Other side of the Fence

Today the AC repairman came out to replace our system. I'd promised when he arrived I'd take the kids to pick a DVD at the store to keep them out of everyone's hair. We packed up and drove to the local Hollywood Video.

I was nervous as this was the first time at this particular store with all the children. Arwen and Logan held hands as I held on to Vincents and balanced Annabel's car seat in the crook of my other arm. We went inside and walked to the children's section.

I had to reprimand Logan a few times for running off but for the most part it went very smoothly. When we'd made our selections we took them to the counter. I was thinking to myself that it looked like I'd survive this trip unscathed. Of course it was around this time my 3 year old decided to bitch slap me back down to reality.

I was paying when Vincent saw the gumball machine. I walked around the edge of the counter and told him I didn't have any quarters and it was time to go. Arwen pulled out a dime to try in the machine and I explained it wouldn't work. Meanwhile this pisses Vincent off even more as he wants a gumball and Arwen is touching the machine (he's having sharing issues now, with everyone but Annabel).

This resulted in a full scale meltdown. He began thrashing and screaming (just like last time) and I stood mortified. I told Arwen to take Logan's hand, it was time to go. As I grabbed Vincent he decided to use his dead weight trick on me and dropped to the ground. His screams echoed through out the store and I felt myself getting hot from embarrassment.

Then suddenly I'd had enough. I sat Annabel down and handed Arwen the bag with the videos inside. I instructed her to grab onto Logan's hand because we were leaving. I walked over to Vincent, wrapped my right arm around his waist, and hoisted all 40 pounds of him up. As I walked around the wooden security posts Vincent grabbed them with his arms and began kicking and screaming. He kicked Arwen in the face and she began to cry. I made sure she was ok before telling her we had to get to the van. She wiped her tears and walked over to Logan and took his hand once more.

I turned to the video clerk and asked if he had a video camera handy. He laughed and said no and I said it was a shame because he had the opportunity to shoot the most influential birth control video the world has ever seen.

After pulling on him Vincent lost his grip on the posts. I hurried over to Annabel who was waiting patiently (god love her) and I picked up all 25+ pounds of her and carseat and began walking to the door. (This is harder than when I normally carry her because I was forced to hold her with my hand and arm only, instead of resting in the crook of my arm, it's very difficult to carry her and even more difficult to carry her for more than a minute) Arwen opened the door while also keeping a hold on Logan and I walked out. I carried Vincent to the van before putting him down. By this point he'd calmed and had stopped screaming and fortunately the short walk from the store to my van had cooled me off as well.

I guess this is karma's way of biting me in the ass for all those times I've seen wild children in public and thought to myself, "why does that parent let that child act that way??". If any of those parents felt like I did today then believe me, they were absolutely mortified. I couldn't get out of that store fast enough and if I weren't surrounded by patrons I'd have loved nothing more than to bust Vincent's tiny hiney.

I don't know what I'm going to do with him. He can be the sweetest boy in the world and he's so nurturing and loving with Annabel. But he's also capable of being so angry and loud when he's frustrated. It's impossible to calm him during one of his breakdowns.

One things for certain. I won't be returning to the video store again when he's with me. I don't want to be known as the woman who's kid goes apeshit in the store over gumballs.

Almost forgot. I've been keeping tabs on scoreboard but haven't posted it. So to update:

Summer Scoreboard:

Mom=10
Kids=8