Meltdown

On the way home from church on Sunday, Jen said that she had to stop at the store to buy a few things for a "carry-in" at work that night. I decided to stop at the Kroger store on the way home since it is right on the way home. I should have known better since the last time we stopped at Kroger on the way home from church I ended up taking off the side view mirror of the car next to me and costing me a couple hundred bucks, but hey, I thought that was a fluke. There was two options, One stay in the car with the kids and let Jen run in and get her stuff or Two take the whole crew in. Since I was thinking about grabbing something for lunch we decided to take the whole crew in, that and the boys can get real cranky just sitting in the car. We head into the store and immediately William sees one of the race car shopping carts. Whoever came up with that idea I hope they burn in hell, or at least live an eternity of kids screaming at them because they want to ride in them. We decided to just grab a little tote since we were only getting a few things. William was a little disappointed, but seemed happy enough carrying the tote around. Andrew was in rare form and started to run all over the place, so I picked him up to wrangle him. A little while later the meltdown started..... William didn't want to carry the tote anymore, then he wanted me to carry him too. I tried to explain to him that we were almost done, but that wasn't good enough. So the crying begins. And then the always famous kid "flop" in the middle of the isle. Already having a short fuse since William woke us up at 5:00am I decided to take him out of the store. Yeah I will admit I was a bit furious at him, and of course embarrassed that my little "angle" would do this in a store. Already crying and trying to wriggle out of my arms we pass the race car cart and the meltdown turns into Chernobyl. The way he is screaming I would not have been surprised if someone thought I was beating the kid or abducting him against his will. I get him to the car and into his seat and the meltdown continues. He gets out of the seat and tries to get out of the truck. I start the threat of taking things away if he doesn't behave which is the latest tool of the arsenal, even to the point of no movies for the day (the big gun). Finally though the tears he tells me he has to pee. Crap. So I have to take him back into the store and to the bathroom, through the gauntlet of racecar carts and people staring, but luckily he has calmed down a little. So back in to go to the bathroom and back out to the car just as Jen is leaving too. We get home and I Think Jen is genuinely concerned that I might beat the boy since I am fuming. But after some time, and a nap for all of us, I felt a little better.

New Rule: No shopping at Kroger after church anymore.