Keep Moving

This morning, we got out early, and took a “quick” trip for groceries. Beef stayed up until we left, and took care of fA1 while i got everything loaded in the car for our trip. She was very well behaved on the 45 mile drive up and the 45 mile drive back, but in the 30 minutes we were in the store, she wailed at the top of her lungs! She didn’t want milk, didn’t need to be changed, wasn’t cold, wasn’t hot, didn’t want her toys… she just wanted to hear herself make this hideous noise she has recently figured out how to make. It is sort of a cross between crying/howling/and what i would call grumbling… if i thought it was at all possible, i would say that she has an “attitude”, and this is the sound she makes when she wants to convey it to us.
Even Beef noticed that she has been doing this lately, and checked with me to confirm it’s not just to him. While she was making every shopper in the store acutely aware that she was there, and she has a powerful voice, i laughed. Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t funny, and i was very uncomfortable, but i had no other choice. After making sure her basic needs were met, there wasn’t much else i could do. i’m really not even supposed to be lifting her, so carrying her around the store was not even a thought i could entertain. So i just laughed. All those years of dreading all the shoppers in the store at Christmas time. Years of disdain for parents who chose to let their children scream and bawl in toy aisles and checkout lanes suddenly flashed back as a beautiful little princess sitting in my cart kept her siren going for a good 15 minutes! Now i understand… Ahhh the joys of parenting.. and what did i do? i kept moving… more for my own sake than hers. i’m sure she would have been quite content to sit in one spot of the store and yell, but i kept moving so that those people who were trying to shop in peace on a Monday morning, had better odds of their eggs not exploding from her shrill bellows. i kept moving, because i knew it would get me out of the store more quickly (except the fact that there were a hundred people in the four check out lines available), and safely into my car, which would lull my squawking princess to sleep (right?). i kept moving, because i was tired and self-conscious, and just plain sure that if we got to the car, at least people wouldn’t wonder why i couldn’t “shut that kid up”… i will never again ponder this question. i kept moving, and kept telling myself that my baby has discovered her voice, and she likes it! She loves to hear herself make these noises, and she doesn’t care who is trying to shop in peace, or who thinks that her mommy isn’t taking good care of her. She can scream, and she will keep doing it until she’s done. Oh joy!

Something else she has mastered today… “walking” in her Tot Rider 2 “car”.

We used to call them “walkers”, but i’m sure they’re called something else these days. At any rate, she’s becoming more mobile, so i guess i’m going to be an expert at baby chasing now, but guess what? At least she’ll have her siren “on” so i won’t have to worry too much about where she is! As long as she screams through the house like she did in the store today, i’ll never wonder!

Good thing there was a Starbucks near our shopping stop today! Mama needed a BIG cup of warm, sugary goodness and yes, the quad shot extra espresso to help me keep up! There’s just something about the shape of the cup, the colors, the feel… it just relaxes me even before i get a drink!