The Latest Retail Escapade

Mia wouldn't take a nap today, which is quite unusual. Maybe it was the excitement of going to Toys 'R Us this morning. After a number of attempts to get her to sleep, I decided that if she wasn't going to nap, we might as well get that grocery store run out of the way. You guessed it, in the time it took to drive one mile to Kroger, she fell asleep. I was undeterred. I knew she'd be annoyed with me for interrupting her slumber, but she'd perk up as soon as I carried her (all 23.5 lbs of her) into the store and strapped her in the shopping cart. Well, once again our girl surprised me. She didn't wake up, instead preferring to continue her nap. Yep, she wanted to rest her head on the metal cart. We couldn't have that, and I had nothing to use as a pillow since I'd left her diaper bag in the van. So what did I do? I proceeded to shop while cradling her head with my left hand/forearm and pushing the cart with my right. It was a little bit of a spectacle, and I got quite a few looks from other shoppers. Mostly smiles (lots of middle-aged women whom I imagined were remembering the good old days when they had youngsters). Occasionally, I'd get a perplexed look that had me explaining, "Well, she wouldn't take her nap, so I thought we might as well go to the store."
Grocery shopping while propping your darling's little head up turned out to be a rather interesting logistical challenge. Occasionally I had to do a 180-degree turn with the cart so that the merchandise I sought was on my right side. The pita chips were on a shelf too low to reach with my free hand, but I spied a couple of store employees and asked them to put the chips in my cart. "Two bags please, not the cinnamon, the plain." At the pharmacy, they require you to sign for the prescription. I explained to the clerk that I'm left-handed, nodded over at Mia, and asked her to sign for me. "My name or yours?" she asked. Overall, I thought I demonstrated superior problem-solving skills. The only downer came at the express checkout line, where the cashier seemed annoyed when I asked her if she'd mind removing the merchandise from my cart for me. They are usually very nice there, but this one was a bit of a Crabby Appleton. She did accomodate my request, and even called another employee over and instructed him to put my bags in the cart for me. They don't usually do that in the express line.
And what about Mia? You guessed it, she woke up as soon as I put her back in her car seat, then squalled all the way home. I didn't mind too much, knowing that at least I'd have a little story to tell.