Damn you, grocery stores...

There's no doubt about it - we make multiple trips to the grocery store throughout the week. I am not one to plan very far ahead when it comes to meals, so with the flexibility of my job, we are able to decide what we want to eat that day and go out to get it. We are also fortunate to often go during the day on weekdays, avoiding the masses who tend to flock to Whole Foods and Trader Joes after 5pm every night, and all day on weekends.

With this convenience comes a huge time-suck. I bring CR along with me, so a quick run to the store becomes an event. It didn't used to be like this. I would plop wee-man in the seat designated for children at the top of a cart, and was able to quickly navigate to the sections of the store that housed the wares that I needed and be done with it.

Now? Stores have begun to get "crafty" with their shopping carts targeted toward the little people who peruse their aisles with their parents. For example...

Whole Foods - the mini-shopping cart. I can't even begin to tell you the eclectic array of items CR decides "must" go into the cart...kielbasa, jars of liquid egg-whites, frozen meat pies, baby food, bread crumbs, chicken broth...basically anything that is stored at child-level, in it goes.

It was cute at first, but seriously? Every time we go to the store it's like Christmas for CR. He sprints to the little food carriers on wheels and takes off with one - I fear he will take out a display, or worse, an unsuspecting customer's heels as they enjoy their normal person's once-a-week shopping experience.

Roche Brothers - traditional shopping cart with the police car front. Looks innocent enough, right? One would think this is great - fun steering wheels for the kid, keeps them self contained, blah, blah, blah. While these points are valid, all of those positives are thrown out the window when the parent actually has to steer the beast of a vehicle up and down narrow aisles and around bulky sales displays. Fun-o-meter brought down below zero on this one...it's like driving my father's old Ford pick-up truck without power steering...no thank you.

I keep waiting for the novelty to wear off, but no such luck yet. It does keep him at least entertained during the monotonous task of stocking the pantry, but it also adds at least 20 minutes to my errand.

Pretty soon I am just going to toss him the keys to the car along with the shopping list, and tell him to have a field day. We're almost at that point...