Noah, the Terrible.....or is that, Mom, the Terrible

Noah and I are having a trying day. Noah's temper has been getting the best of him lately. He knows that he can't get away with it, but he still tries. Today we went to walmart and usually he's fine, but he had fallen asleep in the car on the way over and was very grumpy. He wanted to be carried. That just wasn't happening. For one, he's way to big for that. I just can't carry him around for very long anymore. Two, the little boy I babysit, was sitting in the cart and there was no way I could carry Noah and push "J" in the cart. Noah was mad...............I got mad..........Noah tried to run off.............I picked him up and put him in the back of the cart while I was looking at some things..................he tried to climb out...................I held his hands so he couldn't....................he screamed, he cried, and then..................he tried to bite me!!!! I couldn't believe it! He knew he was in trouble, but he cried and yelled some more. We started to leave, Noah crying the whole time that he wanted a treat! A TREAT?????? Unbelieveable! Before long, though he started to calm down and so did I and we ended up finishing our shopping. Noah walked and held on to the cart and there was NO treat involved!

******************

A few hours later, at home, Noah took a toy that "J" had brought from home. He was asked to give it back...........Noah kept it.........................then he was told to give it back.............................Noah kept it........................I told him he was really trying my patience today! I tried to take the toy away from him..........................Noah started jumping around on the couch (another NO-NO) so I reached out to grab him to stop him from jumping and my thumb nail caught his cheek. I knew it was bad as soon as it happened. He stopped jumping and he gave back the toy and he gave me a look like I was the worst person in the world. His cheek was starting to bleed when we went to get a wash rag and some ice. It was an accident, but I still felt terrible!

********************

I guess karma has a way of working things out, if you believe in that sort of thing. He acts obnoxious all day and in the end he's the one that gets hurt. But if that's the case then why do I feel like such a bad mom, especially when he announced to my friend that I babysit for, "look what my mom did to me!"