So, why am I that mom? I was at Walmart today with my kids. I had just spent over 30 minutes in the return line. Was rudely cut in front of as I was the next person by an older lady. I walked up to the counter to say I was next and she and the associate both ignored me. I just stood there refusing to move. Turns out the lady doing the return works there and I guess that's why she and the associate decided it was ok for her to cut in front of me. Finally got my return done and the 3 older kids were crying for a drink, found a water fountain and filled their cups up which they all slammed, some happier than others (Teddy thinks plain water is the plague!).
Began my shop[ping and at this point they are all hungry. Yes I know, my bad for going out at lunchtime except I didn't, not really. I left the house at 10 am it just took forever with previous errands and because of all the crazy after Christmas shoppers and returners. I frantically search for something that I can open in the store to give them, settled on a box of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies. Gave them their snack and that kept them happy for a little bit. Then Teddy announced he had to pee. Of course we were all the way in the back of the store and had to make our way all the way up to the front through the craxy crowds. After he gets out Karma decides she needs out too and proceeds to try and climb out over and over again. I am practically holding her in the cart and making her sit down repeatedly. Sariah starts to cry and then Teddy and Kimmy start fighting. Teddy is intentionally annoying Kimmy to make her scream and cry "no Teddy no!" over and over. All through this I am still repeatedly sitting Karma back down. I have no idea how many times I made her sit back down, I would have to guess more than 20 probably less than 50!!
Sadly, NONE of the above are what made me THAT mom, to me anyways-although I am sure I was already quite a sight to many. No, what made me THAT mom was still to come.
Finally Karma stops trying to climb out but she's still screaming at the top of her lungs. I tried offering her more cheddar bunnies thinking that maybe she was still hungry and that's why she was crying but she didn't want them. Teddy is still annoying Kimmy who is still screaming "no Teddy no" at the top of her lungs over and over again and poor Sariah is still crying. I wished I had brought my sling in, I am sure she wanted to nurse but I just wanted to finish and get out of that crazy place. I realized after the bathroom trip I had lost my list and I was desperately trying to think clearly to remember what I needed. I was concentrating so hard on thinking about what was on the list and just absent mindedly saying "shhhh, shhhhh, shhhh don't cry don't cry, everyone please stop crying, you are ok, no one is hurt, its ok, Teddy please leave your sister alone, Kimmy stop screaming, shhhh shhhh shhh, you are all ok, no one is hurt, please don't cry, Teddy stop that, shhhh, you have no reason to cry, shhhh shhh, no one is hurt please stop crying" Up and down the aisles I went like this giving myself a headache as I tried to drown out the screaming and remember what I needed to buy.
All of a sudden I heard a woman's voice saying "oh my I think her leg is stuck honey" and a man's voice "your right! Ma'am, Ma'am her leg is stuck!"
I shook myself out of my daze and realized they were talking to me, looked over and realized in her last attempt to climb out of the seat Karma's leg had become pinned under the stupid blue plastic flip down thing in the seat of the cart and she was sitting on it causing her to pinch her own leg. I quickly fixed this and she instantly stopped crying. I was mortified, there was a ton of people in the aisle and they were all glaring at me. I told the couple thank you but they both just gave me rude stares and walked away. As they walked away I heard the woman say to the man 'I can't believe she was telling her to be quiet like that when the poor baby's leg was being pinched"
YEP., I am now offically THAT MOM! I was so mortified I left the food section and went to get all of the nonfood items I needed because I did not want to run into the couple or all the other people who had been in that aisle giving me evil death stares as if I was the worlds worst mom ever.
So the next time you are out and about and you see "THAT mom!" maybe instead of staring and judging her you can try to put yourself in her shoes and empathize with her.
Oh, and just to be clear, although it seemed to last forever the total time that elapsed between Karma's last attempt to climb out of the cart and the couple pointing out that her leg was pinned was like no more than 2 minutes. Still horrible I know but I didn't want anyone to think I walked around the store forever with her like that. We were a cart like the one pictured below, only blue since we were at Walmart. She was in the top seat of the actual cart with Teddy and Kimmy riding in the plastic seats and Sariah in the back of the cart.
