Still Shaking My Head in Disbelief

After the fiasco
Of bedtime
And the ups and downs of the nighttime
I decided to lay low today,
But I did need to register the kids for daycare.
So
We finally got out of here around 10:45 am.
Woo-hoo!
It was before noon!

We went and visited where
The Littles will spend their days
And where Miz N will spend before school
And after school
And I feel at peace about the placement,
And praise God for the recommendations
And the openings.

We left there and I went in search of a Target.
Of course,
It is lunch time by this point,
And Miz N and I both had growling stomachs,
So, yes,
I'll be that mom,
And eat at Target's cafe.
Miz N pepperoni pizza.
Tigger and Little Man splitting chicken strips and grilled cheese
And me with my Diet Coke and popcorn.
We were happy.
All of us.
I like being this mom.

Then Little Man gets restless.
I decide to let him down,
Forgetting his has no shoes on
Because,
Like always,
He takes them off as soon as I put them on
And I couldn't find both of them when we walked into the store.
Oh, heck,
I'll be THAT mom,
And let him walk around barefoot.
He was happy,
Which makes us happy.
I like being this mom.

Then he leans over,
And before I can get there,
My child has eaten popcorn off the Target floor.
Outstanding.
The people who were mentioning how cute he was,
Were now looking at me with disgust.
I am THAT mom.

Then we head off to the shoe department
In search of something for Little Man's feet
That he can't take off so fast.
All goes well.

Then we start walking toward the school section,
Because I hate the diaper bag I was given,
(Nothing ever stays up on my shoulders.)
And decide I am just going to use a backpack,
Because,
Well,
I love backpacks.
On the way to the other end of the store,
Tigger decides to start throwing things out of the cart,
And carrying on.
No regular interventions work,
So,
As a friend recommended,
I decided to give her a "time-out" in the store,
So she would understand it would not be acceptable,
Not at home,
Not at the store,
Not anywhere.
She sat on the floor under some work-out wear,
And the other three of us waiting a few feet away,
Trying not to give eye-contact,
Not wanting to admit her bellowing voice belonged to us,
But helping her learn.

She was doing her typical fake-cry
That she does when she is in time-out,
Which I now know ends when the timer goes off
(Praise God for cell phone timers that beep!)

But, we don't make it to the two minute mark.

A woman,
Maybe in her 50s,
Comes out of no where,
Tells me I am a "bad mommy"
And I should not let her cry,
And then hands Tigger a dollar bill
(YES! A $1!!!!)
And tells her to go buy some candy!!!
CANDY?!?!?!?!!!!!!

Another woman watched it,
Heard it,
Go down
And our eyes of shock
And disbelief
Met.
I started shaking my head,
Because I didn't know what to say.
She started shaking her head,
(And laughing a bit)
Miz N was standing there in shock,
As well,
And as the CRAZY woman leaves
She whispers loudly to me,
"Well, that was awkward.
Do I get a dollar for not screaming?"

The other woman,
The normal one who was as shocked as me,
Starts to laugh out loud now
And walks off.

All I could do
And still am doing is shaking my head.
I couldn't believe it!
A $1!
Candy?

 

We got to the backpack aisle,
And another woman struck up a conversation with me,
(It happens a LOT now since I go places with three adorable kiddos.)
And I HAVE to tell her what happened.
She gasps
And then laughs
And then says,
"Did it work?"

I realized,
It did.
Tigger had immediately stopped crying when the CRAZY stranger
Gave her the dollar,
And I went and picked her up
Took the dollar
And put her back in the cart.
Tigger kept saying "candy, candy, candy."

That second lady saw me later in the school again,
And immediately started laughing again,
And told said,
"Hey....
This maybe is a new way you can start earning some money.
Come to Target
Let a kid scream
Wait for someone to give you money.
If they carry on long enough,
Someone might give you a $20 to make you leave."

Hmmmm....
Don't tempt me.
LOL.

We got to the register,
And I gave the dollar to Miz N
And told her to pick out something that was $0.79.
She got her Kit Kat,
Went through the line by herself,
And kept the change.
She was ecstatic.

We HAD to tell the cashier the story,
Of course,
And Miz N
Thoroughly
Enjoyed that Kit Kat bar on the ride home,
And in this hot heat,
This is how she looked when I pulled into the garage.

It's two hours later,
And I am still shaking my head
In disbelief.

I remember my aunt,
Telling us about when she had three kiddos
Under the age of 5
And her littlest one
Who was maybe 15 months old
Had grabbed a piece of gum
That had harden on the side of the cart
And put it into her mouth.
My aunt
Instantly
Grabbed her little girl's mouth
And yanked it out
And then a total stranger came up
And yelled at her about
How she was treated her child.
My aunt told me the story
When my cousin was probably 16
But it was very much etched in her
"I-can't-believe-that-just-happened" memory.

Anyone else have one of this
A-total-stranger-comes-up-to-you-in-a-public-place-and-chews-you-out-for-a-parenting-choice?
I bet there are some good ones out there.
This new "mommy" of toddlers would LOVE to hear them.

Maybe that's a second way
I can start making some extra money,
Put them all into a book.
It would be a best-seller,
Right?