[Last week's topic on Mommy Confessions From Never, Never Land inspired one of our members and guest contributor, Pam C., to share her own never-say-never story below. Thanks, Pam!]
In a far away land called BC (before children), I would often babysit my nieces. Whenever I took ONE OF THEM (not two!) shopping when they were young, I made them sit in the front seat of the shopping cart with the seat belt safely buckled. One of my nieces in particular would beg to ride on the edge of the shopping cart, or to sit in the basket part, but, noooo, I would never let her - that wouldn't be safe now, would it?
Fast forward. I have 3 year old twins. Except for maybe Costco and a few Safeways, stores don't have shopping carts made for twins. So what is a mom to do? Why, let one child sit in the basket and/or let one child ride on the edge of the cart. Yesterday, at Trader Joe's, which, for the record, have really small shopping carts to begin with, my daughter wanted to sit in the front and she was of course (not) buckled in for safety. My son wanted to walk. I needed to get yogurt, but that area was congested, so I parked the cart no more than 5 feet away from me (I swear!) and peacefully walked over to the yogurt. I didn't even have the yogurt in my hand when I heard this sickening crash. I turned around to see my daughter's head hit the floor and then saw that my son was pinned under the shopping cart that he had just tipped over! (My son had apparently decided, while I took my 5 steps over towards the yogurt, that he was tired of walking and that standing on the SIDE rail of the cart would allow him to rest. The rest, as the saying goes, is history and my daughter just went along for the ride.)
I ran over to them and was in a state of panic for about 2 seconds - do I pick up the child who just bashed her head and is still in the cart (see - she didn't need to be buckled!) or help the child that is stuck underneath the cart?? Luckily everyone in the entire store was now within 5 feet to witness this reckless mom and while I took my daughter out of the cart, someone picked up the cart, freeing my son so that I could pick him up as well. And there we sat on the floor of Trader Joe's, with my two babies letting out such painful screams that I was sure they both had broken bones. I was just about to ask for an ice pack or two when an employee walked over with two bags of frozen peas, but this of course did nothing to avail the blood curdling screams. Then another employee walked over with two fruit popsicles. Magic - the kids suddenly forgot about their adventure and were as happy as clams! Meanwhile, I was still in a state of shock over what I had let happen to my precious little ones, but decided that the floor of Trader Joe's probably wasn't the most appropriate place to contemplate this. As we gingerly got back to our shopping cart - my daughter in the front (still unbuckled I am embarrassed to admit) and my son sitting inside the cart - another employee walked over to the kids with balloons. Have you ever tried to do your grocery shopping with two kids holding balloons eating a dripping (raspberry, of all colors/flavors to choose!) popsicle! But they were happy!
For the record, they each have gigantic bruises on their legs, which look really nice against the two gashes my son added today by falling down on the sidewalk while running. And when I tried to tell the story to my very understanding mother-in-law, the kids interrupted to say that they got a balloon and a popsicle (the important parts). Moral of the story - if your kids tip over the shopping cart at TJ's, they will get some great treats! And never say never!
Original post to Mad About Multiples by guest contributor, Pam C.
