THANK YOU!

I would like to take a moment to thank the woman in front of me at the check out lane of Save-A-Lot.  Izzy was starting to misbehave almost as soon as we entered the store.  As this other very unpleasant girl starting taking over my cute, little, sweet Izzy's body, every parents nightmare started becoming reality for me.  The dreaded how to handle your child's misbehaving in public nightmare.  I couldn't ignore it.  I couldn't start acting like her because that would just make more of a scene.  (Sometimes at home when Izzy or Noah are screaming, crying, or throwing a temper tantrum, I will do the same.  Most of the time they stop, look at me and either laugh or Izzy will tell me I'm silly.)  I remained very patient with Izzy and let her be moody, dart death stabs at me with her eyes, and just kept talking to her and telling her she needed to stop and listen to Momma.  Well, when we got to the checkout she got upset with me and sprawled herself on the floor.  It wasn't just that the floor was disgusting or that she almost got ran over by a cart.  It was that she was challenging me and I couldn't give in to her.  I remained calm.  I never raised my voice.  I told her to get up off the floor.  She said, "NO!"  I told her I was going to count to three and if she didn't get off the floor I was going to put her in the cart.  She said, "NO!"  I counted to three and when she didn't get up I started to pick her up.  She started flailing her legs crying "Not in the cart..."  I plopped her in the back of the cart and dodged another death stab.  I tried distracting her by pointing out the silly clown on the box of cereal who was wearing a fruit loop hat.  It didn't work.  She laid herself face down in the cart and started fake whining/crying.  The women in front of me said, "You're doing a good job.  Don't give in to her.  Don't let her make you feel bad.  I've been there, done that."  I have never wanted to hug a stranger more than I wanted to hug that woman right at that moment.  It was so encouraging and just...nice.  As a mother, she understood.  She didn't judge me or give me an impatient look.  She didn't tell me my daughter should learn how to behave in public.  She wasn't irritated or say something like, you should take your daughter out of this store.  That might sound harsh but people do it all the time.  It's like they can't control they're eyes or facial expressions or mouth.  They can't be understanding.  Even if you're not a parent, you were a small child once.  And I'm sure you weren't perfect.  But this woman proved that are still nice people out there.  And she probably doesn't even know that she totally made my day.  SO, thank you, whoever you are.