sticker or balloon because of the way she was acting, and told her to tell the woman, "No, thank you." She did. The woman looked surprised. Not as suprised, though, as when I then told her that I don't reward my children for bad behavior and that I'd rather her not have a sticker or balloon because of the way she was acting. I picked up Adri, Gabe right behind me with that little cart, and didn't look back until I got to the end of the aisle. Adri was screaming again at this point and the woman was still standing in the middle of the aisle with a confused look on her face.
Now, let me ask you this? Would that have irritated anyone else? Who does that? If Adri tells me that she doesn't want to eat green beans, do I offer her ice cream? If Matt doesn't do his job, does he still get a paycheck? Am I alone here?
To top it off, while I was loading the kids and groceries into the car, another individual who thinks they can raise my kids better than me, came up to me and said, "I think you handled that well, inside." I wanted to thank her for noticing that the employee had been out of line, but then she finished with, "But if I were you, I would have put the cookies in your cart back on the shelf, too." I was shocked...AGAIN! By the way, those cookies were for Nate to take to school.
Dear Adrianna, someday when you read this, you'll be laughing. And maybe, by then, you'll be a mother and you'll have a little monster on your hands just like I do right now! Monster or not, you're still one of the three most precious little chickadees in my life and I wouldn't trade you or your strong willed, lets push the limits and see what I can get away with, attitude. Someday, it will pay off. But, for right now, you sure know how to make your Mama CRAZY!
Happy Tuesday!
