It’s a bit of an oxymoron- much like: quiet storm.
It’s been a while since I went shopping (clothes shopping) with all three kids. Ever since Gap Kids, my mainstay for kids clothes, closed downtown, I’ve been either ordering clothes online or doing quick stops at Janie & Jack or Old Navy. Every couple of months I’ll make my way to Stoneridge (25 minutes away) when I desperately need to do a serious shopping trip. I try to go alone, but that rarely is possible, and when I bring the kids, it turns into quite the excursion.
This morning, we all took Ed to the airport. He doesn’t take business trips all that often, so we went off to bid him farewell. The trip to the airport, in and of itself, was an adventure. Going to Oakland, in pouring rain, at 8:30am, with 2 kids that wanted the same toy, of which there was only one. Throw in finding ONE lollipop in the car and trying to have them share that, and the fact that this one toy was one that is like a flag that you throw and hit people with (Ed and I were getting pelted) and it made for a looong trip to the airport. By the time we got there, I figured, they’d already been in the car for over an hour, no school today, and it’s pouring rain- what the hey- let’s go ahead and do another little road trip- to the Stoneridge Mall!
Now, I should mention that I hadn’t dressed Samantha (nearly 5) up this morning- she is a late sleeper, so she woke up, we put a piece of toast in her hand, and put her in the car, footed PJs and all. I wasn’t expecting to go anywhere else, so I had no change of clothes. I hesitated for a minute to take her to a mall, in pajamas, being 5 years old and all, complete with bedhead. It’s not like that’s the norm for me- I normally dress them myself picking their outfits, matching, ironing what needs to be ironed, hair perfectly brushed, braided, detangling spray combed all the way through to have nice, smooth locks on them all. But rare is the morning that I get a chance to get over to BabyGap, and with the rain and all, what the heck- how many people were going to be at the mall to see us anyhow, right? I figured she could stay in the stroller, and maybe sitting down people wouldn’t know how old she was (Oh your baby is so cute! She’s only 2! She is REALLY tall.)
I have a little amnesia of how bad the ride from the airport to Stoneridge was, I do remember threatening to pull over various times, actually pulling over once (to feed the baby) and having the CHP come over to see if we were ok (apparently you’re not supposed to feed babies on the side of the freeway, so he waited till we were done) and bribing Samantha and Sacha with promises of going to the candy store at the Stoneridge Mall if they behaved. Nothing worked, but we did make it there alive. When we got there, I put Samantha in the stroller (I only had the single, not the double), loaded Adam up on the Ergo (like a Baby Bjorn) and dragged, physically dragged, Sacha, kicking and screaming, into the mall, because he wanted so badly to sit in the stroller so bad, but could not because, obviously his sister was in her pajamas and had no shoes.
Does this sound crazy yet? Because that’s not even the crazy part.
So, we get to the blessed BabyGap, finally, but not before I stop to get Sacha a bageldog to pacify him. I made sure to ask Samantha if she wanted one, she did not.
Enter BabyGap. Samantha wants a bageldog. NOW. Tries to take Sacha’s. Sacha defends his bageldog. Samantha starts taking it anyhow, Sacha cries. I reprimand Samantha (well, I was the whole time this was occuring, only now more seriously), she gives the bageldog back. At which point Sacha feels like sharing and then offers the bageldog. Argh.
Try to start looking around- am there to try to find swimsuits for our upcoming vacation- am a woman on a mission, commence swimsuit search!
Baby starts getting fussy in the carrier. Lucky for me, I can secretly nurse the baby whilst carrying him in this wonderful new contraption! Yay for modern inventions. Unbutton shirt, latch Adam on, he dreamily leans into me, begins getting his fill, I continue the hunt for swimsuit perfection.
Samantha and Sacha abandon the bageldog situation. Begin to play hide and seek in the racks and chase each other around the store. Unfortunately, every time they jump out from their hiding place, they run into someone. I am doing a lot of “Oh, sorry!” “Sach!” “Samantha- stay INSIDE the store!” (bear in mind, she is in her PJ’s, I was trying to relegate her to the stroller, but that worked for about 30 seconds)
Am having great success with the shopping nonetheless, and it’s not super crowded there, which is great. Still, having to chase them back into the store, prevent the stroller from blocking aisles (at this point they are pushing each other around in the stroller), and escort them to the bathroom, which inevitably they have to use EVERY SINGLE time we have ever come into this store.
Bathroom visit complete, quick, successful, ok- terrific. Sam and Sach go back to pushing each other around in stroller, this time arguing over who will be IN the stroller. I try to negotiate who should be in the stroller, it sounds like it’s cool that Samantha sits there, so I go continue looking around. Next thing I know, I look over, and Samantha, sitting in the stroller is swatting at Sacha like crazy, while he is grabbing her hair/swatting at her....full-blown fighting... grrrrr!!! I break it up, and say- “We are ALMOST done guys! Please behave and you’ll get ONE treat!” (bear in mind, this excursion to BabyGap has only been about 10 minutes long at this point...MAX) They calm down. Back to playing nicely and racing around the store in their stroller.
THEN, they remember the “stage”. Ugh. Whoever designed BabyGap did NOT envision kids accompanying their mothers on their shopping trips. Because if they did, there is no WAY they would have made the storefront; the place where they put mannequins and their model clothes, to be set on a “stage” about 2 feet off the ground, and about 5 feet deep. It is absolutely exactly a child’s height to climb onto, faces everyone in the mall, and there are awesome mannequins to play with. This is my kids’ favorite place to play- they go up there and run around the mannequins, dance and make faces at the mall shoppers, and JUMP there because it resonates quite loudly as the “stage” is hollow. They also like to jump from the stage to the store, which lands them in front of people.
At ANY rate- the people who work at BabyGap know me from coming in there, and it’s not because I go there all that often. I KNOW that they don’t like the kids up on the “stage”, so I try to nip it in the bud as soon as I see them eyeing it. I was at the back of the store when they first saw it, changing Adam to feed on the other side, still in the carrier. Knowing that the store clerk would approach them if I do not do it immediately, I run/hobble across the store with Adam (hard to run with the Ergo). And as I’m running over, I catch the eye of a Mom who definitely does not look empathetic to my evidently hectic situation, and then I see her husband is with her, and he sees me, and then he turns around and leaves the store. (Really, was just walking in, turned around and left) I get to the kids- in a hushed whisper “Get down please. Get DOWN! Get DOWN guys! No candy store!” I lean over to grab Sacha to get him down- look down at my quiet, happy baby, and see why the not-so-empathetic looks from the wife, and why the husband walking back out of the store. Let’s just say... the Ergo didn’t provide as much coverage feeding Adam as I would have hoped for. (Oh well! Come on! It’s a baby clothes store! Right??)
They were all calm for a little bit after that. It’s like they realized that there was nothing else they could take on there. Or maybe they realized they would not get their treat if there were any more antics. Whatever it was, we had a little peace for a bit.
We found a swimsuit (and some really cute summer clothes, by the way, they have great stuff right now...) paid, and left. Loaded Sam back in the stroller, took Sacha by the hand, and headed out to get the kids their treat. I realized it looked like somewhat of a sight (but not TOO crazed- my friends with 4 kids can attest that it’s really not THAT bad with 3)- with Samantha in her purple footy pajamas, bedhead and now worse bedhead after the rumble with Sach, Sacha walking so close to the stroller I would run over his foot every 5 feet or so, and Adam checking the whole scene out from his position on my chest.
But I took a deep breath, looked straight ahead, and as we made our way, I thought to myself- if there is anyone in this mall looking at me and judging what’s going on with my brood right now- either- 1. They don’t have kids, and so don’t know what the craziness is all about, and also don’t realize that it may look crazy to them, but to us, it is normal! or 2. Have kids that are super calm and well behaved, and never, ever go out in public with their pajamas. Well, not sure what to say to the latter. That is great! maybe? We like to have a crazy day here and there people! Keeps life interesting.
