If You’re a Mom, You’ve Been There

And if you’re not a mom, you’ve been a witness to that crying, screaming temper tantrum.

Emmy has thrown more temper tantrums in the grocery store than I can count. I’m often tempted to take her out and just leave, but I am usually there because we desperately need food in the house and it is my allotted time for shopping since Lily is in school. Leaving is not an option.

Today, Emmy somehow spotted a make-up kit, geared for children, in the sale aisle. She decided she had to have it. I said no. On your mark, get set…TANTRUM!

She walked next to me, screaming and crying while I tried to distract her. Hey, at least she was moving and not lying on the floor.

“Do you want to pick out some cereal for Daddy?” NO!!

“Here are some Goldfish. What kind do you want?” NO!!

Crabby old people scowled at her. Nice grandmas smiled. One woman patted me on the shoulder and said, “I’ve been there. You’ll make it, mom.”

The kind lady working in the deli asked me if Emmy could have c-a-n-d-y, and I gratefully said yes. Emmy was finally distracted.

In the produce section, she happily sat in the cart and twisted twist-ties around the produce bags.

As I rounded the corner to grab a box of the pizza dough mix I almost forgot, I saw a dad looking at his smart phone. (email? grocery list?) The toddler in his cart grabbed at the floor display next to the cart, and in just an instant, two jars of pickles careened to the floor.

And as Emmy remembered the forbidden makeup bag and started to whine again, I sighed with relief that at least I didn’t have a “picklepuss” (as the embarrassed dad jokingly started calling his toddler) in my cart.

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Circles

We’re the typical suburban family, I think, living close to a large city with much to offer and yet hardly ever taking advantage of the city until we have a visitor from out of town. This past weekend, our nephew’s girlfriend was visiting him, and he wanted to show her around town. So the whole family was off to the Shedd Aquarium for a day of fun.
As I was looking at my photos from our day, I was struck by the number of circles I found.

Perfectly round spots on a little spotted stingray

I’m expecting a hobbit to come walking out the round door,
ready for a ramble around the Shire.
Moon jellies, round like their name

Tail circled around a frond of seaweed, this little seahorse is hoping a morsel of food will float by while he patiently waits.

Lily, taking a rest after playing inside an iceberg in the Polar Play Zone, can’t resist looking at the anemones in the tank behind her.

Emmy gets in on the fun by dressing up like a penguin with a round, white belly.

All of these circles remind me of my favorite poem to read aloud:

I am running in a circle
and my feet are getting sore,
and my head is
spinning,
spinning,
as it’s never spun before.
I am
dizzy
dizzy
dizzy.
Oh! I cannot bear much more.
I am trapped in a
revolving
. . .volving
. . .volving
. . .volving door!

Running in a Circle, from The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky