Clown Cars or Kids?

Dec 06, 2011 12:04

By: Elizabeth Nelson

What is small, has 4 wheels, is brightly colored, and squeaks as it passes you? If you're thinking Clown Car, you'd be right 99% of the time. If you happened to be in my neighborhood grocery store last night around 5:30 it would have been my two daughters. Imagine if you can, two toddlers dressed in bright colors pushing child-sized grocery carts while wearing shoes with built in squeakers. Yes, the same kind of squeakers that are in dog toys. (And yes, every time the girls wear them around the house, my dog Thursday goes nuts.) Truthfully I think two small Clown Cars would have made less commotion. 

It all started when I realized that I didn't have enough butter to make a batch of Christmas cookies. The girls were all too excited to go on a shopping expedition, and wanted to go to the grocery store that had the children’s shopping carts. Normally my eldest gets the child-sized shopping cart, and my youngest gets to ride along with me in the regular cart. This time I threw all my good mommy sense to the wind, and let both of them drive carts around the store. I only had four things on my shopping list. How bad could it be? 

This is where I confess I have an illness. I can never go into a store and just get what is on the list. My shopping list consisted of: milk, eggs, butter and sugar. I also got a box of Satsuma mandarins, yogurt, powdered sugar, sprinkles for my Christmas cookies, and some frozen veggies. I just kept loading up those tiny carts until they were about to over flow. As the "adorable" toddlers were careening around the corners and nearly hamstringing everyone from behind, I started to have a feeling that this might have been a bad idea. 

By the time we were standing in line, I realized my mistake. My one-year-old Lily couldn't stand still. This is the reason I still keep her strapped into a regular seat, in a regular cart. Because I was running after Lily, my three-year-old Ava was taking the opportunity to jump around. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but with the squeaking shoes, it was. Those shoes went from being "cute" to being super annoying to everyone else that was waiting in line. Let me tell you, I got “the look” from lots of people. Once my groceries were up on the belt, I had Ava take her little sister Lily to return the children's carts. Mistake number two. Never let two toddlers loose unattended in a grocery store. Never. I was about to swipe my debit card when I heard my baby cry. Well, it was more like a shriek, a blood-curdling scream really. I left everything at the register, and ran to the opposite side of the store looking for Lily. I found her surrounded by several kind faced women trying to console her. The minute they turned on me, you guessed it, I got “the look” again. 

Then I heard it. More squeaking. Of course going in the opposite direction. Squeaking accompanied by crying. It was Ava. She had run back to the check-out stand looking for me to tell me that Lily was crying and couldn't find me. Now she thought I had left her at the store. So I bolted back, baby on my hip, to the kind and patient teller who had my groceries and purse. There were also more kind people attempting to console my other child. These nice people also gave me “the look” as I swiped my card and tried to gather my groceries. 

I put Lily down to grab all of my numerous bags. The moment her feet hit the floor, she bolted right up the baking aisle. Ava was right on her heels squeaking all the way. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me as my oldest daughter tackled my youngest, and they both went down in a heap on the floor and began to cry again. I nearly joined them in their tears. 

As we made it out to the parking lot, a lady stopped me as I was putting my children in the car. I was expecting to hear her criticize me and my troublesome children. She didn't. She said "I just wanted to say how grateful I was to see that you didn't yell at your children. Most people would yell at their kids when they make a scene in the store. It's good to see that you didn't. You're doing the right thing". It was nice to have someone extend a little grace to me. I needed it. 

Now that we have all the ingredients for Christmas cookies, I hope we get them made this afternoon. If we're missing something, I'll ask my husband to pick it up on the way home from work. There's no way you'll see me in the store again anytime soon. 

Elizabeth