The Secret Life of Me!

Matt took the day off today to hang out with us, so he got to accompany E and I on our exciting Monday adventure...grocery shopping! While it may sound mundane, it's actually quite an ordeal. We buy formula and diapers at Target, bulk items at Sam's, produce for E at Whole Foods, and everything else from WalMart. Since I'd rather not spend every daily outing doing grocery shopping, we try to knock them all out on Mondays.

"It's like you have a secret life that I don't know about!" Those were Matt's words as we were leaving Sam's, our second stop of the day. He thought that E grinning at the man checking receipts was just a fluke. Oh, no. She and Arnett are old friends. They go way back. Back to the days where she was too little to sit up in the grocery cart. That's right- we are in such a routine now that we know the names of the employees on our daily outings.

Another amusing conversation, this time as we were entering Walmart. Matt put E's cart cover on, popped her into the seat, and fished a toy out of my purse to give to her.

Me: No, no. She doesn't get a toy yet.

Matt: Oh. Why?

Me: Because it's a progressive thing. First she's fine just sitting in the cart. If she gets fussy, I hand her the end of the cart strap (we have our own, people- I'm not letting her lick the skanky Walmart cart strap) and let her chew on that for a while. When she gets tired of that, she gets a toy. And if we're bordering on a full on meltdown, I hand her my wallet, which always works.

Matt: Wow. You are really good at this.



Lest you think that we spent the whole day running errands, I'll share our art project that we did today. E is making Halloween cards to send to her grandparents, and her aunts and uncles. I think ghostie feet might be my favorite baby art project of all time. It's a toss-up between that and baby foot flowers, but you'll have to wait until spring for those! Anyway, here's the result.


I'll share my strategies just in case anyone else wants to try these. If you have a newborn, I'd recommend swaddling with one foot out. Those little legs move fast, and it's hard to aim one foot for the paper while trying to avoid the other one. If you have an older baby, put them in the high chair and put the paper against a clipboard or hardcover book to stamp their foot. Oh, and use a paintbrush on their foot. Dunking the whole foot in paint results in an unrecognizable blob. I just used a black sharpie for the eyes, but if your kids are older and can be trusted not to swallow the art supplies, you could let them use googly eyes, buttons, sequins, etc. Lastly, remember that you want the foot upside down, so position the folded paper accordingly.