Source: thinknice.com via stephany @ on Pinterest

This morning baby girl and I took a trip to Trader Joes’ to stock up on food for the week. Usually trips to Trader Joe’s are an adventure for baby girl as she gets to push her own little cart and fill it with her favorite items…bananas, oatmeal, hummus, cheese crunches, and “baby” ice cream cones!

It was going fine until she spotted the gorilla. For those of you who don’t know, a gorilla is hidden somewhere in the store (usually involved in some type of display) and if your kids spot him they can pick a treasure from the treasure chest. It gives the kids something to look for while you shop which, along with filling their own shopping cart, can keep your kids occupied while you get your shopping done.

We’ve never really played the “look for the gorilla” game as the carts keep the kids plenty busy on our shopping trips.

Today, baby girl spotted the gorilla on her own. And, she wanted it.

I told her that she could get a treat for finding it, but that wasn’t good enough.

She wanted the “monkey”.

She wouldn’t push her cart, but she didn’t want me to put her stuff in my cart.

She wouldn’t ride in my cart.

She was crying.

Wailing.

And, for those of you who know baby girl, you know she can be loud.

This morning was no exception.

I grabbed my last item and tried to work my way from the back of the store (where the gorilla happened to be) to the front…all while pushing my cart, carrying baby girl, and pulling her baby cart.

I got a lot of stares.

No one offered to help.

NO. ONE.

I finally made it to the front and the lines were 3 people deep.

I consoled baby girl, showed her the treasure box, and waited.

A woman next to me finally offered for me to go ahead of her.

Right as we were moving, a TJ’s employee grabbed my cart and said, “I’ll take care of you over here.”

“Thank you, ” I replied.

Baby girl kept crying, “I want that monkey!”

The nice man who came to our rescue gave her stickers.

She kept crying.

We went to get a treat from the treasure chest…a pink ball.

She kept crying, “I want that monkey!”

Another nice TJ’s employee (also a man) came to ask me if she was OK.

I replied, “Yes, thanks for asking. She just wants the monkey.”

We all tried to explain that the monkey lived in the store for all the kids to see.

I am sure she couldn’t hear us through all of her wailing.

Another helpful TJ’s employee came to help bag our goods and take us out to the car.

This was the first time in over 4-1/2 years of going to the grocery store with kids that I have actually taken them up on their offer to help me out to the car.

Baby girl was inconsolable.

I am pretty sure that most of it is because she is not feeling well as she and I have been fighting a head cold since last week.

There were times last week while I was sick and taking care of the kids for 4 days on my own while Ryan was out of town when I just felt like crying. And, at bedtime on Wednesday night I did cry, “I really want you to go to sleep!”

I totally understand her frustration.

But, she got over it, just like I did.

We move on.

We get stronger.

We find the good in every day.

Which, for her (and me) was eating half a bag of TJ’s Baked Cheese Crunches when we got home!

home is…a good cry.