Shopping with Kids - You never know what you're gonna get

Food? Check. Water? Got it. Content child? Well, that’s for her to know and me to find out.

I took my daughter shopping yesterday. It’s a hit or miss adventure every time we leave the house, so I really didn’t know what to expect. But, we needed stuff you can’t find at Target, so I put on my game face, loaded down my at-one-time-hip leather bag, now turned kid supply dumping ground, and hit the road.

She handled the ride great. Only asking for her kid CD seven or eight times instead of the usual million. Thank goodness for me, I left it at home. See previous post on how I couldn’t get the tune “Down by the Bay” out of my head – ‘nuf said.

As soon as we entered the store, I made sure she had her snack and drink handy and forged ahead. We hit three stores in an hour and she had yet to complain about anything. I smiled, but it was a crazy-nervous smile, and watched for a meltdown.

We waited for a sales clerk looking for sizes in the back when my daughter tried to exit her stroller the wrong way. Yes, she was dangling legs and all stuck under the food/drink tray. I struggled to get her unstuck from between the seat and the tray, but she wouldn’t budge either way. Sweat broke out on my crinkled forehead as I imagined the police rescue crew coming to free her, followed shortly by a county worker to ask what kind of parent gets her kid stuck in a stroller.

I paused and reassured her that we’d get her out and she’d be fine. I screamed at myself, in my head, and tried to pull then push her tush and legs back up. She wiggled and I thought of a backup plan – tear apart the stroller with my bare hands and quickly exit the store. The clerk wouldn’t mind – especially if we saved him the pain of our debacle. I paused, she turned, deep breath, firm push and she broke free. My eyes darted around to see if anyone else had caught sight. Whew! We were in the clear. The clerk returned so we paid and got on our way.

The rest of our shopping experience was not nearly as adrenaline inducing. We snacked and chilled while we shopped some more. We stopped and looked at a rack filled with a rainbow of colorful t-shirts. I asked her to pick a color. She walked now – to avoid another stroller struggle. Her hand made a grand gesture across all the shirts as she ran the length of the rack, and exclaimed "I need all these colors, mama!” I couldn’t help myself, I laughed out loud and she did too. It was a great way to end our shopping adventure.