Life with Toddlers

No, I don't have toddlers of my own but I babysit two of them. Above is a photo of Miss H. Isn't she sweet? She's 22 months old and busy as all get out. I also watch Miss L who is 24 months old & is even busier at times. When the two of them are here on the same day it's a "mine" fest all day long. Such fun. ;-)

But today Miss H reminded me of the importance of always carrying a diaper bag with young children. 

We began her day here (at about 7:30am) with a diaper malfunction of magnificent proportions. Seriously. I don't think I've ever seen a blow out that bad. It required me to wash the quilt on my bed, the small blanket I use as a changing bad (thankfully or my quilt would have fared far worse), her shorts, plus Miss H herself!

I put on the change of pants in her diaper bag. Then we all finished getting ready for the day & headed out to do my grocery shopping & pick up a new home for our baby chicks. I threw one diaper in my purse - one diaper. I thought we'd be home in a couple of hours so why bother with the whole big diaper bag anyway.

I started towards town. I stopped at the small grocery store on the way to grab a soda. Traffic was stopped (which is unusual and yes, there were only two cars ahead of me but trust me - out here - that is a traffic jam). I have no idea where they are going but for the last two days there have been tractor trailer trucks using this major route to transport over sized, gigantic tubes. It requires a state trooper vehicle before and after each truck & it was taking up both lanes of traffic. Nope, I was not going to follow that the 30 minute drive in to the store so I took "the scenic route" which probably added some time but at least I was moving. And I'll even admit to getting to the light at the store's entrance to find the trucks waiting at the light.

We arrived at the grocery store & I had the boys get out & grab my returnable bottles (I use these as coupons at the store) plus my fabric bags. I grabbed Miss H who was wet through her pants & on her shirt. Diaper malfunction #2.

Okay, bottles & boys back in the truck. Bags back in there. Diaper change for Miss H. minus the pants. I threw an extra sweatshirt I had in the truck on to the car seat so she wouldn't have to sit on the wet spot. We all got buckled back in & I headed out to the thrift store. I came very close to just going to Wal-Mart (which is in the same parking lot as the grocery store) to get her something to wear but remembered there was a thrift store close by & I hadn't been yet. Surely they would have some something for a toddler girl to wear that would be cheaper than something new at Wal-Mart. And they did. The dress she is wearing in the photo above cost me all of $2.25. Bargain.

We did eventually finish our grocery shopping. I even manged to come in under budget there. I checked out the local Chapter 11 store (which closed earlier this year & is now reopened & much nicer looking inside) where I got a new tub for the chick's home plus pine litter for it. Each boy also got a pair of sunglasses ($0.99 each) & Miss H came out with a Candyland coloring book. All in all a better ending to a stinky morning.