How We Got Kicked Out of Target

Ok so we didn't get kicked out, but I wanted to kick us out of Target! Jim is gone this weekend so I've been working double duty with the boys to make sure that by bed time they are exhausted and won't give me any fuss with going to bed. We were up at 6:30 this morning and at the gym by 9. We ran errands from 11-12 had lunch and naps until 2:30. They woke up nice and refreshed so we colored, built a castle, played with the alphabet on the fridge, played chase, tickle monster, and watched Max and Ruby too many times and then had dinner. Cooper built his own train track from our memory blocks. Then Bear, well he destroyed it!

We'd already had puddle time so I thought they would love a bath (and it would take at least an hour if I did it right.) For the first time on record they refused a bath. Typically you ask if they want a bath and they are running for the tub and undressing themselves. So with two hours to kill I suggest maybe we go outside or go to a store. They bring me their shoes and off we go with them being very excited.

We walk into Target and Bear lets go of my hand and starts to run. (I let him know several times on the way in that if he ran away from me he would be in the shopping cart.) I got ready to chase him and he stopped about 20 feet ahead of us and waited. So through Target we go. Bear tried to take down a jewelry display so we had to leave that section. Bear and Coop decide all the brightly colored bras are really fun to play with and they start grabbing at them. Bear got his warning to stop throwing them on the ground but he was having too much fun so in the cart he went. I got what I needed and we were off to explore.

There was a long path with nobody in it. Bear got out and they were off. They just kept running and running and laughing with delight. Coop would fall right in front of someone and say, "Okay? Yeah I'm ok!" Then get up and do it to the next person.

Coop found the bikes and lo and behold they had a little tricycle there and Coop got a lesson in how to ride a bike. He got the steering part and then he got the pedaling part but he did not get them together. (Didn't help that he wouldn't let go of Rocket.) Bear found some soccer balls and I would kick one several isles down and he would take off. Grab it and bring it back for me to kick again. He was crazy over these soccer balls. I was loving it because they were laughing and running. I was working up a sweat with the bike lesson and chasing the soccer balls. Anybody looking at us would have thought we were at the playground!

The problem was trying to get Bear to move on. I brought a soccer ball with us but then he kept wanting to run back to get another one. So he began fussing. And fussing. And fussing. Until he found a Thomas the Train phone. He was overjoyed with this phone but so frustrated because it was in the packaging. So I try to compromise and we get a part of the phone out but it's not enough. Cooper has found a real rocket (from Little Einsteins) that's also a submarine so he's thrilled. Bear is in the cart again but he wants to throw the soccer ball out and try to take out picture frames so that section was out. I decided to call it a night and go check out.

I picked the slowest cash register and the couple in front of me had about 20 coupons. The boys begin begging for their toys even though I kept saying please wait until we pay for it. Coop is trying very hard to climb on the shopping cart to reach the conveyor belt and keeps telling me, "I can't reach! Help me momma." So the next cashier over decides to be helpful and start saying that the toys were his. Well Coop didn't go for that and started to get very upset. The cashier got the message and stopped trying to be helpful. Our cashier thought it would be nice to give Bear his soccer ball so he grabbed it and threw it at a customer in the photo lab. Cooper went and got it and we started to make our way out. I now have the cart so I can't hold Coop's hand and push the cart with Bear in it. I ask Coop if he would please be helpful and get in the cart. He throws himself down on the floor and covers his face saying, "Momma I'm crying!' and screaming at the top of his lungs. So in the cart he goes crying the whole way. We get to the car and then he's fine. Both of them were fine. They just were trying to get a reaction from me I know it.

So while we didn't actually get kicked out of Target my ploy to tucker them out worked wonders. We got home opened the toys (so anticlimactic as the Thomas phone was discarded within 10 minutes) and got ready for bed. They are now both sound asleep (Coop is clutching his new rocket) and I'm not far behind them!!