Two for Tuesday

Revised a 100 times in ten minutes just because...
One of the main reasons I blog is to record the happenings of our little family, as I know someday I will want to remember this special time in our lives. So to that end here are two of my most recent funny mommy memories...

Last Tuesday was one of those busy errand running days when Ella Kate was in her car seat or the front of a shopping basket almost all day. So after hours of being confined, I decided to let Ella Kate walk when we went in Mardel to buy the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set. There is a little kid section in the front of the store where there are some toys, a reading stage and benches, and a Thomas the Train train table with cars. EK was so excited to see the toys, that I decided to take a few minutes to let her play.

There were two other Moms there with two kids who were about EKs age or younger. These Moms were engrossed in a deep and sorta personal conversation. There was no place for me to sit without hearing everything and unwillingly inserting myself into their conversation. I walked the edge of the play area for a few minutes before trying to sit the furthest away from them that I could. I got a polite but firm "we're talking here" look, so I got up and re-circled the play area.

In the mean time, EK was trying desperately to make friends with one of these women's daughters who looked to be about four to six months younger. EK acted as if she knew this little blond haired girl who was wearing red Squeakers (shoes that squeak with each step) and was trying desperately to "talk" to her. At first this amused both me and the other mothers.

Now if you do not know EK personally, you may not know of her incredible infatuation/preoccupation with shoes. The girl has loved shoes since birth. She watches peoples feet and studies their shoes. She will even walk up to total strangers and touch their shoes. Really, I have never seen anything like it.

So there we were in the kiddie section of Mardel with strangers who are amused but not exactly welcoming, and EK has moved from attempting conversation to trying to "love" the little Squeaker wearing girl by giving her hugs and kisses. However, the Squeaker girl has no idea who EK is and is trying to run away from her, shoes squeaking the whole way. This tickled EK to no end. Laughing with glee EK set out to catch the girl. Being that Squeaker girl was younger and not as fleet of foot as our EK, she was no match. In a flash EK tackled Squeaker girl in a huge bear hug landing on top of her saying "ooohhh lub" (oh love) the whole time.

Of course this terrified the girl and her mother. But before I could jump the pint-sized reading benches to save Squeaker girl from EK's affection, EK pulled the girl's Squeakers off! It appeared that EK did not want to love Squeaker girl, just her shoes! The second she got them off the girl, EK started running. For a 16 month old, EK is pretty fast. For a mom in her late 30's, I'm not. So I found myself running through Mardel chasing my laughing, Squeaker stealing, daughter as her victim lay tackled, shoeless, and screaming bloody murder in kiddie section. It was one of those sit-com like, horrifyingly hilarious and yet, highly embarrassing moments of mommy-hood that I never saw coming.

I caught EK, pried the shoes out of her hands, and carried her kicking and screaming back to the kiddie section to return the Squeakers to her traumatized victim. After an awkward apology and quick "shoe fascination" explanation, I carried my still kicking and screaming EK to the front of the store and put her in a shopping basket. Heart broken and defeated, crying "Peez mama. Mama peeeeeeez!" (please, please!) EK thrust out her hands and wrenched her body towards Squeaker girl almost toppling the whole shopping cart! EK's pathetic pleas fell on deaf, or at least too dumbfounded and embarrassed to hear, ears. I quickly picked up a nativity set and with both hands on the buggy to keep it from toppling, checked out. We may never show our faces in Mardel again.

Walking to the car I was very worked up when I called Rob. Humiliated and almost teary I blurted out "Our baby girl just tackled a toddler in Mardel and tried to steal her shoes!"
Loud laughter ensued.

And we are still laughing about it.

Maybe Santa should bring EK some Squeakers?

The second story, not quite so long, is about Rhett. But a little background first. In our house the hand held Nintendo DS gaming system is king of all toys. Rhett and Kolby each have a DS. If you are not familiar with DSs, you can play the same game on two or three separate DS's simultaneously. You can also "text" messages or pictures drawn with DS pens from one DS to another. It's called pict-o-chatting.

Sari has a friend named Jim who Rhett loves to play DS with. Jim uses Kolby's DS. Last week Jim was at a conference for work and won a Nintendo DS of his very own. I told Rhett about it knowing he would be fired up. He was.

"We can play three players on Mario Carts! AND (excitement building in his voice) I can pict-o-chat with Jim!" Rhett said, pausing excitedly, "Well, I have to learn to write first!"

Minor detail.

That boy cracks me up.

Happy Tuesday!