The other day I decided to take my three kids, ages four and 1 1/2 year-old twins, to the grocery store by myself. I don’t know why. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment and really needed to get out of the house. It had been a long rainy day.
As a mom of three young kids it’s hard to go anywhere by yourself.
You really have to think things through. The outing has to be somewhere you can fit three kids in a cart or somewhere you can put twins in a stroller and trust that the four-year-old will not wander away. That’s another story entirely.
But I really needed a box of wine, so the grocery store it was.
Jax, my four-year-old, is at the age where he has an opinion on everything. How does a four-year-old know that the snack you just grabbed isn’t a name brand? These marketing people really know what they’re doing. Every time I grabbed something generic, he snatched the name brand version and insisted we buy it instead. My grocery bill is always 20% higher when he shops with me.
The twins don’t have many opinions yet, but they sure are vocal when we stop moving. They like to keep a fast pace, which can be good until I’m trying to find an item I don’t often buy. They also like to grab things off the shelf when I’m not paying attention, so I’m constantly putting things back in random places — sorry grocery store employees! Also, everyone is fascinated by two babies and constantly stop to ask if they are twins. My favorite is when they ask me if they are identical…I have a boy and a girl who are usually dressed in blue or pink; one has blond hair and the other has brown. The main point is that one is a boy and one is a girl. People truly don’t know what it means to have identical twins.
Checking out was the highlight of the trip, mainly because I knew we were almost finished and when we got home it was nap time and I was one step closer to that glass of wine. Jax likes to help unload the cart and bag the groceries, which is fine until he inevitably stabs himself in the eye while trying to get the bags off the check-out bag holder (the metal bag holders are at his eye level). After a few tears and a Hershey bar (because he told me he was a good boy at the grocery store and I couldn’t deny that), all was calm.
Overall, it wasn’t the worst experience, but I wouldn’t do it again unless it was a real grocery emergency. Luckily, now that we have grocery pick-up available, I don’t have to venture to the grocery story with all three kids often. I shop at home, drive to the store, load them in the trunk and done!
