Sunny wrote:
If the story is true, even if it's not, I pity the poor woman shopping
with six.

This is a totally true, unembellished story:

When my youngest was young he had many ear infections, despite
breastfeeding until he was two and keeping him away from foods he
reacted to. His older brother was asthmatic. I can tell you we had
some interesting times.

One morning, I realized I was out of diapers. The younger was 18
months or so and the older was around 4. The youngest had a raving ear
infection and was taking steroids to bring down the inflamation (yes,
there was a good reason why no ear tubes). The older was having bad
asthma and was taking albuteral for that. In other words, I had two
drugged, hyped up, cranky and generally miserable boys.

I dragged them to the car, dragged them into the store. The older one
immediately got into the space under the cart and the younger one had
to be IN the cart and within a minute, the older one poked the younger
through the cart bottom and the younger gave the c art front a hard
kick. At that, the little thingys holding the front of the cart in
place gave way and the hinged front flapped down, hard (this was a
metal cart), smacking the older boy in the face. Blood went
everywhere. Nose, lips, teeth, forehead. The older one hit the
offending hinged front flap with a fist, it swung up, the younger one
kicked it again and BANG, hit older boy in the face again.

Now, I couldn't leave the store without diapers and probably other
things I had to have, so I dragged bloody child out, wiped his face on
my tee-shirt, fended off the store manager and dragged him screaming
through the store. The younger one was so pleased with himself that he
stood up the first time I let go of the cart to get something off the
shelf, falling from the cart headfirst.

Now I had two bleeding, s creaming, drug-addled children. I was
dragging them through the store (I suspect I was also picking up a
prescription, which I almost always was back then) when I came to the
pharmacy section and looking at the "unmentionables" shelves I
remembered that we were out of "birth control devices" and shuddered
to think what a night of indiscretion might mean and picked up a box
of the things, foregoing the usual embarrassment and just tossing them
into the basket.

We finally made it up to the front checkout. Both boys were in the
basket by this time, sobbing and fighting and grabbing for candy and
bleeding. Bruises were forming on the older one's truly banged up
face. My tee-shirt was bloody and had snot on it by this time.

A young kid, around 20 maybe, was checking and he was wide-eyed at my
kids, sort of being very quiet and checking quickly. He picked up the
condoms and looked at them and looked at me and said "Good move!"

I was humiliated. Horrified. Could have climbed under any nearby rock.
But I broke out laughing. I couldn't help it.

To this day, I wonder if that poor kid ever got the nerve to have a
family of his own or if my sons permanently scarred him.

Have a wonderful day,
Sunny (and I swear this really happened to me)

I'd have laughed with you! Oh dear... ONE screaming hyperbrat was
enough at times, and young James was USUALLY a total cherub. Just now
and then he turned from cherub to scarlet screaming boiled goblin in
seconds... Usually when it would be MOST embarrassing.

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
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