Supermarket Hugs

We went to the store yesterday. When we were waiting in line Logan, my 1yods, began to get fussy so I took him out of his seat to hold him. He saw Kamron and stretched out his arms to him. Kamron took him and Logan gave him the biggest hug resting his little head on Kamron's shoulder. There was an audible "aahhh," from the people in line behind me. He then went to Aubrey and gave her a hug. He is such a little teddy bear.

It is nice to get positive reactions when I take my children to the store. Four children is not the norm in California. I get so many comments like- wow, you must be busy, you have your hands full, are they all yours?, and even, are you done? I find though that when I feel overwhelmed I get more of them and deal with them less well. But when I am cheerful, talking and playing games with them as we go things go so much better and I can handle the comments more easily. I am more likely to come back with I know, isn't it wonderful? Yep, aren't they beautiful and we have no news at present. After the last one I almost always get, "you want more?" To which I respond with either yes or I repeat that we have no news at present, which politely tells these strangers that it is really none of there business.

About a month ago I went to the store and an older woman smiled and asked if she could help me. I told her that we where alright but we would walk with her if she wanted. She was very pleased and talked about her 5 children, her hobbies and how excited she was to see someone with so many children. She asked me if I could come visit her at her house as her husband couldn't walk and loves children. We also found we both liked to write and discussed that. She gave me her number and then we parted to finish our shopping. When I was in line she came back into the store to find me and ask again if I would come visit her as she really would like it. So about two weeks later I called her and took the baby and did go visit her. She was so happy to see us. Her husband looked very serious at first, but when he saw the baby his entire face lit up and his eyes just sparkled. He showed Logan all of the buttons on his chair and Logan thought it was great. She later invited me to her 92nd birthday party and then began discussing her writing, saying she was old but not done yet and now that she wrote regularly for the newspaper she was going to start writing childrens books next. I said good-bye, glad that I went and a little more at ease with the whole shopping with kids thing.