Ulta-embarassing!

I went Ulta a few days ago.  Ulta is my favorite makeup store.  After my experience there a few days ago, I don't think I'll be going back.  Here's what was 'observed'.

A woman enters the store and immediately puts her daughter down.  She couldn't find a shopping cart so she calmly tells the little girl she can walk but she needs to stay near mommy.  Had the mother paid close attention, she would have seen a fellow shopper roll her eyes as if to say 'good luck'!

The little girl promptly screams at the top of her lungs in excitement, which, I assure you, could be heard by everyone in the store, despite the blaring too-early Christmas music.  The toddler wriggles out of her arms and takes off for the first fragile display she can get her hands on before the frazzled mother can even re-adjust her purse or grab a shopping bag.

The highlight of this mother's shopping trip could be several things.  Her amazingly talented child managed to single handedly destroy an entire body wash display which, according to the store clerk picking up the 'after shock' of it all declared, took hours to construct.  Or maybe it was when the toddler grabbed a handful of lip gloss and chucked it enthusiastically into her mother's purse.  An innocent shop lift (which was immediately caught and 'fixed' by the appalled and now exhausted mother).  I'll bet it was the elephant sized fit the kiddo threw right there in the check out line, struggling to remove herself from her mother's death grip.  Sadly, by this time, the mommy was drenched in sweat, toddler boogers, and a weird smell from a bottle of lotion the 'precious' girl had managed to open and squeeze all over her mother's shoulder.  The pathetic woman was near tears and had never prayed so hard for a Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak.  Or a toddler leash.

Thinking her journey was almost over  (hey, she was almost next in the cashier's line), she relaxed a little and tried calmly reasoning with her banshee screaming girl.  By now the pair had cleared an unnatural path towards the exit door and an elderly woman turned to her friend next to her and loudly says "back in my day, when a child acted like that, we stopped what we were doing, swatted them, and took them HOME."  (The whole time shooting the shaking mother a nasty look.)  What horror!  Luckily, the mommy was the next in line and was able to check out.  After prying her daughter off the counter, where, while checking out, the girl attempted to eat a container of 'impulse buy' nail files, hair ties, and candy cane shaped body washes, she fled to her car and resisted sobs as she strapped her little girl into the car.

The little girl stopped her wailing, smiled, and she blew her mommy a kiss.  Who knew such terror could be so sweet?  Who knew that little girl was mine?  Who knew walking meant independence in a one year old's world?  Man, I have got a lot to learn about toddlers.

Hoping the other two Ultas in Tulsa haven't heard of us yet, 

xoxo Summer