Yes, my girls are 3 1/2. And no, until a couple of weeks ago, they'd never ridden in a grocery cart.
I went straight from pushing them in a stroller and pulling the cart along behind me, to having them walk with me, "helping" me push the cart.
I felt a little guilty...the girls have coveted those carts with the little cars on them for as long as they could talk. For a while, I told them, "Those are for bigger kids." And then one day, I started saying, "Oh, those are for babies. You are BIG girls, and you walk with Mommy now!"
But, despite my guilt, I just couldn't get past grocery carts not being CLEAN.
I know there are kids with leaky diapers sitting in those seats. And I know there are leaky egg cartons and drippy packages of meat, too.
Shudder...shudder...ack!...ack!
And, somehow, our girls are still touching their faces and sometimes putting their hands in their mouths. (I seriously thought we'd be long past this by now!!!) My mind spins right into salmonella poisoning, followed by extensive medical care, which -- among other things -- would likely upset our sleep schedule.
No, thank you.
I'll just make an extra deposit in the therapy fund for our girls never having had the normalcy of a grocery cart ride.
Until...we were in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. Marcia mentioned she would like to visit a Target store. We were able to steal away for an hour one afternoon, the girls and Marcia and I.
The girls have walked with me at Target for a long time, but I'm usually pretty to-the-point with my shopping, at least when they're with me. (They're relatively well-behaved walkers, but I feel like they're a long way from being well-behaved browsers.)
I knew Marcia wanted to shop, and I wanted to be able to enjoy the experience with her.
I had an idea. "Girls! Wow! Look at the huge carts they have here! How nice!" Insert big smile and wide, beckoning eyes. "Since we're on vacation, and this is an extra-special occasion to have Miss Marcia with us, how would you like to do something super-duper-special???" Yes, yes...please, please! "How would you like to ride in one of those big, cool carts?!!!"
The girls were all about it!
They sat facing each other, and they swapped positions halfway through our shopping trip.
Marcia and I were able to browse a bit, and the girls enjoyed their grocery cart limo experience.
And...I was able to spend what I would have deposited in their therapy fund to buy us all a little snack from Starbucks before we headed back to the hotel.
Win-win-win!
[I do not mean to judge mamas who put their kids in shopping carts. I know that's sorta-kinda what you're supposed to do. I recognize I have issues.] ;)
5 comments:
Wait, REALLY? That was their first time in a trolley?
I'm honoured! and I didn't even realise.
Ours LOVE trolleys - they're even fussy about having a pink and blue handle!
I figure there is NO way I can watch those little hands all the time, they might as well build up their immune system. And confession, sometimes I purposefully pretend I haven't seen things so i don't have to freak out :) (you and J would have a fit :)) LOL
PS I think we need to all change our lilypie tickers - I've seen yours mine and Mandy's I think (maybe Heather's) all stuck on 3 :)
I love how Marcia calls them trolleys. I have a friend that calls them 'buggies' and it makes me giggle.
Mine are have ridden in carts (especially the awesome ones at Sams and Costco which hold two babies), but you should see me wiping those suckers down with my Clorox wipes. My friends laugh at me for carrying Clorox wipes around in my purse... but guess who they come running to when they have to take their babies to a public restroom! ;)
Ha! You just put yours in a cart for the first time and mine are four and have just started walking at the store. I have got two that can't keep their hands to themselves and like to wander off and hide in clothes racks and ugh! Don't worry, we wipe the carts down thoroughly with Clorox wipes before they get in.
In one thought, I had to laugh at how much thought you put into why they had never been in a cart before...and then the next I felt like a bad Mom for not worrying about all that and just putting them in there to save my sanity! ha! Adam ends up in the cart on most trips because he likes to run off and doesn't listen in stores well...drives me CRAZY...so restricting him to the cart is just easier...
Those carts are nice though! I might be able to have all 3 in one. J&S get mad when I tell them they are too big to ride in a cart anymore but one like that might work!
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