It was a tale of two toddlers.  One was curious but content, happy to cruise up and down the aisles with his mom as they popped into the grocery store to pick up a few items to fill the fridge.  He explored with his eyes, and occasionally with his feet, but he stayed close to his mama and flirted with the aisle clerk when they checked out.

The other toddler – oh, that other toddler – he makes even the quickest errand a challenge.  He despises the seat in the shopping cart, he wants to explore at his own pace, and he loves to deshelve anything that seems to be sitting in an orderly fashion on display.  He wants what he wants, and oh, my, he is not shy about letting you know.

I’m sure you can guess – these two toddlers are one and the same: the first picture is that of my son at 17 months and the second, at 18 months.

Colin_Target
Wearing a hat we had no intention of purchasing, running through the aisles of Target – hello toddlerhood! (And the Starbucks cup is good ‘ole H2O)

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Before I ever had children, I would look at moms of toddlers in the grocery store and wonder why they couldn’t seem to keep their kids in check.  And when Colin was a baby and in his earliest toddler months, I thought I had a better understanding – being a mom is hard! – but I was still able to view running errands as an easy option for finding something to do on days where we had been cooped up in the house.  Sure, getting in and out of the car dealing with diaper bags and car seats and such made errands a bit slow going, but hey! it’s not like we were in a hurry.

Now, I get it.  I tooooooooootally get it.  Even with a well rested and well fed toddler, running a quick errand (happily, at least) is a thing of the past. Here is an example of a quick errand gone wrong.

This weekend, we went to Toys R Us because Colin received a gift certificate for Hanukkah, and I wanted to get him a small stuffed Elmo (since his obsession has recently skyrocketed, seemingly out of nowhere).  We were in no hurry and he had just finished breakfast, so I thought this might be a peaceful trip.  Of course, it started that way. Since I only intended to get an Elmo and maybe a book, I didn’t grab a cart.  Once we found the aisle with the Sesame Street toys, Colin pulled the shelf at his height into a massive heap of a mess while I was reaching up for an Elmo doll.  Ugh.  As I tried to clean up his mess, instead of helping me per my request, he bolted. Fast. This boy should run track when he grows up, I am telling you.

Of course, since I am bigger than him, I quickly caught up and snapped him up, which had him profoundly offended.  Cue the kicking.  And the whining.  I walked toward the front, ignoring his hysterics and heading toward the exit, and thankfully, he calmed down so I didn’t have to waste the schlep to the store.  I should have known better, but I brought Colin and the soon-to-be-ours Elmo toy to the book aisle, where Colin discovered a collection of the world’s loudest and most annoying books with sound effects.  If he would just pick one – whichever one – that would be fine, and we would head out. Go figure, my child wants every single book with a dog or train on the cover (read: all of them).

I did my best to explain that we had to pick one book (“come on buddy, this gift card is only $25, and you don’t need a zillion new books with sound effects”), picked up the next book he touched, and then carried him up front as he hollered “Thomas! Thomas!” all the way up to the register (apparently he wanted all three of the copies of the same book that I had in my hand – a Thomas book.  Why, oh why did I ever let him watch one stupid episode of this show!?  Now he can spot Thomas the Train anything from a mile away…but I digress).

We got to the register, where I tried to play as quickly as possible, and Colin terrorized a wrapping paper display during my two minutes of setting him down to pull the gift card out of my wallet.  By the time we got settled back at our car, it had been over thirty minutes and my nerves were shot.  All of this from what once would have been a ten minute errand – a peaceful way to get out of the house while Daddy was napping.

So, long story long, I guess you could say that I am in denial and slowly coming to terms with the paradigm shift that has occurred in our household.  Gone are the days of the quick and peaceful errand.  Of course, errands are still inevitable – we need to eat, and groceries don’t buy themselves.  I will need to budget more time, amp up my patience level, steel my nerves and prepare myself for the battles to come (no, you can’t have that candy in the check out line, and yes, I will abandon the cart and take you home).

Toddler moms – any great tips for managing errands with a strong willed toddler?  Anyone else out there going through this new fun phase?