The afternoon schedule was supposed to go like this:
Library
Drop off Noah
Target
Pick up Noah
BUT
It went like this:
Drop off Noah
Target
Pick up Noah
Library
For many reasons, the schedule had to be changed, and Isaac was not happy about it. Not one bit.
Noah had plans at 2 pm, so I dropped him off, and then Henry, Isaac, and I went to Target to find a new backpack for Henry. The one from last year will not work for 3rd grade. As Noah said, "Henry's backpack from last year kind of disintegrated."
We drove to Target, and Isaac was quite unhappy as we made the turn to the parking lot. Once inside the front doors, he kept pointing outside and said, "Library!" I reiterated we're at Target now, then we will pick up Noah, and then we'll go to the library. He started to moan and groan, and I told him he needed to change his behavior or we were going home right now.
I must have said it louder than I had thought because I looked towards the Customer Service desk, and the man behind the counter was staring at me.
Isaac decided -- for perhaps the first time in his life -- that we didn't need a cart. That was fine because we were in Target to buy ONE item: a backpack. Then I remembered I needed some makeup, which was okay because it was a small item I could easily carry.
We headed towards the backpacks. Isaac wanted to open and shut every door in the freezer/fridge section on the way, and I was okay with it. I told him to do it. He opened and shut quite a few. I knew that would help calm him down.
It wasn't long and Henry found a backpack, although he had to decide between two different ones. Deciding sometimes can take a minute or two.
In a split second Isaac had left our sides. Henry and I both saw it at the same time: Isaac was at the end of the aisle. He had taken a size 3T toddler dress off the endcap, and he pulled it over his t-shirt. He had put his head through the neck hole, while the bloomers (attached to the dress) hung down in front of his torso. As he was trying to get both arms into the sleeves, I told him to take it off immediately.
He did. He came over to me holding the dress. I asked, "Do you want to buy this?"
"Yes," he said, in an angry tone.
"It doesn't fit you, and you know it," I said. I wish now I had taken a picture. At the time, it was the last thing on my mind.
The only consolation is that it was an Iowa Hawkeye toddler dress. Of all the teams to choose from, he picked the Hawkeyes. His dad would be proud. As we left that area, he hung it up and walked away.
We spent some time buying school supplies, too (remember, we don't have a cart - I was just going to buy a backpack!), so I stuffed things in Henry's old backpack that we took along as a size comparison. I'm sure the staff thought I was shoplifting. It looked strange, I'm sure, to see a crazy middle-aged woman shoving school supplies in an old backpack. Henry wouldn't let me put the supplies in his new backpack because he was wearing it!
Security will have a good laugh when they review some videotapes later today.
When we finally got out to the van, I told Isaac I was disappointed in his behavior. I asked if he had been angry, and he said yes. He requested we go to the library. I told him we would, but we needed to pick up Noah first. Eventually we got to the library, where he did well.
If you can't say what's on your mind, behavior IS communication. What 12-year-old boy enjoys going to Target anyway?
Go Hawks!