Arm-itis...

I heard my niece use the term "arm-itis" when she came in to visit Gavin a few months ago. I think Gavin may have a case of arm-itis. I started to notice it last night when Erica, Matt and Saylor invited us to dinner. We were so excited to see them and to get out of the house. It was Gavin's dinner time, too, so we brought his cereal to dinner with us. We sat him in a highchair for the first time ever, and he did so well...at first. Once the novelty of it wore off, he started to really act up. He could not be calmed by spoonfuls of oatmeal or squeaky toys. The only thing that calmed him was to hop in mommy or daddy's lap! He then proceeded to have a mild fit because we were not giving him the yummy fajitas we were eating. The night ended as it usually does, with a bath, a story and a bottle.

I went to bed just as exhausted as Gavin and didn't give arm-itis another thought until we went to Target today. Gavin is sitting up so well now, so I thought I would bust out the shopping cart cover for him to sit in. That was fine for about 15 minutes. Again, the novelty wore off, and the boy began to cry. He was distracted by his toys for a little while, but when the whine turned into a howl, I had to pick him up. I felt like if I didn't, I might be stoned to death by the other patrons. He immediately stopped crying. I finished throwing the rest of the stuff I needed into the cart and raced to the checkout counter. I had to put him down in order to load the groceries onto the belt. Gavin had a meltdown. After about a minute of crying, and several Target employees trying to make him stop crying, I had to pick him up. By this time, I'm loading overstuffed Target bags into my cart with one hand and holding the boy with my other hand. To make matters worse, I accidentally dropped a giant, glass jar of spaghetti sauce on the floor at Target! Oops. So, I left pushing the cart with one hand and holding Senior Grumpy Butt in the other. It may be time for a little tough love. While I may never go back to that Target, I have to get him used to riding around in the cart, sitting in a highchair and anything else that might come our way while we're out and about.