tip toe back to the blog

Slowly, slowly, but surely, I'm tiptoeing back to the blog. I've been in a creative rut for the past, oh..year or so. But as my muse matured and left me with fewer moments of incredulity, the little one has entered into the muse arena.

I speak of Little Eebo, 21 months of destructive fury. A walking, babbling reminder of just how hard it is to be an old lady mom.

Today we did not have to take Blondie (the little girl I babysit) to school, so after we put Buddy on the bus, Eebo and I headed to the store. He drifted off to sleep just as we arrived at Wal-Mart.

Normally I hate Wal-Mart, but today we were there before 9am, and it was devoid of customers. Nice wide bright aisles, all the products are fully stocked, the produce guy found me the best looking bananas, steered me clear of the "old" grapes and ran to the bakery to get a cookie for Eebo. I had workers putting heavy things in my cart for me, getting things off shelves for me, it was like being Princess of Wal-Mart!

Sadly, Eebo ate the cookie quickly, and because he had been awakened from a dreamland so abruptly, he was cranky. I had to keep him busy, so I handed him a baggie full of Cheez-Its. Eebo loves Cheez-its, he could eat his weight in them every day if I let him. Today was different.

Perhaps I should have known something was up, because he didn't try to climb out of the cart a billion times. he didn't squeeze the bread into unidentifiable gluten balls, or throw the eggs out of the cart.

Alas, I was so intent on getting my shopping done while he was being docile, I didn't notice until it was too late what was keeping him docile.

We worked our way to the back of the store, and as I retraced my path to get something i had forgotten I stepped on what I discovered was a Cheez-It. Then another, and another. Finally I looked around, it seems Eebo left a Hansel and Gretel trail of Cheez-Its throughout the store.

I confiscated the bag to the loud protestations of one angry toddler and headed to the checkouts, avoiding eye contact with the people who were dispatched to clean up the Cheez-It trail.

We checked out quickly and without incident. But, not to be squelched, as I was putting my wallet back in the diaper bag, Eebo snatched the Cheez-It bag and in one giant Blaze of Glory he dumped the entire bag onto the floor in one giant orange pile.

We quickly exited the store. This was a mild little episode, but I know, this is just the beginning......