Today was grocery shopping day. Never a fun filled adventure, since both kids hate it. You should have seen us at the end of the 35 minutes I was in the store. Caitlin, strapped in the cart, sobbing, eating her pretzel sticks. Brandon, walking next to me because the cart was too full, sobbing that he wanted to go home. Anti-depressants, anyone?
Anyway, I digress. We see the Rockies, in all their magnificent beauty on the way to the store. Today was very clear and bright. No picture I could show you would do our view justice, since the mountains look so much closer in real life. As we're driving toward the mountains, Brandon asks me if we've ever been in those mountains. Yes, we have. We drove through the Rockies on our way here from California. Then he asks me where monsters live. Brandon forgets nothing, and expects the same from you. All of a sudden the conversation he had with daddy zooms back into my mind. Monsters live in the mountains. *Great*.... Now the questions swarm around the fact that we stayed in the mountains. Did we stay with the monsters? Did they stay with us? Were they in our hotel? Brandon gets wrapped up in his questions the way a Pit Bull can wrestle with a tennis ball - you cannot pry it from his grip. After many exasperating attempts to ease his mind that the monsters didn't stay with us, I finally reply, with a sigh, "The monsters live way way up high in the mountains. Much higher than we were staying." (I'm such a great mom....) This seemed to satisfy him - at least for today. I feel so sorry for the teachers he's going to have in school. I hope they can handle his tenacity. Some days I can't. I really can't.
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Not being a mom myself, I rarely try to offer suggestions to experienced moms. Especially 'cuz half the time, it turns out the mom already thought of it, tried it, and it didn't happen to work for her kid. (God's having a great belly laugh at just how many different ways His little children can disrupt our lives! ;-)
But I digress....
I saw an episode of "Supernanny" awhile back where they tackled an issue where both kids hated the grocery store, and they threw tantrums, ran amok, and generally made it impossible for the one adult to get the shopping done. Supernanny recommended involving the children in the chore. Maybe Brandon can have the job of finding some of the items for you and retrieving them for you? then he gets an opportunity to receive praise and be engaged? Caitlin may not be able to help locate actual grocery items yet (or maybe she can? sometimes my expectations for a child's abilities are a bit off since I don't have any of my own). But maybe she can be tasked with finding simpler things - like items of a particular color. Or have a counting game. Or maybe just the job of holding mommy's list for her.
anyway, good luck with that - i know it can be a real bear!!
and keep us posted on the conversations with Brandon - his tenacity and memory promise to be a challenge, a laugh, and a blessing (not necessarily at the same time). ;-)
I'm impressed that shopping only took you 35 minutes. I'm sure it felt like 17 hours.
When did Brandon seize upon the monster thing? Thankfully, Padyn hasn't focused on that one yet.
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