Yesterday was a lovely Saturday, and being that we live in a small town that doesn't get hit quite as hard with the weekend after Thanksgiving horrors of holiday shopping, we thought we would go out and do a little shopping. I am already about 95% done with our Christmas shopping, but had a few things left to get, and some things that I needed for a Church Christmas party that I am in charge of. So off we went to the store.
D thought that it would be fun for the boys if we gave them each a dollar and let them spend it however they wanted to. Believe me, they were pretty excited! We started out our excursion at Deals Only...the local discount store. There the boys flitted around trying to decide what to buy. In the end, only K (4) and C (3) spent their money. K is now the proud owner of a suction cup dart gun (which the boys have been having fun sticking darts to the ceiling with) with a cool fake spy watch. C invested in a Rugrats Christmas coloring book which is now already half used up. J opted to spend ten cents of his money to get a package of Kool Aid in a flavor he has not tried yet. On we went to JoAnn Fabrics.
JoAnn Fabrics is not a great store to take five little boys into. Of course we always get comments like "Are all of those yours?" Like the boys are some kind of inhuman science experiment. And then there is the-not much to entertain little boys aspect of the store. All in all, they didn't do too badly, except that T (6) decided playing Hide and Go seek would be fun and stalked around the store hiding from his brothers, who were not even bothering to look for him. He got particularly frustrated when I kept stumbling across his hiding spots (purely by accident) and making him come with me until he escaped again. There were also some moments of C screaming that he didn't want to be there at the top of his lungs, and some face pinching by various brothers...I guess they weren't that well behaved after all.
From JoAnn fabrics we drove to the factory outlet stores just over a half hour away. The boys were eager to spend their money at the KB Toy outlet. I, however, had other places to go first, so we started out (after a much needed potty break) at the Kitchen Store. As soon as we went in T (who has a form of high functioning Autism by the way) went into meltdown mode. I wasn't really thinking ahead, and with T you have to tell him exactly what you are doing, and in what order. He only knew we were going to the toy store, and to him that meant without anything else in between. We got plenty of looks from the shoppers as T proceeded to have a noisy meltdown and throw a major fit, which included a lot of stomping and attempts to hit various products in the store (this all took place about three feet into the store). J (9)was also complaining loudly (did I mention he is also Autistic?) This ended with me dragging T (literally) out of the store and bodily placing him in the van (it was harder than you would think and involved me finally having to shove him in there and close the door before he could get out). Then I got into the front seat and proceeded to reason with him. This included a lot of screaming and crying on his part, and a firm, "You have two choices" on my part. Once he figured out that I meant it, he decided to be nice, and went back into the kitchen store with me and he was fine.
Next was the toy store, which proved to be too expensive for them to spend their dollars at, and even though its an "outlet" store, even our locally overpriced Fred Meyer has much less expensive prices. I did get one thing that was on sale for a good price (and that I didn't need to get since I was already done shopping for that person-so now I will have to save one of his other gifts for his birthday). Then we went to the bookstore next door, where the boys proceeded to lay on the floor and read books as if they were at home, and it was very frustrating. I got some of the rest of my Christmas shopping done though, and was happy enough to leave that store. I had one more outlet store to go to, which was a costume jewelry type place, and I knew the boys wouldn't do well there. On the way to the car (for the boys and D-the next store for me) K (4) was asking me when we were having lunch (it was getting dark by this time) and he just couldn't understand that we basically skipped lunch since we ate breakfast at noon. I am sure that other shoppers overhearing him ask about having lunch and dinner thought I was the worst mother in the world for starving her five cute (and skinny) sons. D took the boys to the car, and I hurried as best as I could at the last shop. I got what I needed, then went to the car, and amid the cries of the starving masses we drove towards Taco Bell/KFC. Once we got to the parking lot D made the cardinal mistake of asking the opinion of our boys as to whether we should eat in the restaurant or get it to go and eat in the van on our way home. This erupted into a huge argument and a fit on the part of J. The last time we all went into a store that J had protested about going into, he was HORRIBLE. He was already nearing meltdown stage, and my frazzled nerves couldn't take it, so D started the car, and we left. This caused an incredible amount of noise from the back of the van from all of the sudden screaming and crying. In the past we would have appeased them all and gone back. However, they have shown that that kind of spoiling doesn't help them, so we continued home. I wish I had recorded the noise...it was unbelievable. I have sensitive ears, so I turned up the radio-which was at the time playing one of my least favorite Christmas songs (Jingle Bell Rock if you are curious) and sang along at the top of my lungs. D looked over at me and said "I thought you hated this song." I just smiled and said I would rather listen to that than the kids screaming. The screaming continued (mostly by J with some crying by K) for most of the half hour drive home. I reassured the boys that we would have leftovers when we got home, and J proclaimed that he would not eat anything ever again until he got TACO BELL! I told him that he was going to get really skinny and we continued our drive home. Once we were getting close to home it just popped into my head, and I couldn't help but sing it out.
You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town...
Of course I put special emphasis on "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake."
So to all of you out there contemplating taking your kids Christmas shopping with you...try to make it easier on them...better yet...try to make it easier on yourself! And watch out, because Santa may be watching you too!
D thought that it would be fun for the boys if we gave them each a dollar and let them spend it however they wanted to. Believe me, they were pretty excited! We started out our excursion at Deals Only...the local discount store. There the boys flitted around trying to decide what to buy. In the end, only K (4) and C (3) spent their money. K is now the proud owner of a suction cup dart gun (which the boys have been having fun sticking darts to the ceiling with) with a cool fake spy watch. C invested in a Rugrats Christmas coloring book which is now already half used up. J opted to spend ten cents of his money to get a package of Kool Aid in a flavor he has not tried yet. On we went to JoAnn Fabrics.
JoAnn Fabrics is not a great store to take five little boys into. Of course we always get comments like "Are all of those yours?" Like the boys are some kind of inhuman science experiment. And then there is the-not much to entertain little boys aspect of the store. All in all, they didn't do too badly, except that T (6) decided playing Hide and Go seek would be fun and stalked around the store hiding from his brothers, who were not even bothering to look for him. He got particularly frustrated when I kept stumbling across his hiding spots (purely by accident) and making him come with me until he escaped again. There were also some moments of C screaming that he didn't want to be there at the top of his lungs, and some face pinching by various brothers...I guess they weren't that well behaved after all.
From JoAnn fabrics we drove to the factory outlet stores just over a half hour away. The boys were eager to spend their money at the KB Toy outlet. I, however, had other places to go first, so we started out (after a much needed potty break) at the Kitchen Store. As soon as we went in T (who has a form of high functioning Autism by the way) went into meltdown mode. I wasn't really thinking ahead, and with T you have to tell him exactly what you are doing, and in what order. He only knew we were going to the toy store, and to him that meant without anything else in between. We got plenty of looks from the shoppers as T proceeded to have a noisy meltdown and throw a major fit, which included a lot of stomping and attempts to hit various products in the store (this all took place about three feet into the store). J (9)was also complaining loudly (did I mention he is also Autistic?) This ended with me dragging T (literally) out of the store and bodily placing him in the van (it was harder than you would think and involved me finally having to shove him in there and close the door before he could get out). Then I got into the front seat and proceeded to reason with him. This included a lot of screaming and crying on his part, and a firm, "You have two choices" on my part. Once he figured out that I meant it, he decided to be nice, and went back into the kitchen store with me and he was fine.
Next was the toy store, which proved to be too expensive for them to spend their dollars at, and even though its an "outlet" store, even our locally overpriced Fred Meyer has much less expensive prices. I did get one thing that was on sale for a good price (and that I didn't need to get since I was already done shopping for that person-so now I will have to save one of his other gifts for his birthday). Then we went to the bookstore next door, where the boys proceeded to lay on the floor and read books as if they were at home, and it was very frustrating. I got some of the rest of my Christmas shopping done though, and was happy enough to leave that store. I had one more outlet store to go to, which was a costume jewelry type place, and I knew the boys wouldn't do well there. On the way to the car (for the boys and D-the next store for me) K (4) was asking me when we were having lunch (it was getting dark by this time) and he just couldn't understand that we basically skipped lunch since we ate breakfast at noon. I am sure that other shoppers overhearing him ask about having lunch and dinner thought I was the worst mother in the world for starving her five cute (and skinny) sons. D took the boys to the car, and I hurried as best as I could at the last shop. I got what I needed, then went to the car, and amid the cries of the starving masses we drove towards Taco Bell/KFC. Once we got to the parking lot D made the cardinal mistake of asking the opinion of our boys as to whether we should eat in the restaurant or get it to go and eat in the van on our way home. This erupted into a huge argument and a fit on the part of J. The last time we all went into a store that J had protested about going into, he was HORRIBLE. He was already nearing meltdown stage, and my frazzled nerves couldn't take it, so D started the car, and we left. This caused an incredible amount of noise from the back of the van from all of the sudden screaming and crying. In the past we would have appeased them all and gone back. However, they have shown that that kind of spoiling doesn't help them, so we continued home. I wish I had recorded the noise...it was unbelievable. I have sensitive ears, so I turned up the radio-which was at the time playing one of my least favorite Christmas songs (Jingle Bell Rock if you are curious) and sang along at the top of my lungs. D looked over at me and said "I thought you hated this song." I just smiled and said I would rather listen to that than the kids screaming. The screaming continued (mostly by J with some crying by K) for most of the half hour drive home. I reassured the boys that we would have leftovers when we got home, and J proclaimed that he would not eat anything ever again until he got TACO BELL! I told him that he was going to get really skinny and we continued our drive home. Once we were getting close to home it just popped into my head, and I couldn't help but sing it out.
You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town...
Of course I put special emphasis on "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake."
So to all of you out there contemplating taking your kids Christmas shopping with you...try to make it easier on them...better yet...try to make it easier on yourself! And watch out, because Santa may be watching you too!
4 comments:
I was brave and took the girls out to the mall yesterday. I don't know about boys, but little girls must touch everything and bring you everything proclaiming it cute or sweet or coo over it. It makes shopping difficult and the mommy very cranky.
I totally sympathize with you and it sounds like you two handled it perfectly on the way home. With my temper I'm afraid I wouldn't have handled it as well. :)
Heidi
We leave the house thinking positive thoughts, we retuurn home thinking, "what was I thinking???"
Oh, I loved reading this!!! This reminds me of my last Lets-Take-The-Kids-Christmas-Shopping-Mistake that happened nearly two years ago...
A little foam football - $1.06 ... Going to the dollarstore on a December's saturday - Priceless.
Man I had to smile. I love you guys!
Mom, I'm still angry at you for posting this...
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