Temporary Moment of Insanity

Today I suffered a temporary moment of insanity. I took all three of my children into Target. Next to a scrapbook store, Target is my all time favorite place to shop. I mean, they have it all. And it makes me happy to go there. But today I wasn't shopping for me or my kids. I was there to find a wedding present and a baby present. Simple enough.

Then it happened. I let my guard down. While I was searching the kitchen aisle for some useless gadget, my boys had spotted something better. A spatula. Only they were using it as a sword. To hit each other. Once I reined them in and got that under control we headed for the baby section.

As I am oohing and aahing over all the cute baby stuff, I look around and see that I am missing son number one. I spy him crawling onto a shelf between boxes of car seats. Now what possesses a seemingly normal child to feel like they have to explore every hole they see is beyond me. He knew I meant serious business when he saw the veins bulging from my neck.

Next against my better judgement we went to the toy section of the store. The boys had brought some money to spend so I gave them 5 minutes to choose something and guided them toward toys they could afford (notice I didn't say that they need). Son number one picks out a toy within a few minutes. Son number two continues to bring me toy after toy that costs way more than he has. Repeatedly I show him what he can afford. After the 5 minute deadline, I round them up and proceed to the checkout. At this point son number two has still not picked out a toy and when we start to leave, he starts screaming.

Now I am the mom who use to roll my eyes as I watched mothers who had lost control of their children in the store. I would swear that my child would never do something like that. Well, that was before I had my boys. That's when reality smacked me right in the face.

So as we are heading toward the checkout the screaming gets louder. My face is turning redder and I am starting to blow steam from my ears. I lean over the cart handle and tell son number one that if he doesn't stop embarrassing me right now, he will never again watch Power Rangers. Which only made him cry harder.

As we exit the store, I am wondering if I passed some woman who shook her head and said under her breath, "That woman really needs to control her children."