Atomic Meltdown Numero Uno

Today I was christened at SuperTarget. Christened into being a full fledged mother of a toddler. Blaine had a super-duper tantrum in aisle 12. I'm talking the kind of tantrum that turns heads six aisles away and the manager is alerted that Child Protective Services should be called.

The trip started out fine. Blaine woke up from a good nap, we shared a healthy snack and then he gleefully agreed that a trip to Target would be fun. Normally he rides in the child-seat with the belt on (but usually only after a short protest about wanting to ride in the "basket"). Today, however, the protest turned into a limp body and scream so I told him that he had to sit in the basket on his bum if he wanted to ride there. He agreed and I reminded him that if he stood up, or threw out my groceries, he would have to sit in the seat with the belt on. He said "Ok, sit!" And sit he did... for about 4.5 minutes and then he was up. I reminded him and gave him a warning and he reluctantly sat back down. Not a minute later and four items that were in my basket were flying across the aisle Blaine-Miller style. I immediately made eye contact, told him what he had done wrong and put him in the seat with the belt.

Now let the meltdown begin. From this point on it's pretty much a blur. He went from screaming to kicking to hitting to limp body to sobbing and and all the while saying "All DONE!" and "BASKET!" One of the problems I was having was that I could not get the belt tight enough - he was like a little Houdini and he would slide out of the belt (over his head or down his body and through his feet). I really don't know how he did it, but he did and I was constantly tightening it and fighting his thrashing body. I should have left, but he would have preferred that, so I didn't think that was right either. The last 15 minutes of our trip he screamed and kicked and managed to get one of his shoes off and was able to chuck that across the store. When we got to the checkout counter he calmed down and I unlocked him from the belt so I could pay and actually carry a conversation on with the teenage (scared to death) checkout girl. When all of my bags were in the cart he decided that it would be icing on the cake to jump on and smash the bags with his hands. I finally had to put him in a headlock/leg lock (like holding a large sack of (thrashing) potatoes) and get outside to the car where I managed to strap him into his car seat. He screamed and cried for me for about ten minutes and finally when he calmed I asked him what had happened and he responded, "throw food..." and "timeout?" He knew I was mad and after talking about what had happened he reached up to me and said "Pease hold you" (Please hold me). It about broke my heart. I asked him if he was ready to apologize and he said (firmly) "NO!" but after about 5 minutes he said, "Mama? Mama? Sooorry." And then at a stoplight I reached back and rubbed his sweet face and he seemed fine.

What a disaster! I know this will not be the first...