Post-Partum Brilliance

I had the brilliant idea to stop by Target on our way to pick up M from work last week. Real quick, I said to myself. I needed some type of healthy, but not too messy, food to give Laurel as a snack. And a pair of shoes. I had just noticed when I picked her up at daycare that the soles of her shoes were literally falling off. And while you can be forgiven for a lot of things when you've just had a baby, I didn't want to get the reputation around the 'hood that we don't take care of our kids.

Or maybe it was the post-partum hormones. Who knows? I just needed to get her a pair of shoes. Urgently.

Before we get out of the car, I tell her that she needs to listen to me and cannot run away and that we can't get a shopping cart. She tells me that she wants cake. I should have known at that point that she was going to drive a hard bargain once we were inside. Girl knows how to negotiate. It's been a long time since I've had any real physical control of Laurel...I've actually seen her worm her way out of the five point harness in her carseat. She's like Houdini. So, I was going to have to rely on wits and bribery.

We go into Target and actually, it turns out fine. Laurel ended up with lace-up, pink, sparkly, Hello Kitty shoes that basically represent everything she currently wants out of life. They will probably last all of two weeks, but hopefully we can make it to a real shoe store before then. Mark Oliver, of course, slept through the entire excursion. I convinced her to eat a banana instead of cake. She only laid down on the ground once. (By the way, does anyone else's kid do this? Lie or sit down and somehow stiffen their bodies so that they are impossible to move? It's like trying to break up a protest.)

But I cannot tell you how many people approached me while we were in the store. Mostly older women who said encouraging words to me with a hint of nostalgia in their voices. I remember those days, they smiled.

So. Yes. Two kids is a lot more than one kid. Life is a little crazy. I feel kind of like we take a huge breath and then dive under water...when we are submerged, we have no idea what the rest of you are doing. And then, we come up for air and remember that the world exists and lots of people have kids and it will all be ok.