Two People?

Do you ever wish you were like an ameba? Then you could split in two and go two different directions or even grow an extra arm.  I often have this thought now that Luke is doing so well with his walker and our baby girl is VERY mobile.  The best example of this is when I had to take both kids into our local IGA the other day.  I needed Gatorade for Luke, since he wasn’t wanting to eat or drink anything that we had at home after getting home from the hospital the day before.  So here I am… “super mom”….going to the IGA to find Gatorade.  The good part was that I was able to park in the Handicapped spot right outside the doors.  So I unloaded Luke got him in his walker and then went around the van to get our baby girl…all while telling Luke to “stay”.  I don’t think he really gets that…I think I say it just to give myself “peace of mind”.  In this case he didn’t “stay” in one spot…but he did stay close to the van and didn’t go backwards towards the parking lot.

Anyway….we get inside and are doing pretty good when Luke decides to go down one aisle while our baby girl takes off in a completely different direction!  So here I am trying to do a quick trip to find Gatorade and I’m turning Luke around by pointing his walker in the right direction and running after our baby girl.  Of course by the time I got our baby girl back to where I left Luke, he was no longer where I left him.  He turned himself back around to go the wrong direction again!  Uh…..that was the longest “quick trip” I’ve ever attempted.

There was another time that I felt like this recently.  But, I had a quick thought that saved the day.  I didn’t grow extra arms, but I used what I had on hand to “corral” our baby girl.  We had just visited our pediatrician and I was walking out to the car with Luke and our baby girl.  We did fine until we ran out of sidewalk and I had to get both kids on the pavement by our van.  Well, Luke wasn’t walking fast enough to be much of a problem.  But, our baby girl took off like a rocket and before I knew it she was trying to take off across the parking lot…which was definitely NOT ok.  So I made a quick executive decision.  I had the lift gate up on the van so I could put Luke’s walker in…but instead of putting in the walker I picked up our baby girl and put her in the back end.  We have “stow—and-go” so the back seats were flat which allowed her freedom to walk around in the back of the van.

She was confused for a little bit, but didn’t cry.  Once I got her “in” the back, I brought Luke around and we put his walker in…which effectively “boxed” our baby girl in.  Then I closed the lift gate and walked Luke around to his side of the van.  Our baby girl had nowhere to go…except towards her seat.  Instead of going to her seat, she just stood there…like she wasn’t quite sure what to do, or what other tricks mommy might have up her sleeve.  When I went around to her side of the van and held out my hand, she took hold and then walked up to her seat.    

This trick worked really well.   I’m sure I’ll use it even more in the future!  I may not be able to split into two people or grow extra arms…but I can try to out think my little ones and use the resources at my disposal.