Two-year olds! Oh, they can be so ornery! Jerry Seinfeld once said, “A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.” With a two-year old, you just don’t know what to expect day to day. Although my daughter was generally a pretty good girl when she was young, there were moments that were definitely unforgettable.

As every mom experiences, when you have to go shopping you more than likely have to take the kids with you unless you are lucky enough to have grandma at home or a nanny. I had neither. So, when I went shopping I plopped my daughter in the child’s seat of the cart and away we went. Probably like all moms, you usually came home with a few items you didn’t put in the cart. You KNOW how they got there! Children are hard on the budget.

One day I was just tarrying along with my daughter in the cart seat. Being two years old, she was at that age where she was never quiet. She rambled on and on about everything she saw or wanted. She would talk to the people walking by usually greeting them with a big, “Hi!” as we passed by. Since she was blonde with Shirley Temple curls, everyone always said, “How Cute!”, and they would stop and talk to her. This only encouraged her to talk more and more, ever babbling to her new “friends”.

One day we were about to approach the checkout, when my daughter screamed loud as though she were being absconded. I turned and looked, and there was her arm caught in the cart handle. She kept on crying saying, “Mommy, it’s hurts!” She told me she couldn’t get her arm out from the space in the handle area, and naturally she was crying as loudly as she could. Before I knew it, people were trying to help AND THEN the store manager showed up. This must have frightened her even more, I’m sure. I’m gently trying to pull her arm out, and she would cry. She told me her arm was stuck. She couldn’t pull it out. Well, eventually with help, soothing, and consolation we wiggled her arm from the cart. But……

My daughter couldn’t move her arm. She cried when I tried to put her coat on her. She said, “It hurts, mommy!” And it was not about to go into the coat or anywhere. So… off to the hospital my daughter and I went. The store manager was so nice (of course). He said they would put all the groceries back, and please don’t worry. Just take good care of my daughter.

My daughter continued to whimper all through the journey to the hospital, in the hospital, and even when the doctor and nurses saw her. The patient doctor manipulated her arm, and he felt she had broken it. Naturally, this called for x-rays. More whimpering. I sat her on my lap as the technician gently lifted her arm and placed it on the platform to be x-rayed. She was so brave for a two-year old.

The kind and patient technician came in and told us that the x-ray was finished, and the doctor would see us soon. My daughter at this point looked at me with bright eyes and no tears. Then she announced as she was waving her arm in the air, “Look, mommy! It’s all better now! They fixed it!” What a little fibber she was! If looks could kill…..

I had probably spent three hours with my little girl at the hospital, all for her to tell me it was not broken!!!! She even fooled the doctor!!!! She pulled a big one. Franklin P. Adams said, “You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” I learned it takes a fool to be fooled. And I was fooled by a two-year old. I know you have many stories of your children. On that note, have a terrific Tuesday, be safe, and I love you!