Swirling
August 13, 2010 
Things are swirling around here. In the air. In my head. The last few days have been a little tumultuous. Just a lot going on.
A few nights ago I couldn't sleep. Again, partly because of some swirling going on outside... Some pretty nasty storms rolled through. And partly because my mind was racing. I don't even really know why. I guess we've just had a lot of irons in the fire lately. All good things, but it's a lot to ponder.
So, I awoke the next morning to an almost COMPLETELY empty fridge. Seriously. We were looking at pickled garlic and beer bottles here. (Which actually sounds really good together -- and would probably help slow down the swirling in my head -- but isn't exactly kid-friendly.) We were long overdue for a major grocery shopping spree.
I've reached the point where I dread grocery shopping with the kids. They're both old enough to be stimulated by everything they see in the store, but not always very aware of keeping their balance in the cart, so I'm constantly wheeling off very slooooowly and saying "Okay, guys, hold on."
But they're not holding on.
They're never holding on.
They're perching on various grocery items and leaning precariously over the edge of the cart.
And when I start the cart in motion, they usually lose their balance and thump their heads on the unforgiving sides and corners of the cart. And then they start crying in the middle of the store. Loudly. And my arterial system pressurizes. And I swear I'm never taking them grocery shopping with me again.
Never.
Until I have to because no one is available to watch them or it's just too much hassle to drop them at someone's house, and I brace myself to do it all over again.
So, it was that day. The day I absolutely had to grocery shop with my tots in tow. (Shudder.) I made my grocery list, itemized it as to areas of the store so I could get in and out as quickly as possible, gathered my coupons, looked at the online store ads to get the best deals, planned my menus for next week, looked at the kids and said, "Okay pipsqueaks. It's go time."
And off we went!
Strangely, it wasn't that bad. Once we got into the store, I just told myself that we were going to have a good time. Miss Peaches held onto a lemon most of the time (between dropping it several hundred times), and Little Blue Eyes was happy with a blunt end scissors that I said he could get.
A three-year-old riding in a shopping cart while playing with a scissors. That's right. My mothering skills are finely tuned.
Anyhow, even though it did take a little time, we made it through without any tears on their part or heart attack symptoms on mine. We even had a little comic relief while standing in the check out, when I turned around to find Miss Peaches taking off her shorts and diaper.
"I gotta go potty!" she yelled.
"Oh good. Yell," I thought. "Draw everyone's attention in our direction."
"No, no, no no no," I whispered as I started to giggle. I just couldn't help but laugh. It was mostly that crazy, brain-tired, I-give-up-trying-to-maintain-any-sense-of-civility-with-my-children kind of laugh. But it still felt good. And the grocery shopping was one less thing to have swirling around in my head.
What about you? What's swirlin' around in your noggin'?
Reader Comments (3)
Yes, grocery shopping with tots...those 4 words that can send any mom screaming in panic! ;) Glad your trip went well. Is it bad that I open up the snacks in the store to keep my kids quiet, and give the clerk empty packages to scan? Keeps me sane especially on the longer grocery trips.
Hah! I do that too. And I'm ashamed to say I used to scold Mr. Blue Eyes for doing it. But after too many temper tantrums I've seen the light! And the cashiers never seem to mind, so I'm guessing we're not the only ones?
Great pics! Oh those were the days - I used to avoid it like the plague and tended to tag team with the hubby. One of us shopped, the other minded. Then I discovered online grocery shopping that is delivered to your door - my bliss was complete....(until we moved out to the rural suburbs dang it!)