A Whole New View at the Grocery Store

Tali and Eli in the cart a day after this post was written.

For Tali, there's been a monumental change in the way we go shopping at the grocery store. Now, instead of riding in the cart, she gets to walk! Lucky girl. This all started because having Eli in the baby carrier is not as easy as it was with Tali. He's just not as happy there. So I decided to keep him in the car seat (which conveniently clicks into the front of the cart) and let Tali walk. We've done it three times now and she loves it.

The first time we did this, Tali was so excited that she did EVERYTHING. I decide that instead of asking her to name the piece of produce I had grabbed, I would ask her to help me find it. She loved this game. She also loved that most of the produce is reachable. So first she reached into the green beans bin and grabbed a green bean. Then she saw the nectarines and happily bit into one before I could stop her (I saved the sticker so we could pay for it). Nearby customers thought it was cute. She did, however, slightly abused her freedom and ran away from me twice.

The second time we went to the grocery store I was prepared. I had wet paper towels to wipe down any fruit she might grab (she ate a nectarine and green apple) and we had a conversation about running away before we got inside. This time, she was very well behaved. She stayed near the cart the entire time! Her reward was a number of customers telling her how cute she was. (I'm not sure if she understands this yet, but she will soon.)

Tuesday was the third trip to the grocery store out of the cart. Since the newness has worn off, Tali only wanted to be out of the cart for a little bit. Then she asked to go in the cart with Eli. So I put her in the large basket, told her she wasn't allowed to stand up and grabbed a small second cart to put all of my produce (grocery items went in with her as I wasn't afraid she'd eat those). Aside from the whole two cart thing, this was actually a great way to shop with both kids. They were contained and happy. Until checkout. Then Tali wanted out of the cart so she could build a tower out of the chocolate boxes at the checkout counter and Eli started crying. At least I made it that far!

I am convinced that one day soon I will leave the grocery store with a smile on my face and just as calm as when I walked in.