kari777, my son who is 3 now never went through the terrible 2s. we are going through the 3s now. they say the 3s are the new 2s they are right. i have days when i take ben into a store and he is a perfect angel. he sits in the cart looks around and does not say a word. then there are days when as soon as we pull up in the parking lot it starts iam like what do you have radar vision. the worst for me was like 6 months ago in target. my son likes to get the pizza from there and he knos when mommy is done shopping we go and get pizza. will the pizza was so hot it had to cool and i sitting there blowing on it as he is screaming bloody muder. because it is not coolong down and he wants it now. i had everyone staring at me and i mean everyone. i am lkie be please its coming. i finally had to just get up and leave i was so embarrassed. i had tears in my eyes.and i never gave him the pizza i was like iam not rewarding him for acting like that. so now i really try to do my errends in the moring when i drop him off to pre school which is nice or i wait till my husband is home and then go buy myself.

BensMommy333 Sep. 21, 2008 at 11:31 PM

Was that you my parents saw in the store...lol really just kidding. Spencer does the same thing when he is angry or flustrated... The worst part is that he does not say much yet so instead of talking he grunts and screams at you...

Spencers_Mom Sep. 21, 2008 at 11:34 PM

Girl, I totally feel ya'! Today I took Abby to the park and as soon as she was out of the stroller, the race was on. My god, she didn't slow down for 1 second. She's going full speed ahead towards Mass. St. and I am chasing her! I turn her back towards the playground, which worked for 2 seconds, and then she went sprinting off towards another part of the playground and promptly did a faceplant on the sidewalk. That stopped her for about 3 seconds. Then she was off and running towards the jungle gym that has all of the wood chips under it and I noticed that there was broken glass on the ground, so I scooped her up. You would have thought I was peeling her fingernails off one by one. Shrieking bloody murder! I was looking around at the other parents and their calm, stationary children and thought, holy crap, I gave birth to the Energizer Bunny! I left the park with the biggest headache and felt like I needed a vodka straight up! :)

Kynsicat Sep. 21, 2008 at 11:36 PM

hmmm, lets see, is it just going to stores??  My son used to be terrible about going to the store.  Didn't know he had autism back then but I do now.  He would have a fit over the sliding glass doors. He wanted to open then and no one else.  He wanted to open all the refrigerated doors.  And if you look on the floors,they have drains in like the meat dept, he was constantly trying to look into them.  Then the ATM card.  He thinks he is in control of it.  nowadays he wants to scan everything ~ that is the checker's job!  He has even tried running out of the store!!  Kicking, screaming, yelling, trying to kick other people ~ I have been there.

Autistic kids can't handle large crowds or places with too much sensory issues.   Kinda like that movie "Short Circuit" where the robot goes around asking for "input".  the kids get the input but their brains don't know how to handle it all ~ the noises, the lights, the people, the smells, you are going too fast, too slow, whatever.  They are not in control when out of their environments and have a meltdown.

After several yrs of therapy, I can take my son to the store with no problems.  But it was a few yrs ago when I was at Costco, a man asked me "that kid is still screaming?"  (we met him at the front of the store and now it was check-out time)  "yep 24/7" i said, and that is how it used to be..

Sylbroyles Sep. 21, 2008 at 11:43 PM

i have been there done that.  now i am dealing more with my 9 month old when we go to stores.  he does great for the first half hour, but if he is hungry then he starts screaming and screaming and even when i get him fed it seems that its time to nap and i don't have the ability to carry him and push the cart with my almost 3 year old in it who is now trying to pull things off the shelf into the cart, and people are staring at me.  so the shopping horror i can relate to, it will pass one day it will pass.

aaking Sep. 22, 2008 at 6:16 AM

Kari, I could have written this post myself. Seriously, Ember is crazy in the store, most of the time. Oh, yeah, unless I have stickers, then that keeps her occupied for about 10 minutes and then it's constant whining, saying "down, down", grabbing at things on the shelf, in the cart, etc. Actually just last Friday, I actually had to put her in the sling, just to finish my shopping because she screamed and cried in the cart. It is exhausting! You have my sympathy, really you do!

auntymeme Sep. 23, 2008 at 7:04 PM

I thought of you and your post today as I was literally dragging my screaming daughter out of a store.  Oh the joys of motherhood.

kfrances Oct. 7, 2008 at 10:32 PM

my oldest 3 only did that with me once each. I jerked their butts right up outta that cart and blistered their butts. Right there in front of everyone and said if you want to make a scene you now have something to make one about. Funnily enough they never did that with me again. Luckily for me my youngest never did that.

traciequine Oct. 7, 2008 at 10:51 PM

Lizzie is totally like that. First we start out sitting, then we want down. Then she wants to run around and pull stuff off the shelves. Then she wants back in the cart, but not to sit, to stand in it. All the while she is throwing the groceries on the ground. If I tell her no or take it away, the screaming drama show begins. Last weekend I let her push the cart around Target for 30 minutes because it kept her occupied. I NEVER go shopping for groceries without dh. Don't get me started on clothes shopping. She is way too active to even sit in a stroller of let me carry her while I look for clothes let along trying them on. I figure other parents around totally get it and try not to worry about her little scenes.

MDFish Oct. 8, 2008 at 4:24 PM

I know you've heard this before from me, but the BEST advise I ever got was when one of my kids was having a melt down and I said to my friend, what happened to my sweet child and she looked me straight in the eye and said "that child is gone, he is never coming back, you need to learn to love the child you have right now."

Kids change, they don't act perfectly all the time, but they are ours and we should be grateful.  Aiden is a sweet wonderful little boy who had reached his limit for what ever reason.  No big deal.  No one should judge you, you're a fantastic mom.

mkuzi Nov. 6, 2008 at 10:39 AM