Tuesdays

Tuesday is the day we go grocery shopping. Tuesday is not my favorite day of the week. Shopping with a 3 yr old, 2 yr old and 8 mo. old is pretty difficult -- tell you something you don't know, eh? I don't really have a choice because I don't like to shop at night after the kids have gone to bed -- I like to chill at home with Joseph.

So before we left this morning I told Marlow and Eliot that they had to sit in the cart, no walking around. They argued, but I stuck to what I wanted to make the shopping trip manageable. So we got to the store, I buckled Eliot in and Marlow promised to stay put in her seat. I was holding Gemma in the sling since she doesn't sit quietly in her carseat anymore -- if she can see me she wants me to hold her. They behaved because they knew that when we were almost done, when we get to the produce department, if they have been mostly good (nobody is perfect), they will get a free cookie from the bakery. Eliot was also hoping to sit in the yellow car in the arcade section before we leave.

Eliot was not good. He whined and cried VERY loudly because he wanted to walk and didn't like being strapped in. He was bad for quite a while. Every time I would stop to talk to him or quiet him Marlow would smile at me and say, "Am I being good mom?" She was being wonderful and she kept pointing it out. I gave them a snack and got Eliot to laugh a bit as we continued to shop and he kind of snapped out of his bad mood......then he pushed Marlow's foot off the side of the side of the cart where she was resting it, and she reacted -- and hit him in the face -- pretty hard. He cried very loudly, she said he started it, we talked, she apologized. We neared the end of the shopping trip. I added the last bit of produce to the cart and Marlow smiled and said "Time for our cookie!" I squatted down and told them I had some bad news: Eliot did not behave most of the time we were in there and did not get to get a cookie, Marlow was good most of the time, but then wrecked that when she slapped her brother and now she doesn't get one either. I have been trying to stick to what I say when I warn them about something and it is really hard. So, I said no cookie, but I would still let them sit in the little car in the arcade -- they perked up a little and waited patiently while I paid for the groceries. As much as I don't like to shop with kids, I don't think it is fun for them either -- it is really difficult to just sit there for an hour or more while your mom goes through the store reading labels and loading the cart. I hated going grocery shopping with my mom when I was a kid, and I doubt she enjoyed it much either.

So, they got a small reward for their time sitting in the cart. It doesn't look that exciting to me but they love it. Sometimes, if I have fifty cents, I even put money in it and they get a minute ride.