Terrible Two's Already

Being a parent has its ups and downs. Unfortunately for the Rader household this is a "down" week. We have been joking that Carson is bi-polar due to his mood swings from happy and silly, super sweet boy, to raging, screaming, fit-throwing, hitting, little tyrant. But add an illness to the terrible two's (keep in mind we have two months to go until two) and everything is magnified!!!

Carson is battling yet another fever, cough, and cold. The umpteenth one this season and he is absolutely miserable. Which leads to miserable parents. Car rides are horrible, grocery shopping is out of the question, and the tv is on almost constantly to distract all of us from each other. I actually thought Jeremy was going to pull over in Yamhill on the way to Sheridan on Mother's Day. I thought he was going to either jump out of the car and call a taxi to get a ride home, or he was going to kick us out of the car and leave skid marks on his way out of town. It was not pleasant. Happy Mother's Day!

Jeremy invited us to have lunch with him today, but evil Carson was the personality du jour and made it miserable. We didn't even get to pick out lunch in New Seasons because he was causing such a scene. Paid $10 for hot dogs outside the store and left without getting our change because it took two of us just to manage him.

Later at Fred Meyer, he threw a fit and laid on the ground kicking and screaming, so I left the cart and its contents smack dab in the middle of the aisle and said, "That's it, we're going home". Only I didn't think my plan all the way through. On the way out the door, I remembered we didn't have a drop of milk at home so I veered back to the organic section to grab a gallon. Unfortunately, I was also now holding Carson (30+lbs) on my hip. Got the milk and of course, couldn't find a single open cashier. My arm gave out while we were waiting so I set Carson down on the ground to walk. WRONG MOVE! He lost it again and was army crawling around the store and when I tried to get him up to move, he lost it again. Failing, wailing, hitting, writhing, screaming. The guy in front of me turned around and said, "I know what you're going through, I have three." Which is why the Rader's may only have one!!!

The u-scan feature wasn't working, the assistance cashier couldn't get it to work, she had to manually type in the code, and all while Carson was having a fit. I almost left without the milk. Carried the gallon and the kid to the car but my arm gave out again. Set Carson down to walk and he laid down in the middle of the road to have another fit. While we do not spank in our household, it was the closest I've come to wanting to spank him. Instead I hauled him up by his arm and dragged him to the car. Some lady said, "Oh what a cute little boy!" I kindly offered for her to take him home for the night, I would even install the carseat myself!

Please let the happy, silly, fun Carson come home soon!