Remind me of this post the next time I get romantic visions in my head of me and the girls shopping for a gift for Darren.
We went up to my hometown to see Beth, Lisa and Co. for Thanksgiving. High on my list of priorities was a chance to shop at my favorite mall. I thought the girls and I would have a lot of fun picking out gifts for Christmas for everyone.
I must have overdosed on crack to have such warped visions.
I should have realized that the messed up sleep schedule, the overstimulation, the excitement of the holiday, etc. would pave the path towards the day I decided the rest of my Christmas shopping would be done at night in my bathrobe with a laptop computer.
Perhaps it was the fact that they thought it was fun to race through the store or try to drive the cart (subsequently into SEVERAL displays) or when I tried rain boots on them and they took off running with the plastic ties tying the shoes together STILL attached.
Perhaps it was the fact that S thought everything she saw should be for her or that she threw a fit when I could only find one item for Darren in the store and it happened to be the one K picked out.
Perhaps it was the fact that S decided it would be funny to lag behind me so far ON PURPOSE while trying to hopscotch to the tile grid in the mall and when I would turn around and tell her to get up by me (as I am manuevering K and several bags), she would smirk at me and stay put until I went back to get her.
Timeouts don't work so well in a mall. I tried to find a place to give her one but it was Black Saturday, the mall was packed, and nary a bench to be found. Plus, I had to stay close enough to make sure no one took her (although at that point, I would have seriously considered PAYING someone to do so), so she ended up on the floor by a kiosk. She promptly turned around and started sorting through their sweatshirts as I stood a few feet away.
Then I grabbed S's hand to keep her up next to me and she went limp and shrieking to which point I tried to pull her back up again and tripped over her. I had HAD IT! I pulled both girls by the hand back to find my sisters to let them know this shopping experience was for the birds. Both girls were crying, slobbering, snot-dripping messes trying to wriggle out of my grasp but alas, I put my game face on and marched them out to the car, past many dismayed shoppers.
Within 15 minutes of buckling their shriekinesses into car seats (a challenge in Darren's two door car), they had fallen fast asleep.
Lesson learned. The next time I even THINK about attempting this again, someone please do me a favor and stage an intervention.
1 comment:
Not a Thanksgiving goes by without me getting wistful for the Knobloch girls. My boring old life was infused with so much excitement every Thanksgiving as your family breezed into SE iowa. I guess i never really thought about the fact that it would end... but i miss it.. so this is my tribute to the knobloch girls (and a few fuzzy memories of jeff)!
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