Exerting Some Independence

Strapped into her stroller...
where she should be!

I made a grave mistake last night. I let my 18 month old get out of the cart. I didn't want to do it but it became a safety issue really. Really, I swear! Even though she was strapped into the front seat, she somehow wiggled until her legs were out of the holes and she was on her knees facing the back of the cart. I had tried several times to get her back into the proper position but was met by screaming and wrestling and me sweating.

Hmmm...do I continue through Target with a screaming toddler or do I let her out and chase her all over the store? Neither option sounded very appealing but I had had enough acoustic raucous yesterday to last me for a year. I just wanted her to stop screaming.

So our adventure began. Initially she did very well following along. Then she got brave and decided to venture a ways from the cart. A couple of times I had to chase her down the aisle. All the time my older two kids are yelling her name to get her to come back.

And I'm pulling out all the stops to keep her within a 2-foot radius of the cart while I'm trying to make sure we are getting all groceries on the list in the most efficient way so we cover the least amount of area as possible.

"Why don't you help Mommy push the cart?" That lasted about 2 seconds before a baby in another cart caught her eye and she started following them.

Exerting her independence at the
Children's Museum.

"Here, put this in the cart for Mommy." Good idea but she was physically incapable of lifting most of what we needed and was not tall enough to get it over the edge of the cart. When her older sister would try to help she'd scream, "No!" and turn away from her.

"Do you want a ride?" That just elicited a shake of her head and little feet darting away.

I apologize to the other customers who experienced our madness last night. Some were amused by the little girl in the pink tutu marching (yes, she was literally marching around like she owned the place) through the store. We got a few comments such as "How cute!" and "She's adorable!" which were very nice...if they only knew how ornery she could be. And it was so sweet to watch her an elderly man keep stride for about 15 feet while she peered up at him and he smile down at her.

Others, I'm sure, were completely annoyed by us...by my children and me calling every few feet for her to come back, by an 18 month old darting out from aisles and almost getting hit by their carts, by us taking up whole aisles because an 18 month old doesn't really understand the right side rule. (But then again, most adults don't seem to know how to stay on the right side at the store either.) I'd hurriedly grab her and apologize all the while thinking to myself, we've got to foster her independence at some point, right? I know she may have been a bit of an inconvenience to others but she's learning some vital skills. She's learning some boundaries like how far she can get from Mommy in a big space before Mommy freaks out and grabs her. She's learning how to follow directions and then choosing which ones she actually wants to follow. She's learning how to follow a leader and then deciding that sometimes it's just better to be the leader.

My baby girl who is growing up
way too fast!

Well, I did get myself into that mess. It was not necessarily the most enjoyable shopping trip I've ever had and we could have been out of the store at least 20 minutes sooner if she would have just stayed in her seat but it was kind of fun (maybe fun's not the best word...interesting?) to see how her little personality expressed itself during our shopping trip.

Really it was just another reminder of how quickly she's growing up. She's saying new words, doing new tricks, and exerting her independence even more every day. Someday she'll walk through the whole store herself and I won't once have to tell her to come back and stay close. And I will think back to that crazy, first night she walked around Target on her own and miss it dearly.