Pinch Me

With the dishes washed (by hand) and the house in semi-order from a cleaning spree last night, I braved a morning of errands with three kids today. Granted, we didn’t leave the house until after 11:00 AM, but our very long trip to Target was virtually painless. Everyone stayed in the cart (unless they had permission otherwise), nobody ended up crying or hurt, and I was able to find everything I needed (including the perfect sheets for Chloe’s big girl bed for 3.95 a set – woo hoo!) before our trip was done.

To reward this good behavior, I took the kids to McDonalds – and we ate inside! Morgan and Chloe were ecstatic to have this special reward! When I am on my own with the kids, I never go inside. In fact, the reason we go to McDonalds is because their kids’ meal makes the smallest amount of mess in my car (thanks to apple dippers and the juice box offerings). So in we went - a toddler, a preschooler, an infant, a giant diaper bag purse and me - from the car into the doors and up to the counter to order. To my surprise, there were no kids darting off to the playplace and out of my sight, there was no scrambling in opposite directions or fighting with each other (well, there were, they just weren’t MY kids).

Instead, a very well-behaved boy and girl stood close to Mom and each other as they contemplated which toy they wanted in their happy meals. Then, they stayed very close to mom as we made our way to a table – with a tray full of food added to my load – and sat down. Both kids sat at the table and ate their chicken nuggets and apple dippers before playing with their toys or heading off to play and after I laid their food out for them, I was rewarded with a sweet little, “thank you Mom” first from Chloe and then from Morgan. After finishing their happy meals, they were off to play, politely introducing themselves to new friends, playing nicely and taking turns. Chloe even waited patiently at the top of the slide for a younger kid to stop climbing up the slide before she went down, all the while gently urging him to go up the stairs, not the slide.

Then it was time to go. Uh Oh…this is going to be a nightmare, I thought to myself. “Time to go,” I told them. Without a single complaint, Morgan got his shoes on, Chloe packed up her remaining chicken nugget and apples, and we all walked out to the car without incident.

Hmmm…maybe this errands with 3 kids thing isn’t as bad as I thought. Maybe the addition of a baby has incented Morgan and Chloe to be more helpful. Maybe they can sense that I need to feel like a successful parent for the afternoon. That is possible isn’t it? Quick, someone pinch me. I must be dreaming!