I’ll admit this is a pretty good age combination for my two kids. Z is going to be 4 soon so we seem to have fewer irreconcilable differences and SJ is 14 months which means she isn’t quite to the stage of running off faster than I can catch her. In other words neither of them are at the terrible two age where temper tantrums and defiance abound.

A year ago I was scared to death to approach a grocery store with both children.

If Z wasn’t strapped in he was darting off in the opposite direction of wherever I was headed. When I went to the store last week with the kids I was taking in this little window of time where they were both cooperative. Z was walking along beside me like a precious little angel, SJ was sitting calmly in the shopping cart like his precious little angel sister. Then we went to check out and I left feeling quite smug until I looked down to see that Z had an opened Kit Kat in his hands. I immediately did a U Turn (we were still in the store) and went back through the line to purchase the overpriced candy bar. The cashier had a line full of people waiting to check out, so I found an employee that looked less busy and made Z apologize for taking something that didn’t belong to him. She helped by telling him that it was okay, but that it was a bad idea and she hopes he doesn’t do it again. I looked at her and mouthed “thank you” because I always feel like things stick with him more when he hears it from another adult that to him is far more intimidating than his mom.
He is three and I don’t even think he understands the concept of purchasing versus stealing, but he did know that he was taking without permission and I figured we might as well address the issue early on. I do not condone his actions in anyway, but if he is going to steal at least he picked a good candy bar. Kit Kats are my favorite, and I was the one who got to eat it. Can you imagine if it was an Air Head? What a poor choice that would have been. I’m sorry, I mean, stealing is a serious crime. Bad. Very bad.