A while back we were driving home from a doctor's appointment & I remembered that we had NOTHING in the fridge at home. I also remembered that we took the double stroller out of the trunk for errands the day before. I thought to myself, "We just need a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. It'll be ok without a stroller." Let's look at this little predicament shall we?
First and foremost is the my biggest pet peeve in the universe - apparently I'm the only person in the world with 2 children under the age of 3 years old, let alone twins, because other than Costco/Sam's Club the stores with double shopping carts are few and far between. When you happen to be shopping at a store that does have some sort of double riding conveyance, it is either disgustingly grimy & filthy, a person with only one child has taken it because it's "more roomy/more fun" (as in the case of the carts with "cars" in front or back), or - and this is the one that ticks me off the most - someone with NO KIDS takes it!!!
With that said, I decided to brave going into Bel Air while holding the girls' hands - it was only 2 items, right? I was so desperate to just get this done and get home that I didn't take into consideration several things: 1) the girls have just spent the entire morning in the waiting room at the doctor's office (yea Kaiser), 2) we are already about a half an hour over when they normally have lunch, and 3) it is about 20 minutes until what is usually their naptime. Hindsight's 20/20 isn't it. Do we see where this is going?
I headed into the store and made a beeline to the bread. I was almost there. I rounded the aisle. Almost there... It was at this point that the girls decided it was far more fun to jump as a mode of transportation than it was to walk like normal WELL-BEHAVED children. I thought to myself, "Whatever, they aren't causing a scene & aren't touching anyone or anything." Got the bread. Headed for the dairy case. Luckily, there was nothing at eye level that they recognize - no Dora fruit snacks, no Blue's Clues yogurt, no easily recognizable cracker boxes.
Almost there. The girls were laughing maniacally & my stomach was tied in a knot. We reached the dairy case and I began quickly scanning the expiration dates. It was at this very moment that Alessa decided to sit on the floor, followed quickly by Caleigh. "We don't sit on the floor in the grocery store," I said as calmly as possible. Caleigh got up but not my mother's "Little Retribution". I leaned closer to Alessa and repeated myself in a low growl & she reluctantly stood up.
"Dear Lord, let me get my groceries and get out of here without a scene," became my silent mantra chanted over and over again. I whisked down the aisle with a little pair of sandals tapping quickly on each side of me. I finally reached the checkout stand, but there was no set of sandals tapping on my right. "Why?" you might ask. Well, Alessa decided she was going to try to sit on the floor again. However, I had instituted "Mommy Death Grip" and had her hand and wrist firmly in my grasp. I virtually hissed at her to stand back up. She did momentarily and then the mortifying happened.
Have you ever seen chimpanzees at the zoo? They will hold a rope with one hand then just hang and twist merrily with their feet in the air. That is what Alessa did. I shot a look to Caleigh that warned of the reprocussions if she decided to join in the escapades and hissed at Alessa again. No luck. Then I tried to ignore it -and get the heck out of the store - besides, I was next to check out. Looking back, it really wasn't a big deal - she wasn't touching anything and, other than giggling, they weren't making any noise.
However, it was at this point that the old biddy behind me addressed me with a disdainful gaze and said, "Are they YOUR children?" What was that supposed to mean? I replied, "Yes. It's almost naptime and their first time in the store without a stroller." Here's the real kicker. This woman had the audacity to respond, "Well, I think you need to keep them in a stroller a while longer." WHAT!?!?! Thanks for the input, Hag, I'll take that into consideration the next time I'm out!
The next time you see a mother struggling with her children in a store and they aren't actually bothering anyone/anything/making a racket - shoot her a smile instead of a dirty look. Chances are that she's terribly mortified as it is and would rather be ANYWHERE than where she is.
First and foremost is the my biggest pet peeve in the universe - apparently I'm the only person in the world with 2 children under the age of 3 years old, let alone twins, because other than Costco/Sam's Club the stores with double shopping carts are few and far between. When you happen to be shopping at a store that does have some sort of double riding conveyance, it is either disgustingly grimy & filthy, a person with only one child has taken it because it's "more roomy/more fun" (as in the case of the carts with "cars" in front or back), or - and this is the one that ticks me off the most - someone with NO KIDS takes it!!!
With that said, I decided to brave going into Bel Air while holding the girls' hands - it was only 2 items, right? I was so desperate to just get this done and get home that I didn't take into consideration several things: 1) the girls have just spent the entire morning in the waiting room at the doctor's office (yea Kaiser), 2) we are already about a half an hour over when they normally have lunch, and 3) it is about 20 minutes until what is usually their naptime. Hindsight's 20/20 isn't it. Do we see where this is going?
I headed into the store and made a beeline to the bread. I was almost there. I rounded the aisle. Almost there... It was at this point that the girls decided it was far more fun to jump as a mode of transportation than it was to walk like normal WELL-BEHAVED children. I thought to myself, "Whatever, they aren't causing a scene & aren't touching anyone or anything." Got the bread. Headed for the dairy case. Luckily, there was nothing at eye level that they recognize - no Dora fruit snacks, no Blue's Clues yogurt, no easily recognizable cracker boxes.
Almost there. The girls were laughing maniacally & my stomach was tied in a knot. We reached the dairy case and I began quickly scanning the expiration dates. It was at this very moment that Alessa decided to sit on the floor, followed quickly by Caleigh. "We don't sit on the floor in the grocery store," I said as calmly as possible. Caleigh got up but not my mother's "Little Retribution". I leaned closer to Alessa and repeated myself in a low growl & she reluctantly stood up.
"Dear Lord, let me get my groceries and get out of here without a scene," became my silent mantra chanted over and over again. I whisked down the aisle with a little pair of sandals tapping quickly on each side of me. I finally reached the checkout stand, but there was no set of sandals tapping on my right. "Why?" you might ask. Well, Alessa decided she was going to try to sit on the floor again. However, I had instituted "Mommy Death Grip" and had her hand and wrist firmly in my grasp. I virtually hissed at her to stand back up. She did momentarily and then the mortifying happened.
Have you ever seen chimpanzees at the zoo? They will hold a rope with one hand then just hang and twist merrily with their feet in the air. That is what Alessa did. I shot a look to Caleigh that warned of the reprocussions if she decided to join in the escapades and hissed at Alessa again. No luck. Then I tried to ignore it -and get the heck out of the store - besides, I was next to check out. Looking back, it really wasn't a big deal - she wasn't touching anything and, other than giggling, they weren't making any noise.
However, it was at this point that the old biddy behind me addressed me with a disdainful gaze and said, "Are they YOUR children?" What was that supposed to mean? I replied, "Yes. It's almost naptime and their first time in the store without a stroller." Here's the real kicker. This woman had the audacity to respond, "Well, I think you need to keep them in a stroller a while longer." WHAT!?!?! Thanks for the input, Hag, I'll take that into consideration the next time I'm out!
The next time you see a mother struggling with her children in a store and they aren't actually bothering anyone/anything/making a racket - shoot her a smile instead of a dirty look. Chances are that she's terribly mortified as it is and would rather be ANYWHERE than where she is.
Oh no she didn't! I was going to use slang, but I had just read about your feelings on that one, so I skipped it :) You should have seen the look on a lady's face when she turned around and almost tripped over Grant doing down dog in the middle of Raley's as I'm frantically trying to shove avocados into my produce bag and giving him the look of death. Good times.
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