Cranky pants!

I went out for a little birthday shopping for myself today and Kelsie was a little terror! She has officially reached the age where it is near impossible to expect her to sit quietly in her stroller while mommy shops! She wants to get DOWN, touch everything, pull things off shelves, explore, and RUN away from me! She used to want to get out of her stroller for me to hold her...now if I try to carry her, she just has a fit to get down so she can run around. Well, that obviously is not safe or appropriate, but of course, SHE does not understand that! She screamed, hit me, bit me, and tried to throw herself out of my arms when I picked her up. And yes, I just threw down my stuff and toted her right out of the store where I popped her little bottom! I realized after that, I am now "that mom with the screaming kid." I used to look at "those moms" and feel bad for them, but probably on some occasions, did think that they must have just had poorly behaved children. Sure, I've judged how other mom's take of their kids and handle those situations, every mom does it!! But its an awful feeling to be on the other side of it, ya know?! When its your kid throwing the fit in the check out line and everyone is staring and judging YOU, its just makes you want to turn around and run! But I didn't. I managed the situation, was assertive with her, held those little hands as tight as I could for about a minute and told her why hitting was bad and when she calmed down, I put her in her stroller and gave her a snack to keep her occupied. But not before I had to pull out her enzymes and open those little capsules up and mix them in applesauce there in the check out line of Ann Taylor Loft while everyone was watching! And I'm sure people were judging again thinking I was drugging my kid, wondering what-in-the-world-kind-of-pills I was giving her.  Well, at least I'm not the type of person to really worry about what others think in that type of situation. So I did my thing, and got out of there. I was determined to finish my planned trip despite her tantrums, so I drove to Old Navy. She did much better there and rode in her stroller for a good stretch of time. But then she started getting antsy towards the end and all that twisting and trying to get down was impossible to hold, so I ler her walk. And that is great at first...she is happy as a clam! Until I pick her up and she proceeds to try to attack my face!! A little hellion today, I tell ya!! I was so mad at her! And I saw another woman see her do that and made the face "OH NO, she didn't!" Rest assurred she got a talking to about that too. But sometimes I'm just at a loss on how to best discipline her right now. I did spend 2 years in graduate school studying nothing but children and adolescents, and I advise parents on behavioral issues all the time. But like everything else, its still easier said than done. And its different when its your kid! I know that all kids have tantrums. Its part of normal development. And its also normal for her to want to be down exploring, touching and looking at all the new things she's never seen before. I know, developmentally, she doesn't understand why she can't just run around like she wants to. So its just hard to know how to communicate that to a 15 month old. I guess I may just have to take a break from our mommy/daughter shopping trips for a while! Well, probably not. I will keep trying at least. :) And to her little defense, tonight I did feel that a new molar has just popped through, so that could have been contributing to some of her non-sense!

Nevertheless, she is definitely a strong willed and independent little person, and I'm happy about that, but boy, when we are out and she starts exerting that independence, I can't help but wish she would just be a little less active and a little more laidback for once! 

Here she is a lunch today (before the tantrums started) being a little flirt! She was blowing kisses at random people! And no one told her to!

This was after her big tantrum once I took her outside...definitely loving being down huh!

Cool fountain!

I put her in her blow up pool once she got up from her afternoon nap. She loved it! But this is what happened when she took out her headband haha! This look pretty much sums up our day! Lol.