I’m still experimenting with the best way, for me, to take James to the grocery store. I’ve tried wearing him in the K’tan wrap, but sometimes he’s fine with being in there…and sometimes he’s not. So I’m always a little anxious if I go that route. I also haven’t used the wrap all that much so, while it seems pretty simple, I definitely prefer to have a mirror handy while putting it on to make sure I’m doing it right.
The other option is keeping him in his car seat and putting it in the grocery cart. He always seems okay with this, but it leaves little room for groceries, especially at stores with smaller carts, like Trader Joe’s. So lately, I’ve put him in the cart and carried two reusable bags over my arms and simply put the groceries in there.
I went to Trader Joe’s on Friday, but as I was attempting to put his car seat into the grocery cart in the parking lot, the cart kept rolling away out of reach. After this happened two or three times, the nicest mom of a toddler came over and so kindly helped me…without making me feel like an idiot 🙂 I’m sure I would have gotten him in there eventually, but her kindness, lack of judgement, and the fact that she bothered to help when she had her hands full with her own busy little guy, made my day.
I had heard so much about the “mommy wars” and about how judgmental mothers can be of each other, and I must say I have not seen this. I’m sure it is out there somewhere, but all I’ve seen is empathy, understanding, and humor. Maybe I’ve just been lucky so far, (or maybe I’m too tired / preoccupied to notice the judgmental ones…) but I wanted to say thank you to all of the experienced mothers out there who are helping out us newbies. It makes such a difference.