Grocery store confessional

We've crossed some kind of threshold in my family now and a trip to the grocery store with both of the kiddos is no longer a terrifying thought.  Kylynn no longer fits into the cart and has to walk so there is a lot of, "put that down, please" going on, but she is actually sometimes helpful and always entertaining.

The other day we were walking around the grocery store and Kylynn was talking on an old cell phone that is now a toy.  She would say both sides of the conversation, "Hi, Audrey how are you doing"  "Oh, I'm good"  "That's good, actually we're at the grocery store"  "Oh that's nice, what are you buying"  "Well, I want to get strawberry ice cream, did you know that when I grow up I'm going to be a ballerina, a mommy, a baby doctor, and a teacher!"   And so on, you get the idea.  This guy was walking by us and he looked at her so confused as to whether or not she was actually a four year old with her own cell phone walking around the grocery store talking, I could see it in his eyes, the thought, "is this what our world is coming to."  In case you too are wondering that, the answer is yes, but not with my family so don't judge me, it's just a play phone.

The trip usually goes pretty well as long as I have a good bit of resistance built up to Jack's whining, he is really into whining these days and can do it for a few hours straight, no problem.  The check out lane is the hardest part, I never noticed how many items they put down on the kids' level to drive their parents crazy tempt them.  I spend a lot of time saying no, you cannot have a barbie coloring book, no you cannot have a new movie, no you cannot have a lollipop, and Kylynn please come back over here.  All the while ignoring Jack's whining and unloading my cart.  But all in all it's a good trip and I hope to get all my grocery shopping done before baby #3 comes home, because I cannot imagine what that would be like, I'm getting hives just thinking about it.

Oh, it has just come to my attention that I will still need to purchase food after having three children, I need to go and think that through.  But I'll leave you with a walk down memory lane, back when times weren't as easy.

I apologize (Originally posted April 2008)

I owe some people an apology.

Have you ever seen the show "Super Nanny"? It is a great show and I think the super nanny is wonderful and quite talented at child rearing techniques. I watch it from time to time and even did so before I had a child myself. That's where the apology comes in. I used to watch the show and go, who are these people! Who can't control a two year old, after all you, the parent, are bigger, stronger, and smarter than a two year old! I passed judgement on them and decided that they were "bad parents". I most sincerely apologize.

A few days ago, I took my little two year old to the grocery store. She wined the entire time, causing me to begin to become frantic and lose my mind (we were there almost two hours!). She whined and demanded a cookie, I went to the other side of the store and gave her one, just for a few minutes of peace. 

She took off her seat belt and laid on the floor of the "car" shopping cart, I kneeled down and begged her to please let me put the seat belt back on her, I apparently sounded as stressed as I felt, because a police office and his partner came down the aisle and stood there and watched me until I got her situated (that didn't help with my stress level). 

She knocked down an entire box of taco seasoning packets and as I bent down to try and pick them all up, I considered laying down on the ground and crying for a few minutes, but decided against it. I had two employees come up to me and ask if I needed any help finding things, because I was staring into space trying to think about which product was cheaper, but not able to concentrate due to her whine/scream. I may have developed a fear of going to the grocery store with a child (does that have a name?). And I am sure that anyone who watched how I dealt with Kylynn, thought, that lady needs to go on super nanny, she can't control her little two year old!

Considering that this is not how my days normally go, I don't think I qualify for super nanny. But the point is, raising children is so much harder than it looks, and two year olds may be smarter than we think :) Now I know, I will never again look at someone else's parenting and say, "I will never ..."