Last Monday morning I planned to get out by myself to take care of a few errands. Among other things, I had a few items to return, and I figured it would be best to do that without any helpers. The plan was to take off by 7:45 and be at the stores by 8:00 when then opened. What I hadn't planned on was Leon waking up incredibly needy. After having been home for three whole days, he was just waiting for me to abandon him and was being a bit clingy. (Okay, so for awhile there, he was making it clear that he didn't thing it was fair that the new baby had an umbilical cord attached to me and he didn't.) So I decided to take him with me.
We still managed to make it out the door by 9:00, and he and I actually had a decent time together. Not that I am too surprised, since as long as I cater to his needs, he is actually pretty content. We went to Kohl's, Target, Barnes and Noble, and World Market. I was stunned by the silence on the way to Kohl's. I am so used to Ree wanting to play games in the car and Michael's constant chatter that I had forgotten that Leon just likes to observe things. Easy enough. We rocked out to the radio.
Leon was great at Kohl's. He just sat in the cart while I ran all over the store. We next went to Target. I had a long and random list of stuff to get there, and we were there for about an hour and a half. Leon started getting squirmy about halfway through, and I completely understand how he felt, so I bribed him with a soft pretzel and an Icee. He is not the sugar junkie that his siblings are, so I got to guzzle most of the Icee while he ate most of the pretzel. We were both quite happy.
On the way to Barnes and Noble, he requested to play "Letters, Numbers, Shapes, and Colors." I almost burst out laughing at the request. This is a game invented by Ree where one person gives clues and the other person guesses the letter, number, shape, or color. And she likes to play it ALL the time in the car. I guess Leon just assumed it was part of the whole car ride experience. With Leon the game pretty much consisted of me giving clues and him saying, "What that?" but not bad for a two-year-old. At Barnes and Noble, he took off for the children's section. I am pretty sure that if I had just let him go, he would've found his way to the back of the store and I would've found him playing at the train table. My children love and know Barnes and Noble like other children know Toys R Us or the park. Instead of playing, though, we just stood in line to make a return, and then we left. And Leon didn't protest.
We next walked over to World Market which is in the same shopping center. I guess I've never taken him there. Leon loved it, especially the world music they were playing. Leon's little body was grooving in the shopping cart the entire time we were at the store.
After that, it was time to head home. I hoped Leon had enjoyed enough time with Mommy to prevent any additional meltdowns, at least for the rest of day. I was also exhausted and needed to rest before my next big kid adventure - Monday night's sleepover with Ree...
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