Thursday, April 9, 2009

Judgement

We have all done it–the judgment glare. I remember getting the judgment glare when I was pregnant and holding a LARGE cup if Dunkin' Donuts coffee. That look of, "Should you really be drinking that in your condition?" Well, actually it is decafe thank you very much so go judge someone else.

It's been awhile since I noticed judgment stares, but today I seemed to be the recipient of many. Let me start off by saying that I'm having 15 people at my house for Easter brunch. And to feed 15 people one meal, you need to buy food, and lots of it. Going grocery shopping with a baby and a 2-year old and buying all the food is a chore to say the least. I usually put Gavin in the the seat, Luke in the cart, and put as much stuff under the cart as possible.

Well that wasn't going to work today, so I decided to let Luke walk. But not before putting a harness on him. Go ahead…judge me. Try navigating a busy parking lot holding a 24 lb baby in your arms and a 2-year old who darts into traffic without looking, without listening and pulls with all their might to free their arm from your death grip. Or walk down an aisle with an impulsive 2-year-old fearing they will get lost because they like to run away and have mommy chase them. Sound fun? So I put the "monkey harness" on Luke today, and received some "glares" but I would rather have a safe kid than worry about what people think.


The shopping trip was somewhat of a success. I was able to get "most" of the things I needed. Gavin tore up my shopping list and Luke's new found freedom resulted in him trying to bite into an orange. So I still forgot to purchase some items and grew 5 new gray hairs, but everyone made it home in one piece.

6 comments:

Kristin said...

Sounds like you did the right thing to me. Luke sounds a lot like Cameron and I would NEVER just let him walk in the grocery store/parking lot. He would be gone in a half a second.

Ali said...

you said it sister!

Amy Mike & Kaitlyn said...

No judgement here - I have the monkey harness and have used it in similar situations myself!!! I'm impressed that you thought it out so thouroughly that you actually prepared yourself for the trip. I probably would ahve just gone and realized afterwards that it was a disaster...lol.

Unknown said...

I saw a woman with this last summer when Jocelyn and I went hiking after we dropped my brother off at the trail head. I thought it was a cute item that teaches a kid independence. You are amazing for putting on Easter at your house.

Unknown said...

I got a few new gray hairs yesterday at the store, too. And I was judged for bringing a one-month-old out in public. But we've gotta eat! I have contemplated buying that monkey harness...did he fight it at all?

Ali said...

Actually Luke was pretty good about wearing it. I just give him a choice; You can walk with the Monkey, or ride in the shopping cart. He'll take walking over riding any day of the week, so I new this would work. He still tried to run in every direction once we were in the store, and I had to keep untangling it, which was a pain. Having him on the harness wasn't really any less stressful, because now he had access to everything on the shelves. Even though I gave him a snack to keep his hands "busy" it wasn't enough to deter him entirely.