The Babies R Us Incident, Part II

You think that is the end of the Babies R Us fiasco? That, my friends, is only the beginning. Aiden refused to let me get his coat on, so I carried him outside sans winter gear. It was January in Chicago. If you thought I got disapproving looks inside the store, you should have seen the looks I got when carrying my 32 pound, screaming, coatless child like a football and stuffing him in the car. By now my goal of getting a stroller on sale has changed into a goal of fleeing the scene before onlookers can copy down my license number for the DCFS report. I successfully get both kids contained in the car. By the grace of God, Elliott has gone back to sleep. I start the car and reach into my extremely organized diaper bag for my phone to call my husband and have a “Wait until you hear what YOUR kid did” moment. Are you laughing at the thought of my diaper bag actually being organized or that I would do such a thing to my hard working husband? Well, the joke was on me because my cell phone was not in the bag. Or in  my coat. Or in the car. At this point, I had had it and I may have muttered, “Oh my God!” under my breath. Well, Aiden chose this moment to regain his hearing and listen to me and he told me in a calm voice, “We don’t say ‘Oh my God’, Mom”. I snapped, “I AM PRAYING!”, and got my two kids back out of the car to go retrieve my cell phone from the nursing room. Yes, I did consider leaving it there, but losing a cell phone these days is as debilitating as losing an arm, so back to the scene of the crime we returned. At least I was able to get Aiden’s coat on this time. I made my way to the nursing room in the back of the store being careful to avoid eye contact. I begin frantically searching the changing table, couch, and floor to no avail. Aiden chooses this moment to say, “Mom, your cell phone is in the pocket of your sweat shirt”. Now he tells me.
The good news is that by this point I had regained my cell phone and Aiden had regained his sanity, while the other customers seemed to have vacated the premises for what I am sure were unrelated reasons. I shamelessly reclaimed my purchases (hey, I am not one to forgo a sale) and got out alive. I hope that damn stroller is worth the effort and I hope the foster parents have Curious George prerecorded on their DVR for their own well being.