A Screaming Good Time

You would think that Tuesdays and Thursdays with only one child would be a breeze. It’s not.

T.Puzzle’s underlying demeanor is laid-back with a big dash of happy thrown in. I’m hopeful as he grows, this will become a little more stabilized. As of now, since he is only two years old and my boys are big believers in making their second (and third and fourth, you get the idea) year truly terrible at times, yesterday’s trip to the grocery turned out to be a gem of an outing.

It started off fairly routine. I had sufficiently snacked and watered T.Puzzle down before entering the store per my normal prep for any outing. We made our way to the produce section and I innocently queried, “What kind of fruit would you like to have today?”

“Nanas,” he calmly replied.

I grabbed some bananas after scrupulously determining if they had the right balance of yellow and green in them, and placed my selection in the cart.

T.Puzzle lost it. He starts this weird, high-pitched screaming and begins to throw his body back and forth in the cart seat with so much force; I thought it was going to topple over. Through the screaming and tears I was able to deduce that he wanted to HOLD the bananas not simply choose them.

Well, I wasn’t about to let a crazy two year old hold some defenseless bananas. I did my best to ignore him (which let’s face it, was impossible), picked out my other produce and attempted to move forward. To the outside world, I may have appeared unconcerned and maybe even a little flip. Trust me, it was all a cover. I was trying to pretend that this over-the-top tantrum would subside if I could coolly ignore it. Half of me believed that maybe this was true, the other half wanted to start screaming and crying right along with him.

We proceeded stat to the section that held the fruit snacks. Under ordinary circumstances I am a Mom who does not give in to tantrums and crying. I can be as stubborn as any two year old you want to throw my way. On the other hand, T.Puzzle had recently been sick and I wanted to get out of the store with what little reason I still had in me. I didn’t go so low as to open the box, I did let him HOLD the box. Phew! That seemed to do the trick. I reduced my trip to only the absolute essentials and made my way to the check-out.

As T.Puzzle was helping (I use that term very loosely) me unload the cart (thank God he handed over the Spider-Man fruit snacks without a repeat, screaming performance), he started mock-screaming. He does that sometimes because he thinks it’s funny. It’s not very loud and only slightly annoying. I let it go.

Upon hearing this “mock-scream”, a light bulb of recognition went off for the cashier. “Are you the little guy we could hear all the way up here (produce is located in one of the farthest reaching corners from the front of the store mind you)?”

“No,” he replied. He says no to everything. I told you he was a liar sometimes.

“Actually, it was me (there I go again trying to make light of an embarrassing situation). Okay, it wasn’t me, it was him, but I really, really wanted to start screaming myself.”

The cashier and bagger both smiled and they made over him (which he adored) and we went home. Since we have reached the crossroads of napping, I still attempt to put him down for one every day whether he wants one or not. I figured he had to be tired anyway from all that screaming. I know I was. Before he headed upstairs to his room, he grabbed his brother’s doggie to sleep with (if anyone sees Full Speed, don’t mention this, he could either think it’s cool or think it’s a good reason to beat his brother senseless). I thought it was one of the most adorable things a little brother could do while he’s missing his big brother who is off at school. My heart melted and all was forgiven. That is until he started screaming again when I put him down for his nap.