Shopping with Three

At first I was going to tell you that it is impossible to shop with three little ones aged two and under. It just can't be done. However, that is not a true statement. Single moms, military wives, mothers of triplets, and in home daycare providers do it all the time. So instead I'll settle for this statement: You'd have to VERY desperate to take three children under two out shopping by yourself.

I know because I've gone out shopping with Kara a number of times and the two of us adults are hard pressed to keep all three little ones in our sight and content enough that they aren't screaming. (Sometimes we abandon the latter goal.) We've gone out twice the past few days on shopping trips. The first trip was poorly timed (during nap time) and so it didn't go smoothly. I'm trying to recall the details, but all I remember is Kara and I agreeing that next time we'd make sure they had a nap first.

So Monday we took the kids out shopping right after their morning nap. We went to Wal-Mart first. The twins were very well behaved and received their fair share of compliments. Someone thought they were both boys even though Genevieve was dressed in pink. Bentley rearranged the sippy cup bins. He likes to do that whenever we visit the infant section at Wal-Mart.

The second half of the trip we went to Carrs (a grocery store) to hunt down $40 worth of specially marked products. The prize on this scavenger hunt was two free movie tickets. This is a game that appeals to us homemakers.

Genevieve continued her exemplary behavior. She cooed and grinned and was pleasant. She stayed in the stroller the entire time. The only questionable behavior she displayed is when she ripped a sales tag off a shelf display and handed it to her brother who proceeded to eat it. I know she aided and abetted him because she was the one next to the shelf. I kept him a safe distant from the shelves because I know he's a grabber. She doesn't usually grab.

Jackson was temperamental. He was happy in the stroller for the first third of the visit and then he started protesting. I took him out of the stroller and carried him. Jackson likes being held. That's hardly a character flaw. He's a baby--shouldn't he prefer cuddles? After a while I put him in the cart seat and he liked that.

Bentley was a charmer and a tyrant. He didn't want to sit in the cart. Since he's good about staying in our line of sight, he's usually allowed to roam free. He rearranged a few canned goods displays. He placed a few items of his choice (evaporated milk and tomato paste) in the stroller's storage basket. He charmed more than one passerby. He rode around for a while on the bottom of the shopping cart. He tried to talk us into buying him M&Ms at the checkout stand.

Jackson screamed when he was returned to the stroller when we got to the check out stand. Bentley pitched a fit at the end of the trip when I forced him to sit in the cart so we could make our way safely across the parking lot to the car. Genevieve did not join her brothers in their protests. She seldom does. It was a typical shopping trip with the three small kidlets. Exhausting. (And there's still a lot of work to be done--get the kids in their car seats, load the groceries, squeeze in the stroller, drive home, unload the kids, unload the groceries, feed the hungry babies, start dinner...was it a wise idea to expend so much energy on shopping?!)