Big Adventures for Tiny Humans, No. 2
I've been known to coordinate grocery shopping with toddler snack time. Multiple times a week. Why? The grocery store I most frequent keep bins of fruit near the front of the store specifically for kids to take a snack while their parents shop.
It's brilliant; it's nutritious; my daughter looks forward to it every time. All I have to do is say grocery store and the nana? nana? nana? chants begin.
As soon as she's secured in the cart, we head for the kids' fruit bins - if we're lucky, there are perfect yellow bananas waiting for us. We pick one out and then scoot over to the salad bar to grab a couple of napkins. I unpeel the banana, breaking a third of it off into squishy, dimpled toddler hands. She wants to see if there's more inside the peel.
We proceed with some shopping; maybe a stop for coffee beans and the excitement of the grinder, or perhaps we head straight to produce. But it doesn't matter what's on my list; when the first chunk of banana is gone, it's promptly mas nana? She twists to see where it's sitting atop its napkin in the cart basket.
The second third of the banana makes its way into eager hands. Apples. Spinach. Sweet potatoes. Carrots. A colorful assortment fills the basket, nudging the banana and its napkin around in the cart.
A twist, a look, where is it? Mas nana? I lift it out, offering the last third to sticky fingers along with a glimpse inside the peel. All gone! O-tay.
We find a trash can for the peel but keep a napkin, always useful at the end. Almond milk. Eggs. Diced tomatoes. Spices. Is that all on the list? Wait, no, crackers, bananas for home. We move toward the checkout.
Grocery bags up, unload the cart, greet one of the three women who are almost always working the checkout. Say hello! Stickers? Is there any chance you have stickers today? Yes, of course.
We head out, strip of stickers clutched in still sticky fingers. Tummy full, she spends the drive home moving the stickers around her body, naming their locations knees, boots, nose, mouth, hahaha...
