When
our grandson Aidan was only a few months old, I had the pleasure of caring for
him one day a week to give his mother a day for herself and I would have him
all to myself. He was quite a joy to
have and such fun to be with.
When he was about 2 years old during
his day with me, we went to the grocery store to buy pectin as I was planning
to make fresh strawberry jam. At the
grocery store, there was a grocery cart that was fashioned with a yellow car
that a kid could ride in while the cart was pushed in the store. Of course, Aidan was thrilled to get in for
the ride. Unfortunately, I found the
pectin immediately and went to the check-out counter. This was a very short grocery trip.
As I headed for the check-out line,
Aidan yelled, “Back, Back, Back.” I
thought he wanted me to push the cart from the back. He kept saying, “Back Popo…”
I finally figured out he wanted me to go back to the grocery aisles so
he could have a long ride in this cart.
I was already at the check-out so I promised him I would give him a ride
in the parking lot.
Once outside, I cruised the huge
parking lot 2 times with Aidan in the grocery cart/car. After the second time around, I returned to
my car to go home.
As I encouraged him to get out so we
could go home, he kept saying, “No, no, no…”
Just then a young man, about 20 years
old, drove up into the parking space next to me. As he got out of his car, a friend came out
of the store and the two guys stood next to the car talking. Meanwhile, I could not get Aidan out of the
“car” cart so I bent down and whispered in his ear, “Those guys are waiting for
their turn to ride the cart. Time to get
out and let them have their turn.” He
understood the principle of “taking turns.”
At that Aidan, willingly got out and got into our car. We drove off.
Fortunately, we didn’t stay long
enough to see those “guys” take their turn in the grocery cart car.
Popo Marcia
6/24/2010
