Shopping Fun!

I got some vouchers, for a well known store with a image of being expensive and full of snooty shoppers. I decided I would use said vouchers to get S some much needed new clothes. I know from past experience she is more likely to wear clothes if she gets she choose them. I also knew a shopping trip would be hard work, however I decided preparation, incentives, 1:1 and only having to got to 1 shop could be managed.

I started preparing S a few days before that we would go into town, just the two of us and pick her some new clothes and she could pick what she likes. Friday morning I told her we would go do the clothes shop after lunch, S always copes better when not hungry. I told her that after we had finished she could have an ice cream this seemed to excite her. We left her sister at home with her Daddy and set off for town, with S's playlist of favorite songs playing in the car; Pink, Drowning Pool, Foo fighters, Black Label Society, you know the usual! We got from the car to the shop with very little comotion, a few wobbles over cars in the carpark moving, demands to sit on rides (not that she will let me put money in them) and an ice cream van distracted her a little. I made sure I didn't promise one from that very van just in case they went on a break or something.
As we got to the shop I told her we were going in and that we were going to get clothes and nothing else. I took a deep breath and told myself 'Ignore the snooty looks, you will get them. Just concentrate on keeping S's stress as low as possible.' She didn't like anything in the girls section but as soon as we ventured into boys clothes she was in her element, blues and reds, a dinosaur top, a Thomas hoody. I let her pick clothes she liked and feel them all. She kept running around the rails but always came back when I started to count. Once I found her hiding between 2 rails of clothes and laughed so loudly. The security was watching us so I made a point of asking where the changing rooms were, he got really flustered. I knew changing room would not be easy but I wasn't going to go without trying a few clothes on S as she has a tiny waist usually clothes that fit in the leg are too big around the waist.
In the changing room S blew lots of raspberries, screeched and ended up laying on the floor. We managed to try on 2 tops and two pairs of jeans which I think was a huge victory. We then headed for the tills. There was only about 3 people in front of us but the two women at the tills were working painfully slowly. I was aware I only had about 5 minutes left to get back to the car so would have to stop off for ice cream on the way home. S started asking
'Can we go home?' 
'Yes, as soon as we have paid'. 
'Can we get ice cream from the van?' 
'No baby we'll get it from a shop on way home. Need to get car.' 
'I want it from van'
'We have to get car or mummy will get a ticket.' 
Then she started touching every gift card on a display and screeching. I asked her to stop and then she asked again, 'Can we go home?...Can we get ice cream now? From the Van?' After that she touched the cards again and when asked not to she groaned and then started to sing 'I wanna buy your house. I wanna, I wanna buy your house riiiiiiiiiiiight now.' The woman in front turned and gave a snotty look so I smiled at my daughter and said 'Oh I love you S, you are so funny. Look it's nearly our turn.' Luckily both tills cleared almost right after that. Spying a nice wide space next to our till I told S she could spin there (something she has just started doing again) while I paid, this won me a huge smile from her.
The walk back through town was painful. I was aware I was already late for my parking but could not rush S. I made the mistake of saying 'quickly' once and she just rooted to the spot. I still do not understand why when rushed S just refuses to move but I do know that once she has it takes a lot of persuading to move her again and heaven forbid I should lightly touch her in an attempt to do so. As soon as I heard 'I can't go fast. You carry me.' I knew I had no choice than to pick her up. Now S is almost 5 and of average height she is very slim and doesn't weigh much but neither do I and lugging 1/3 of my body weight along with my large handbag and a bag full of clothes is no easy feat. However if I didn't I would have taken at least 5 minutes to get her walking again. I have to pick my battles and prepare to avoid them in the future (longer on parking next time). As we passed the ice cream van again she started asking for her promised ice cream luckily this once she accepted that I couldn't get a ticket so we'd get an ice cream after the car. Half way to the car I had to put her down and she walked well next to me at a steady, un-rushed pace. The whole time she was talking about her ice cream and I lost track of the amount of times I said 'As soon as we have the car we WILL get an ice cream.' I stayed calm and answered her every time. 
Out of the blue a lady smiled at me and said 'What a lovely mummy you are? You are so lucky to have such a lovely mummy. Be a good girl.' I was totally taken aback by this. Having a child like S who is very loud and often misconceived as 'naughty' I am just not used to compliments on my parenting skills. I'm used to tuts and disapproving looks. I flashed the lady a quick smile and then scooped up, an again wavering S, with just a set of traffic lights between us and the carpark. Typically the lights changed as we got to them. As we waited the lady caught up to us. 'I mean it' she said. 'You really are a lovely mummy. I am always seeing mums that shout, scream and hit their kids.' I thanked her and said 'Shouting gets you nowhere' As the lights changed she again said 'You are such a good mummy and you (to S) are a really good girl.' It really touched me and despite being 10 minutes late back to the car I felt a wash of calm. A ticket free windscreen was a very welcome sight. On the way home I asked S where we should get ice cream and she surprised me by asking if we had rocket ice lollies at home and could we just go home and get one. 
15 minutes later she was eating an ice lolly and pointing out where her daddy had missed while waxing his bike, attention to detail one of S's great talents.