Going Public

I should probably be napping but I'm not. Sometimes it's hard to want to nap, especially after eating some chocolate, and especially hard to quiet my mind enough to make it worth my time. Somehow I've found too many other things to occupy my time and unfortunately they haven't been household tasks. I had to sign up for the Coldstone birthday club, of course, check the internet for ideas on how to keep a two year old "busy" for a few minutes, and figure out how to start up blogging again. Very important things! You'd be amazed at what changes when you don't blog for 8 months. Yikes, I can't believe it's been that long!

Today I went to a 2nd hand place called Puddle Jumpers to look for a shirt to wear to a wedding this weekend. I "talked" with Caleb about this endeavor before actually entering the store, what was expected of him, how he would need to obey mommy right away, and most importantly, the toys he was about to see were staying AT the store. My two minute errand turned into 12 minutes because SOMEONE decided to throw a tantrum in the maternity room (thankfully this store is an old house divided into rooms....and we were in a room by ourselves). As I crouched down ( not too easy to do at 37 weeks pregnant) and looked under the racks where Caleb was hiding I realized I had no idea what to do with him. I probably should have just left the store with a kicking and screaming child and gained lots of unwanted attention. Instead, I made it worse by trying to hold him and tell him how sad I was at his choice of disobeying. He didn't hear me anyway, he was too busy making a racket. So, I let him peruse the toys, ride on Tigger, and then I escorted him out the door and to the car.....then I reiterated how sad I was that he disobeyed. He heard me this time but struggled greatly with looking me in the eyes.

I know this is very normal behavior for a 2 year old but it does make me feel 2 things:

Going out in public is way over rated and,

Training is SO important (more on that subject in the many blogs to come), though sometimes it seems I can train all I want and you'd NEVER know it. I guess that's where the need for perseverance comes in.