Parenting by The Clash: the Results Show

Wowee, everyone, thanks for the responses! Some can be read below, and others were emailed and I will selfishly keep those to myself. It seems that staying has won by a nose, albeit with conditions and a good headache. Just so y'all know, the G man has not become a monster, at least not quite yet, but he did throw a mini fit the other day at King Soopers due to not wanting to ride in the cart and not wanting to be carried either, leaving me befuddled and wracking my brain trying to recall how I dealt with the girls during toddlerdom. Cora threw one fit in her whole life and I, like Tawni, simply walked away, figuring no one was going to kidnap a thrashing, wailing, kicking miniature lunatic at that particular moment in time. And if they did have the guts, I was pretty confident they'd return her speedily. That worked well enough for her; as baby Anna and I stood in line a few aisles down, Cora raised her red face, saw no one was paying attention to her - and the ones that were looked appalled - dusted off her pants and calmly walked back to my side. Anna, as far as I can remember, never threw fits at all. It simply wasn't her style; she much preferred whining you to death and walking as slow as possible, dragging her little mary janes along at the pace of a bedridden snail. There was one year while Christmas tree hunting, we all opted to leave her behind for the mountain lions as she drug her moon boots a half mile back, lamenting at the top of her voice about the weather, the lack of food, the wind, the bad trees, her mittens, her hat, religion, politics, etc. Unfortunately, the mountain lions saw that crazed look in her eyes and wanted nothing to do with her either, and now we just don't invite the little sprite with us. So, now we have the little man...and thanks be to you, I feel much more confident for the next shopping experience...I think. He is not quite yet at the age where he can be reasoned with as far as promising treats later ("later" is not a word in his vocabulary right now) and unfortunately the free cookie would send him into anaphylactic shock (which I suppose would end a fit, but eternally wasn't really what I was going for), but a few easily found treats in the purse should fit the bill nicely, and coupled with the correct timing in his day, well, I believe we at least won't have our faces put up on Soopers front door with a big red line drawn through them.