Tell Us How You REALLY Feel

Yesterday was a particularly hard day here in the Fish Pond, and Sunny was at the root of all of it. She didn't want to wait for me to be ready to take the Christmas tree down and so she started pulling off the ornaments and stacking them in a bucket, which would be fine, except some of them are glass, that really thin glass more fragile than egg shells, and they broke. That wasn't enough for her, and she kept pulling ornaments off and putting them in the bucket, and somehow she threw the balance off on the tree, which was tall and skinny unlike our typical short and fat trees, causing the whole thing to come crashing down in a hail of flying needles and shards of glass. All told only a handful of ornaments broke, but Trout had a screaming crying meltdown because one of them was a hummingbird ornament that she likes. I think I can fix it most of the way; the wings broke off cleanly, and we found a big piece of the beak. We couldn't find a couple of smaller chips from the beak, but a sharpie should fix that up enough that it won't be noticable unless you are handling it. Thankfully, no one got cut or hurt from the tree falling over.

You'd think that'd be enough excitement for one day, but you'd be wrong.

Sunny had been begging me to take her to Trader Joe's, and we needed a bunch of stuff anyway, so I packed up her and Nemo and we went to Trader Joe's. I typically love to go there and the people there are so kind and friendly, but it was Sunday and it was crowded and Sunny was being a pill. Nemo was in the cart and their carts are kinda small, so I didn't put Sunny in the back of the cart like I do sometimes, and she had to walk. She kept trying to push the cart, and after a near miss or two of her crashing into other patrons I kept reminding her "Mommy pushes the cart, and Sunny walks next to Mommy." Over and over, that was my mantra. I had picked about three things and put them in the cart, and Sunny kept trying to pull and spin the cart, and we have documented that I AM NOT SMART about these things, and also documented my lack of height, so at one point I had to let go of the cart with both hands and stretch up to my tippy toes to reach something on the top shelf. You see this coming, right? One day I'll learn.

Sunny attempted to climb the side of the shopping cart and in doing so tipped it over sideways, on top of her legs. She screamed, Nemo screamed, I nearly passed out. One kind man helped us right the cart, out of which Nemo was attempting to climb as fast as he could but he was strapped in with the seat belt (THANK GOD I USE THE SEAT BELT) and he couldn't get out. I got him out quickly and he continued to scream while I looked him over, I honestly don't think he got hit with anything or hit himself on anything - I think it just scared the crap out of him (you and me both, kid). Sunny was bruised up on her legs, but nothing else, but we didn't really know that for a while because she had tights on and wouldn't let me pull them down to look. I sat on the floor in the middle of Trader Joe's meat department holding two screaming kids in my lap while no fewer than 15 people walked past me and didn't even look at me. Not a single person offered to help.

I did get them calmed down enough to finish the shopping, but I didn't stop shaking until a good hour later. Of course, maybe ten minutes later, deeper into the store, people started talking to the kids and flirting with them and being nice again. I sure could have used that help when they were hurt and scared and needed comforting.

When we got home it took a while to get everything unpacked and put away, and eventually it dawned on me that Nemo hadn't nursed since morning and I hadn't eaten anything but a carton of yogurt all day, so I made myself some quick oatmeal with bananas and sat down on the couch to inhale it snarf it eat it, and Nemo tried to climb up into my lap. I begged off so I could finish eating, and fortunately the grandparents were there to distract entertain him, so I actually was able to eat my oatmeal while it was still room temperature. When I was done I looked at Nemo and said "Do you want nummies?" and he practically pulled me off the couch in his effort to climb up me, shouting "YAY!"

I didn't know he knew that word, but it was the nicest part of the day. Guess he won't be weaning any time soon.

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Don't forget about my contest - you have until tomorrow evening to make your guesses. No one is anywhere close yet.

Comments

[hokgardner]

Aren't people at stores horrible sometimes? But then there are the kind ones. When my oldest was two, and my middle one was a baby, I was at the store with both of them. The baby was in the snugli and the toddler was in the cart, and I was trying to unload the groceries onto the conveyor belt when the toddler had an absolute meltdown and started trying to fling herself out of the cart. The woman in line behind me put her hand on my arm and said, "Here dear, let me unload everything for you while you take care of your little girl." I literally started weeping from gratitude.

Now I try to help other moms whenever I can - passing along the kindness.

[angi]

UGH! Days like this just suck, BUT then it's all good when a little one throws a little something sweet in to make you smile :)