A Trip to the Library

This week I decided to try taking Claire to the library. I had many reservations about doing this because Claire has been going through a bit of a "if I don't get to do exactly what I want I'm going to throw myself on the ground and scream", or otherwise known as tantrum, phase. I've come to grips and almost don't even care anymore about the people staring at the grocery store or at the playground but to me to Library is different. First of all, I haven't been to the library in quite some time and prefer to navigate unfamiliar territory without a screaming toddler. Secondly, this unfamiliar territory is a hushed and orderly type of place, where there are many books on shelves just asking to be pulled off and thrown around. Thirdly, Claire has been having a lot of trouble accepting when things are over. It seems that her attention span for everything is much, much longer than mine and whenever I suggest that a certain activity is about to end she will start the afore mentioned and dreaded tantrum. 
After much time spent calculating the risks and rewards of a library visit I decided to try it out. In the morning before we went I explained to Claire about the library and how it was a wonderfully quiet place with many books that we would have to be very careful with. We practiced our shushing and I told her she would need to be a very good listener and stay close to mommy. We also talked about how when it was time to go I would say, "Claire it is time to go now." and she would say "Okay mommy." We rehearsed this a couple of times until I felt confident that she understood. Claire seemed very excited about the library, although mostly just about the shushing and she practiced the whole way there. 
When we got there I was feeling pretty good and Claire was amazing as I looked for my own books. Instead of ripping the books off the shelves, as I feared she would, she counted them in her whisper voice and shushed herself if she felt she was getting too loud. Then we made our way to the children's books. Claire seemed in awe of all the books and looked through them carefully, only taking one or two off the shelf. She was way to distracted by the other kids there to sit and listen to me read a book to her but she found a couple that she thought were interesting and so I thought that was good enough for our first visit.
This is where things started to unravel a bit. I said (just as we had practiced) "Claire it is time to go now." but instead of the practiced response Claire said, "No, no, no!" and ran away. I kept calm and tracked her down. When I found her we went over how we had talked about this and how we had practiced and she was supposed to reply "Okay mommy." but she didn't seem to remember that part of the conversation and said "No, no, no!" and ran away again. Hmmmm, this was not going well. I spent some time thinking about what my next move would be but there didn't seem to be any good options. 
Option #1: Continue to follow her as she playfully ran away and try to maintain a quick pace but that didn't resemble a jog.
Option #2: Carry her out of the library as she screamed bloody murder while kicking and flailing her arms around and leave my library books behind.
Option #3: Carry her to the front desk and have them check out my books as she screamed bloody murder while kicking and flailing her arms around.
Option #4: Leave without her... (this not really being an option)
In the end I chose Option #1. I decided to try to give off the impression that I didn't mind that she was running away from me while still showing her that her behaviour was unacceptable. I'm not sure how well I did this but after about 15 minutes she seemed to be getting quite bored with her little game. It was also at this point that I came up with a whole new idea of encouraging Claire to leave nicely by enticing her with a doughnut from Tim Hortans! Some people may call this bribery (which I hear is greatly discouraged), but I call it encouraging good behaviour. I proposed my new idea to Claire but I must have come across too desperate and she saw right through me and promptly ran away even quicker and farther than before and added hiding to the game so that if I didn't follow more quickly I may or may not be able to find her! 
Just as I was becoming a bit exasperated she chose to hide in a corner between two bookshelves where I could block her in until she agreed to leave the library nicely. This was my chance! But then the unexpected happened. As I was crouching down to talk with her face to face I lost my balance and fell over on to the ground giving her the perfect chance to run away again. This is when my little girl surprised me. Instead of running away and laughing at me, she was concerned for my well being and helped me up! She must have felt bad for me because then when I said that it was time to go she said, "Okay mommy." I couldn't believe it as she walked nicely to the check out desk with me and even waited quietly as I had to sign up for a new library card! 
I think it is safe to say that our first library experience did not go as planned but nothing ever does with a toddler. Even though Claire can make things difficult at times she really is an amazing little girl who is constantly surprising me! Although we will definitely need to make some changes for our next library visit I will be going back. Hopefully next time there will be less running and more reading.