My 4 year old had been acting better when we had been shopping lately. The “I wants” had not been coming out and she had been reasonably patient and helpful during the last few shopping trips.

So I had forgotten…

Forgotten how difficult it can be to go shopping…

With children.

On Tuesday I needed to go to the dollar store to buy some band-aids and other first aid supplies for our Daisy Girl Scout meeting that night. I took all four of my kids because it was the middle of the day and I had promised my 6-year-old that she could pick out the bandaids for her troop because they have some pretty ones at the dollar store.

I also brought everyone because I wanted to stock up on snacks for while we are moving, both to just be able to shove food at the kids and also so they had food to bring with them when they were hanging out at friends houses. Since I am unable to remember who likes what anymore (because I swear they keep changing their minds!) I brought everyone along.

My first warning sign should have been that she wasn’t initially willing to get in the cart. Also, it was super difficult for her to deal with the fact that her sister was going to be looking for a birthday present that we also needed to put together for a friend of ours.

It pretty much went downhill from there. There was a lot of kicking out of her feet which didn’t make me want to push her in the cart. There was a lot of demands about where she wanted to be pushed next, and lots of holding on of things that she also wanted to buy. And it was the dollar store, I was more than willing to buy her a set of bubble makers the shape of popsicles to share with her sisters at the new house.

Of course, it didn’t help that some of her sisters couldn’t really find snacks that they wanted, or took forever to decide. And even though they had eaten lunch, apparently they had gotten hungry again on the 20-minute car ride, or more accurately all the food marketing and packaging was making them hungry and whiny.

We finally checked out and made it out of the store. But we still needed to go to WalMart to buy the rest of our groceries.

Yes, I said it, WalMart, and don’t you go getting all judgy with me. I do my best to shop all local and USA made as I can, but when it comes down to basics of food, there are times where you really do need to stretch your dollar. Believe it or not, but there are also times that in my neighborhood Walmart has the nicer produce, and they sell organic just like the grocery stores do. Also in my neighborhood there currently are not any locally owned grocery stores, so does it matter if I am going to WalMart, Shaws or Hannaford? They are all big box stores.

Also by shopping where I can stretch my dollar, I am able to do more local shopping as well. Just saying that it can, in fact, work both ways!

Anyway by the time we get to Walmart and have a bathroom stop (in the back in the family bathroom because they have the mini toilets that just make my 4 year old so happy) we hit up the craft kit aisle (not in the toy department in the craft department, I am not that crazy) to pick out the final couple of pieces for the birthday gift we are putting together.

Unfortunately, my 4-year-old sees the Paint Your Own ceramic Elsa From Frozen piggy bank. And she wants one. And I can understand why it’s tall, it looks cool and it’s nice and breakable, what more could a 4-year-old want?

The only problem is that 1), I am not shopping for my daughter at the moment and it is way too far out to get her something for her birthday that she knows about and 2) my husband is the only one with the painting skills to make this bank look recognizably like Elsa and 3) we still need to get a craft kit for the person we came into this aisle for.

But we have deeply triggered the “I wants” which currently come out in the “Please, please, please” said over and over again to my consistent “No’s”. I guess I am lucky that she doesn’t try to bargain yet.

We finally make it out of the aisle with what we need and even while I am pushing the cart down to the grocery section she is still asking about it. Or buying her anything really at this point and I am still standing firm in my no. Reminding myself how I usually try and set my children up for success and not failure while shopping and wondering where I went wrong this time around.

We finally make it to check out and I prepare to pay and the register decides to stop working and completely deletes my transaction and the cashier is new and doesn’t seem to understand urgency when it comes to getting the manager to help.

Finally, we check out again with the manager and she is amazing and keeps my girls engaged while she uses the wand to rescan all our items except for the few that need to be weighed, and we finally make it out to the car.

Where my 4 year old no longer wants to get buckled in her carseat. And no amount of cajoling seems to work. And while I try to take a few minutes to help her identify her feelings, in the end, I just sit patiently in the driver’s seat until she finally gives up and gets hooked.

And vow to myself that I am not taking her shopping again for at least another month. Because this was just too hard and I am too tired and old to put up with this shit and frankly who needs to go shopping anyway?

I need to see if any of the CSA’s will still let me sign up and see how much Amazon can deliver to my door because I am done shopping with my kids for a while!

Yesterday I had a conference call with my Virtual Assistant, because not as much would get done around here for the Mommy Rebellion if I did not have a Virtual Assistant.

Luckily Lisa is also a mom, to a 7-year-old son, so she gets it. Her son goes to school so she is able to schedule our calls while he is busy. Me, however, I have kids with me 24/7 most days and my youngest (at not quite 5) has really been pushing the boundaries lately.

As you can see from the photo above, she was literally pushing buttons yesterday, or rather sticking her feet in my face during the end of our conference call.

One the one hand it was great that Lisa was able to snap a photo for me, because it will make for great marketing materials for the Mommy Rebellion (just about every mom can relate to that photo). But on the other hand gosh darn it why can’t she stay out of my room for 30 minutes?

I am going to have to start leaving the house to get my work done. I have tried locking the door and that has lead to her practically breaking it down. And while my husband is okay if she does break the door down and is okay with me keeping it locked, it does get very distracting both for me and the other people on the video call.

I swear it was easier when she was 2. She got to watch tv with her big sisters and I made sure she had a snack and she was all set to go while I was on a call. Nowadays forget it!

So the ultimate solution is for me to just leave. My eldest is old enough to babysit. She’s not going to like it and will get annoyed if it becomes a regular thing. But I am guessing I am only going to have to do it a time or two before my youngest gets the picture and stops being such a pain. Of course, moving to a new town and a more rural one at that I am actually not sure where I can go and have wifi access, which is usually what I need while working. I mean I can do a little, like writing this without wifi access, but I can not do things for my clients without it.

I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to have that big confrontation and just leave. But this interrupting, not letting me get my work done, and all over disrespect of my work time can’t stand either. It’s not fair to me, it’s not fair to my clients and it is not fair to her either, because she needs to learn limits.

Plus we are only talking about 3 hours a day. She can manage to not really need me much for 3 hours a day. She has three other sisters to interact with. Right now she has a grandmother and uncle (which is why I didn’t just leave this morning) to hang out with as well. I spend the rest of the day with her.

I drive her places. We play games, I make sure she has food, I read to her and her sisters. I really think that her needs are being met and that at almost 5 she can do without me for three hours a day four days a week. That’s all I’m asking for.

And I would get so much more done! Not having the constant interruptions would mean that I would get a lot more done at any given time than I do right now because I could just focus and get it done, rather than being torn away and then having to come back and remember where I am and refocus, etc.

You know what I mean right?

Plus while it was funny this time, I really don’t want to conduct meetings with feet in my face. It’s not like they are super cute and yummy newborn feet. These are sweaty, dirty, stinky big girl feet that do not need to be in my face. Ever. Especially not when I am conducting a meeting and trying to get work done.

I don’t want to have that in my vocabulary anymore. I don’t want to say I am trying to get work done. I want to say I am working. I am getting work done. Work is happening. I am pursuing my dreams and supporting my clients and growing Mommy Rebellion. I am writing. I am creating.

I am tired of being held hostage by the interrupting chickens. They created locks on the doors for reasons. I am going to get a treadmill desk in the next year. This is happening. I need to walk and do my work with minimal interruptions, especially during meetings.

She will survive. I will actually want to spend MORE time with her because she won’t have been interrupting me all morning and I will have actually gotten some work DONE instead of having it bleed into time I would normally be spending with her because she used up my work time.

Yep it could all be so much easier.

I better find out where those wifi spots are, eh?