Shopping with a Toddler

There are few things in this world that is as much fun as shopping with a toddler. Root canals, time share sales pitches and sitting at the car dealer while your paperwork is being processed come to mind.

Joseph is normally the most mild of two-year-olds. We honestly haven't hit the dreaded Terrible Twos. *knock on wood* There are days, however, when I really, really, can't wait to go back to work.

I thought I'd stop at Old Navy after Stroller Strides to take advantage of being in SLO. I put J in the cart and walked over to the shorts. I looked down just in time to see Joseph sweep all of the stacked tank tops of both sides of the aisle down to the floor. I quickly picked them up and rushed over to the pants. I made sure we were no where near a display table (no mean feat) and started looking through the racks. I heard a crash behind me. Closing my eyes and praying for patience, I turned around to see that Joseph had stretched his little body as far as he could reach and pulled down every single pair of shoes on three racks. Still determined not to abort the mission, I picked up the shoes (and had a tug of war that almost resulted in me being the owner of a pair of size nine, orange sandals) and headed to the dressing room to try on the pants and shorts I grabbed randomly.

In the dressing room, I stripped off my T-shirt and running pants and started the "fun" process of trying on clothes surrounded by mirrors. As I pulled the first pair of pants up to my waist, Joseph, who had been sitting in the cart watching me, yelled, "MOMMY TOO BIG!! TOO BIG MOMMY!!!"

"No Joseph. Mommy not too big."

"NOOOO!!! MOMMY TOO BIG!!!!" Mortified, I listened as the lady in the next stall laughed. I closed my eyes and prayed for either patience or a lottery win that would enable me to hire a full time nanny.

Now it was time to abort the mission.