One adult to four children in Wal Mart is challenging. One adult with three happy Children and one who's ready to flee the store is enough to drive Mom to the verge of panic!
Tonight was movie night for me and the kids. Travis had to work this evening, so I promised them we'd pick out a new Christmas movie to buy at Wal Mart.
Overwhelmed by the choices, Madalynn, Justis, Dawson and I stood with Jillian in the cart with us, deciding which movie to choose.
The Grinch song had played on the radio during our short drive to Wal Mart, so that's where our focus landed first. Madalynn and I decided to pick it up and check it out.
"I think I'd like the Grinch, Mom," Madalynn said, her mind made up.
"Me, too!" Dawson echoed.
"I've never seen it either. I think it would be fun. I've heard it's pretty funny."
Justis raised himself on his tip toes to get a closer look at the movie. He stared intensely at the cover of the movie. I thought he was just comparing it with the rest of the movie covers, trying to decide which one he wanted, but he sure looked at it a long time.
"Don't you think this one will be fun, Justis?" I asked as I began to put the DVD in the buggy.
"No, I don't want that," he mumbled in a voice barely audible.
"What, Son? Speak up. I can't hear you."
"NO! I DON'T WANT THAT ONE. THE GRINCH IS SCARY AND MEAN!"
"We'll have to pick another one then," I said, putting the DVD back on the rack. "Are you sure you don't want to watch it Justis? He's not supposed to be scary, he's supposed to be funny." I was still looking the other movies over.
I heard, "N-o-o-o-o-o-o!" suddenly come from Justis's mouth, each o-o-o articulated by the funny running dance he does when he's anxious or scared.
I was confused. I started to turn my head to see what was going on and noticed the young man standing next to me looking at Justis just as inquisitively.
Head down, eyes covered and doing the antsy dance, Justis was counting down to sheer panic.
"Okay, okay, Justis. It's okay. We're not getting the movie." I've seen Justis go berserk before and it's not pretty or quiet. I tried to reverse the countdown to meltdown he was on.
"Look, Justis. I put it on the shelf." I must be an idiot, because LOOKING is exactly what made him scared in the first place!
"N-o-o-o-o-o-!" The panic got more intense.
"What about this one?" I grabbed Polar Express and strategically held it up between his eyes and the Grinch movie so he wouldn't look at it again.
Moving his fingers just enough to peek and make sure the view was safe, Justis took a look at the Polar Express cover. The wise people who had stopped to see what the fuss was about and to watch the spectacle, looked quickly away when Justis gazed around to make sure no one had seen his fear.
I quickly pushed the Grinch movie to the back of the display with my free hand, out of Justis's vision completely. I then put Polar Express back on the shelf.
Madalynn and I understand the pride at stake and pretended like nothing had happened. We went on discussing what other movie we would like.
Justis slowly looked up to see if the "scary, mean" Grinch was there one more time, to make sure he was really safe. He let his guard down just a little as we walked to go look at a different display with Christmas movies.
We had a great time watching Santa Claus 2 tonight, and by the time he went to bed the Grinch was the last thing on his mind. I will be avoiding holiday movie displays when Justis is with me from now on.
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