shopping & lawnmowers, a thursday in the life

Is it me or is shopping getting more difficult? This morning I took Ezekiel on an inspired trip for floor cushions, wall decor and altoids. Fantastically enough, we hit a bullseye with the floor cushions and altoids on our first stop, World Market. We were the ones standing outside the doors at 10 am for the grand unlocking ceremony. A simple recreational shopping trip can be such an unexpected adventure with a toddler...you always know something off the wall is going to happen, but you can never guess what, so there's that element of surprise spicing things up. I don't think I've ever bought anything from World Market before today, so when we went in we started with a perimeter exploration before zoning in on our targets. This store has very small carts, carts that make Ezekiel look like he's about 5 years old when he sits in the basket, but I understand now why they are small, because there's not much elbow room in the aisles and there's lots of breakable stuff. During our perimeter cruise, we passed some brightly colored kitchen utensils that caught my eye because Ezekiel adores kitchen utensils. Thinking I could distract him from wreaking havoc in the store, I handed him a rubbery neon green whisk that delighted his little senses. Satisfied that he'd be distracted while I shopped, we proceeded towards the back of the store, but I was unpleasantly surprised at how being hit with a soft rubber whisk hurts MORE than being pummeled with a wire one! (This happens alot at home.) Looking for floor cushions was probably the best thing I could possibly look for with Ezekiel though, because they were tucked away in the back of the store with other soft items and clearance items. He helped me pick a good couple of cushions, but not without getting out of the cart and drooling (maybe even wiping some snot, not sure) on the ones that I decided to put back. While loading them onto our little cart, I heard a snap behind me. I'm pretty sure that a store employee was walking by right as Ezekiel yanked and broke a long stem out of a huge decorative stick bundle, and I'm really grateful that the employee didn't call us out and make me pay for it. Maybe it was already broken and that's why it was in the back of the store? Anyway, at this point we were really saved because picking up the altoid containers on the way out gave little buddy some things to bang together until we were finished checking out! So World Market, overall, a huge success. I would totally take him back there if I know what I want ahead of time. I'm not a big home decor person, but since we were out I wanted to swing by Pier 1 Imports to look for wall decorations for our dining room. So I went next door, big baby, big purse, big belly and floppy shopping cart cover in my arms, only to find what everyone else already knows, there are NO carts in Pier 1 and you should NOT let your toddler walk around in there. But we were already in, and lugging those 50 pounds another 50 feet seemed worth it to check out the selection. Once again I went for the back of the store where we wouldn't be as visible. They did have some cute stuff, but as soon as I let my baby man down to walk he found some metal art work hanging just low enough for him to clatter and bang against itself. Even better, he then found some smaller painted metal and glass pieces in a bucket and picked one out to bang against the floor. I saved this one before anything broke. After he wandered over to admire himself in the heavy mirrors resting against the wall and made like he was going to climb one, I was ready to go, but he was having too much fun and I think he knew that he was driving me a little nuts. I adore the randomness of his choices, though. What makes him pick this or that to mess with? I may never know, but lunch time made a good excuse to head home with our bounty and quit while we were still ahead. He is such a special little guy to me, and truth is there's nobody else I'd rather spend the day with if given the choice of just one person (keeping in mind that Mason has to work all day and that there is nobody better suited to care for my little boy than I).

Oh, and I have to add for my readers who know me really well: I took Ezekiel into PETSMART after our shopping escapade! He shows alot of interest in dogs and cats around the neighborhood, and I figured we'd see some in there. It didn't stink as bad as I remembered, but boy, as soon as we approached the "adopt-a-cat" aisle my throat started itching with cat hair and I realized how much I must love my son to take him into this least favorite store of mine. He tried to snuggle the hamsters and gerbils through their cages, and I have to admit they were really cute. I just can't bear to think about getting one and watching it die and then watching Ezekiel's little heart break, ugh. No thanks.

On a side note, every Thursday I get very angry at the lawn maintenance schedule. From 1 pm to 3 pm, prime nap hours, our house is surrounded by lawnmowers, edgers and every loud lawn tool imaginable. Poor Ezekiel always wakes up after just one hour or less of his usual three hour siesta, and tosses and turns and babbles through the maddening drone. Today I was trying to take a nap too, which made me doubly mad at the obvious insensitivity of these lawn maintenance schedulers to the needs of babies and mommas!!!!!! Why can't they just come at 7 or 8 am and be done by lunch? Wouldn't they be happier that way, too? I'm sure they do landscape some neighborhood at that hour, just not ours. It's ridiculous that I get mad at them every week, but I haven't thought of a way around the disrupted nap. I don't really want to take a pack-n-play to someone else's house, and that's pretty much all I've come up with. Maybe we could just snuggle on the big bed together and watch the lawnmowers through the window next week.

Here are some shots from our trip last Saturday to Natchitoches (nack-a-tish), LA. By God's grace alone we lead a blessed, luxurious life, lawnmowers and all!