YEP, THAT WAS ME....

Yep, that was me carrying my boy out of the library "football" style while he cried his head off.  Apparently he did not want to leave the library. It's been over a month since we've been there and now that, Ryder is big enough to sit up at the kiddie table on a chair, he couldn't get enough of it. I was just content that he wasn't rifling books off shelves like he used to do. I quickly chose several board books and a few picture books to take home with us. Just as quickly as I was working, Ryder was choosing ONE book at a time, (usually a huge one) hauling it over to the little table, pulling himself up on a chair, flipping a couple of pages, pushing the book aside and repeating the entire process over and over until the stack of books on the table was as high as him!  I should have just let him keep entertaining himself, but ofcorse, I had my own agenda.  Safeway was right around the corner and I really wanted to squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store before dinner.  I explained in vain, to Ryder that he could read 2 more books (this I knew would take seconds) and then we'd have to go. After the two books, I urged him to come with me to sign out the very heavy bag of books I had hanging on my arm. He refused to budge. I told him I'd count to three and then I'd have to "help" him.  1...(come on, Ryder, just do it, 2...please, I don't want this to get ugly in the QUIET library, 3 (oh, crap, here we go...) "ok, Ryder, Mommy is gonna help you." I awkwardly scooped my 30 pound limp noodle of a boy up while managing not to drop a single book out of the bag, carried both to the front successfully, despite all the wiggling and shrieking.  Once the books were "signed out," I made my way to the door, Ryder did not follow me....again, I counted, again, I prayed for compliance, again, I scooped up a shrieking toddler and awkwardly hauled him to the parking lot where he walloped me one across my head.  This is his new thing. He hits.  I know it's his frustration, of not knowing how to express himself, but it's not acceptable.  I usually say, "Ryder, you don't hit. Do you want to hug Mommy instead?" 9 times out of 10 he will lean in for a hug, greatful, I think for a suggestion of what to do with his built up energy, but sometimes, it doesn't work, sometimes, he just hits me again, that's when I say, "You hit, you sit!" and I sit him down wherever we are, parking lots, horse pastures, sidewalks, kitchen floors, wherever. This usually leads to wailing and very vocal "self expression." This time, in the library parking lot, was no different. Wailing, and bucket loads of tears. I never let this go on long, seconds really, but it feels like eternity!! I usually lean in, ask for a hug, he squeezes me and we get on with our lives, but sometimes, even after the hug, he is still so worked up that he can't quit crying. Today was that day. He cried in my arms, all the way to the truck, all the way to the grocery store, and it didn't even stop once we were in the cool shopping cart with the steering wheels in it. 
So I did what I normally try to avoid doing.....I opened a package of fruit snacks from off the shelf, before I even paid for them, and started feeding them to him. Ah, silence! Finally! After the fruit snacks, he took down half of a plastic container of unwashed (gasp) strawberries. When we got to the check out line, I turned my head for a minute to find my bank card and during those 60 seconds, he bit through the wrapper of a chocolate bar that he grabbed off the shelf...don't worry, I paid for it.  But neither one of us got to actually eat it because the kid at the till assumed it was garbage and before I could stop him, he chucked it in the trash!!

The library/grocery store adventure was "challenging" to say the least. But I am not afraid to try again. I might be a sucker for punishment, but I kind of like the challenge!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and remember, if you hit, you sit!!