Consignment Sale Spring 2010

Today was one of my cyclical domestic highlights: I got to shop at our city's twice yearly children's consignment sale. It is held in a giant exposition hall and it was advertised that more than 100,000 items were for sale. My friend Meghan joined me this morning, which was so much fun for me. I had hoped that Chris could watch both children this morning, as these kinds of sales are an absolute zoo, with aggressive mothers (one woman seems to have stolen an item I put on reserve today) and huge crowds. But Chris couldn't watch the kids today--which is why I get to give a glowing report of John's behavior!

I was at the sale for four hours, and you've got to realize that I had a one-year-old on my back and a three-year-old walking next to me, facing an entire exposition hall filled with tables as far as the eye could see covered in thousands of colorful, enticing toys. I did let John touch toys as we viewed the wares, but then we'd have to move on and couldn't just sit and play. John set the toys back every single time I said that we would not be buying such-and-such. He never threw down a toy in anger. He never complained, or even asked to go home. He did not throw a single tantrum. He carried his snacks in his little backpack and let me know when he was hungry. He had no pottying accidents. The checkout line alone took an hour and while other children around us screamed in anger or wept, John played fairly quietly. Now, this wasn't easy on my part. I was doing a tremendous amount of mother-work to keep him calm and entertained, but, still, John was responsible for the bulk of his good behavior. This was really one of those mother moments of seeing hard work pay off! The light at the end of the tunnel!

Within a couple of minutes back in the car, John was sound asleep, his treasured new insect book on his lap and one fast food chicken nugget: "I'm keeping it here just in case I get hungry, Mama."

The poor boy was absolutely exhausted by his big day and sleeping only 15 minutes in the car as his "nap." The above photo is how Chris found him at 6:30 at night, after he'd gone up to the bonus room to read by himself.