Terrible Twos at Walmart

Did you hear a screaming child at Walmart today? Seriously - have you ever stopped as you walked into that place and just listened? There is always at least one child screaming, somewhere ... today it was mine. Yes, I am that awful mom. The one that refused to hold her two year old, while pushing the cart that was holding her 4 year old. He was the picture of 'weeping and wailing'. He screamed, kicked, hit me repeatedly through the entire store and continued to profess his frustration and anger for 15 minutes following our departure. I'm sure if he knew them, or could even say them there would have been some cussing words thrown in there too. I think at one point he even threw himself on the floor in an all out temper tantrum ... are we really there? Do we really have to be there? Can't we just skip over the delightful two year old terribleness? Never mind the reason we were there in the first place. Miss Lilly waited to long to use the potty, so we found ourselves with a dripping leotard and tutu minutes before we had to leave for her dance class ... no other leo, no other option, we had to go to Walmart. Which is precisely why there was a tantrum. I dread shopping with Big D ... I will go for days without bread in the house. I've been looking at those leotards at Target, Walmart, Old Navy for the last few weeks, thinking I really ought to have another one on hand so I don't have to do laundry before dance every week ... but, funny how intuition really doesn't help unless you listen! So, when you hear a screaming child at Walmart today - think of me and smile ... 'cause what else can you do? Any illusion of control that I previously had about my influence over my children has been dashed to pieces. Might as well just grin and enjoy the ride (or the 'looks' in this case, as I was at Walmart)!