When my daughter was two (and newly adopted from a foreign orphanage where she'd lived since birth), there were so many out of control mommy moments that I couldn't even begin to count. Let's see, here are a few....
She loved grocery shopping and getting all that food in the cart, but her food issues meant that removing it from the cart to pay for it was terrifying. From the moment the first item left the cart until every single item was safely back in the cart, she'd scream at the top of her lungs. Cashiers would ask "what does she want?" in hopes of ringing her item, and I would reply, "All of it." They'd give me a look like I was insane, but she'd stop crying the moment the last item was back in the cart.
At her baby dedication (ie. - baptism), the minister saved that until the end. She'd been really good sitting up front waiting, but we were 50 minutes into the service before the dedication. She'd become fidgety and tired, and she'd crawled under the pew. Every time I tried to reach down to get her, she'd scootch just out of reach of me. She'd gone he length of the pew and up a pew, and I still hadn't been able to grab her. That's when the minister called us up, with me trying to reach her. He looked at me, and I pointed under the pew in front of me to show him where she was and said, "I've got nothing." He had to fish her out for me (to the amusement of the church), and then she was NOT happy to see him and said, "NOOOOOOO!"
Let's see... in her country, we were riding in a van with a driver, a translator and another family. She became very upset, pulled off her shoe, and threw it over her shoulder. I'd taken 3 pair of shoes with me, but only one had ended up fitting her. The shoe that she threw was never seen again! I have no idea where it went in an enclosed vehicle, but we could not find it anywhere. I had to practically throw my own fit the next day to be taken to a shoe store to get the kid a pair of shoes to wear to the U.S. Embassy that day as she had no shoes.
Oh, there was also the time a week or so after I received custody of her when we were in a cathedral as tourists in her country. I'd suggested to our tour guide/translator that it was late afternoon, she was fussy, and maybe I should just skip it. He had insisted that it would be fine. The cathedral had a security screening to enter, so we had to wait in line to go inside. As we approached the entrance, I took her out of her stroller, she broke free, ran around everyone in line and into the cathedral, leaving me standing back in line unable to enter past security, etc. until they finally waved me through because there was a screaming two year old running through a cathedral made entirely of marble. Imagine how much a marble cathedral can echo! I had to catch her, and then the exit was NOT anywhere near the entrance. I was in a panic just trying to find an exit while trying to contain/quiet a screaming 30lb 2yr old who didn't even speak my language. As we were leaving the building, our translator asked, "Have you checked her to see if there is a 666 anywhere on her body?"
Oh my gosh, that only scratches the surface of the many tantrums and embarassing moments, especially when she first arrived. It taught me that as long as you're doing your best and trying not to disturb others, then don'ot care too awful much what some judgemental people who aren't walking in your shoes may think. It also taught me that almost every parent has been there in some capacity at some point in time, and many of them feel your pain, feel for you or are just glad their own kid isn't having the tantrum this time. One particularly frustrating day at McD's play area, the mom next to me said, "She's 2 huh? Honey, I promise, it will get better and easier" I practically bawled right then and there. So I say to you, "I promise, it will get better and easier."
