Please Keep Your Hands to Yourself!

I think maybe my short term memory has gotten shorter. This morning, I took Jack and Casey to the commissary with me, like I do every week. I think I was even looking forward to it a little bit...maybe because I had a good week of meals planned and was looking forward to getting everything. But as soon as I put the kids in the car cart I started looking forward to it being over.

Casey would not keep her hands to herself. Even as I was physically restraining her from touching Jack, she was trying anyway. As soon as I would let go of her (you know, to push the cart), she was touching him again, or biting him or pulling on his shirt or touching his steering wheel. It was pretty miserable. At one point I told Casey (in a pretty good-natured voice) that I was about to sell her to somebody in the store. Jack piped up with, "Why do you want to sell her Mommy?" It's good that it was an empty aisle. And strangely, I probably would have ended up selling her to a man because the commissary was strangely full of men this morning. About 75% men. Must be a weird Columbus Day thing. Which reminds me that we didn't do a single thing to celebrate.

Anyway, we got all our groceries. I didn't even have to turn around and get forgotten items from my list, which is good since I probably wouldn't have bothered with anything that required more time in the aisles.

We came home and I attempted to put groceries away, make lunch and make a Lego car for Jack. The groceries and the lunch suffered as I worked on the Lego car. It was Jack's present for wearing underwear to bed for the first time and staying dry all night. I had held off giving it to him earlier in the morning because we were busy running around but I couldn't keep him waiting any longer.

Finally I got some food (I wouldn't call it lunch) into the kids and the car together and we headed up for naptime just a few minutes late. They both slept great and I got some things done around the house.

And here is where my short term memory failed me. I thought it would be a great idea to go to Target after naptime??? It was raining out and I had some gifts that I needed to buy...so no time like the present. And while Target presented different challenges than the commissary, it was no easier. Casey's on her own agenda and wants to go where Casey wants to go...not where Mommy or even Jack want to go. And while I got birthday gifts and Christmas gifts at the same time and the trip was successful, there's got to be an easier way! Now that I'm thinking about it, the easier way is called "online shopping" but that requires a little more forethought for shipping times than what I had this week.

And in conclusion, we're done our major excursions for the week. We might not leave the house again except to go to the gym, where someone else gets to chase my children.