Part of my eventful weekend was spent doing something that I normally dread...going to the grocery store. And I'm not talking about the quick trip to grab milk and bread, I'm talking about the massive run because you've literally run out of EVERYTHING and are feeling bad about potentially feeding ketchup as a vegetable to your family for dinner that night.Part of my dread about going to the grocery store is that doing a big run with a toddler and preschooler in tow, is normally an exercise in "survival of the fittest". Here's an example that I'm sure you moms out there can relate to.
It's about 4pm and the toddler has just woken from her sleeping beauty slumber. The preschooler, who has been fighting naptime all afternoon, is fast approaching cranky-ville, so the window of opportunity for a quick grocery run is quickly closing. If desperation weren't banging on the door, then we would forgo this whole exercise, but alas, we cannot have cereal for dinner...again. So, I toss the kids in the car and drive the whole 5 minutes to Wal-Mart, because it's close & my fave grocery store is 20 minutes from my house and I don't have that kind of time (or gas money).
I park the car and see that my preschooler has lulled off to sleep. Oh, this is going to be bad. I attempt to wake her up and then all hell breaks loose. Her screaming fit is not unlike the famous pea soup scene in The Exorcist. I pull her from the carseat, arms & legs flailing, screaming volume escalating and put her in the buggy. Thankfully, my toddler sees this behavior (and the look on my face) and decides that feeling sorry for me and being good is the best route for her to take. Thank goodness I've got 1 intelligent child.
We make our way through the parking lot and through the store, with the toddler organizing the items in our buggy quietly, while her sister is screaming at the top of her lungs and letting the tears flow freely. She wants in the buggy, but I try to put her in and she doesn't want in the buggy. Aaahhhhhh!!! I'm about to start screaming at the top of my lungs. All I can do is smile at all the judgemental people who glare at me on each aisle as we make our way to the checkout. You know this situation has NEVER happened to THEM!
The cashier mistakenly asks my screamer what's wrong and is met with more anger and pea soup spewing. She'll not make that mistake again. We venture back to the car, with groceries and both kids. (The return desk at Wal-mart refused to take the screamer. I even offered her as a donation, but they said no.) I popped her bum upon returning to the car and called hubby on my way home. With smoke coming out of my ears, I informed him to watch the local news tonight, because I'm sure my parking lot spanking episode would be featured in the "how NOT to deal with this situation" segment.
And so, I learned an important lesson that day. Never try to accomplish anything in a public setting with a preschooler who has only had a 5 minute nap.
Consequently, I was delighted to go to my fave grocery store this past Sunday while hubby offered to keep the restless natives at home. Grocery shopping alone?! Oh my, it's just like Christmas morning!
The trip was going great until I went through the checkout and then they unfortunately told me what the total was. My head started spinning, pea soup started spewing and next thing I knew, I was running out to my car while uncontrollably screaming. The grocery store will never be the same.
