An "Out-Of-Buggy" Experience

Oh, Wally World, how I loathe you. Why you ask? Because for the 3.5 years that I taught High School Family & Consumer Sciences (Home Ec) I had to frequent this store on a daily basis. Some days you could find me scouring the aisles as early as 6:30 a.m., trying to gather all of the groceries my students would need for the day.

Fortunately now, since I no longer teach, I am only at Wally World two or three times a month! Yet I always manage to pick the strangest day to set aside for a shopping excursion.  If I had my choice, I would shop early on a Monday morning, but to say the least, IT'S A MONDAY! And just like everyone else in the world, I just can't get going. So all week I pushed my shopping trip off, "Oh, I'll go tomorrow..." Well, tomorrow came and went and our pantry was down to the bare bones, so I felt as if I had no choice but to go on a wet, rainy Saturday morning. So this morning, after Landon & I sent Josh off to work, we got in the car and headed that way. Since it was raining I was hoping that everyone would delay their trip to the grocery store, but I was wrong. The parking lot was full as usual, but I did stumble upon a great parking spot. Since it had been raining all morning the buggies were SOAKED. I tried my best to dry it off, but there was just no hope - which meant that my little sweetie would not be sitting in the buggy. I used to see Mom's letting their kiddo's run all around in Wal-Mart, terrorizing the aisles, and swore that would never be me, but this morning I was between a rock and a wet place. I thought I would just let Landon hold on to the buggy for a few minutes until the seat was dry enough for him to sit in.

So Landon, decked out in his yellow rainboots, decided that beside the buggy was NOT where he was meant to be, but rather he should be pushing the buggy! Since it wasn't too crowded yet, I obliged and let him push while I was in front steering the cart. I must say, we were a pretty good team! And Landon was precious as we would pass the stock boys, he would yell to them, "Hey Man!" They would kindly answer him back with a little laugh, "Hi little fellow!" 

So like any good and wonderful thing, I knew it wouldn't last forever. We manage to get everything but our frozen items and bread (I start in the back of the store and work my way to the front...) before Landon had a come-apart. So, to keep the peace, I gave him little tasks, like whenever I got the miniature frozen pizza's out of the freezer, I would allow him to be a big boy and place them in the cart for me. He thought this was GREAT! He especailly liked holding the bag while I picked out the apples! So cute - however once I was finished with the apples, he did not want to put the bag in the buggy, but he insisted on carrying it around, hung over his left shoulder like he was Huckleberry Finn or something.

The funniest part of all was when we were hunting for Landon favorite type of dinner roll (Hawaiian bread). This little lady who we had previously seen on a few aisles cruised up next to us looking at the same thing. Landon looked up at her and says, "Lady, follow'n me?" as if to ask her why she was following him! I about died, but she knew exactly what he meant and answered him with a, "Why yes, we seem to be buying a lot of the same things! And you are being such a good boy!" Whew - good thing she had a sense of humor! haha!

For Landon's first "out-of-buggy" experience it was great! There were a few people that actually spoke up and said, "You're being so good!" or "They've gotta learn sometime!" One man in particular was staring at us in the canned goods, so I took the initiative to say, "Shopping with a 2 year old should be a sport!" and he answered me with a laugh and, "Yeah, you're doing a great job. My Granddaughter is 3 and she's all over the place in here." So I guess he wasn't staring, but admiring our efforts rather :)

I can already tell you that this will be a "Mommy" thing. I told Josh about it and he didn't seem to thrilled. At Target I let Landon sit in the shopping cart area rather than in the actual seat, and this drives Josh batty...so we'll see how well this goes over with him. He's more of a "get in and get out" kind of person, whereas I love to just browse! Which means baby boy must also be happy while I browse :)