Typical of a lot of post-work evenings, I had a lot to do in a small window of time tonight; and I had a plan that fit together nicely, delivering all of it. I'd get home, eat something quickly, take Cal to basketball practice early, shoot hoops with him before practice, go to Trader Joe's for some much-needed food, head back to pick up Cal, head home to work out and then go to bed. If Ella wanted join me for most of that, I'd take her.
When I got home from work, I found the kids distracted with homework, having already eaten some dinner (leftovers). The sink was full of dirty dishes and the dishwasher full of clean ones. I grabbed a few pieces of cold pizza; and as I did so, Ella got wind of my plans to take Cal to practice and go to Trader Joe's from there. She wanted to go, but Dan reminded her that she had to finish her homework and empty the dishwasher -- she wouldn't get these two to-do's done before I had to leave with Cal.
"You can't go with me, Ellie. You have things to do," I said, disappointed. I actually like having her in tow with me on my trips to Trader Joe's.
"I'm a good helper for you when you go to Trader Joe's, Mom," she said matter-of-factly.
"I know," I said. She is. Sure, we come home with something unneeded from the cookie/cake table at the front and either frozen fruit bars or ice cream cookies or both when she's there (she's convincing and I'm easy); but she's a positive force for me, capable of helping me make choices for what to buy, reminding me of things that we need and able to run to the other side of the store when I think of something we should get from a section through which we'd already been. And, at checkout, she packs the cold stuff in our reusable bag as I pack the dry, getting us out of there quicker than if we wait for the cashier to do both.
I had a revised plan. "Can you get your homework done and the dishwasher emptied in a half hour? If so, I'll take Cal to practice and then come back to pick you up so we can go to Trader Joe's together."
She said she could but then paused. "Can I wear these?" she asked, pointing at the unicorn onesie that she had already changed into for the evening. Of course. She smiled and got right to work, and I took Cal to practice and returned about a half hour later. She was ready with her shoes on with a polka-dotted vest over the onesie. She's a regular fashion conspiracy, that kid, just like her mother.
Trader Joe's was pretty empty, and we whizzed through it. We pIcked up a coffee cake from the cookie/cake table and some frozen fruit bars as well as the stuff that I figured we needed -- milk, eggs, hummus, fruit, chicken, pork chops, pita chips. Ella surprised me by grabbing the Southwest Salad kit. "I really like that, Mom." So do I.
We packed up and paid for our groceries and headed out. It was about 8:05, and we needed to get Cal at 8:30. Ella asked where we were headed, and I told her that I figured we'd go home and unpack the groceries before getting Cal.
"I really like that Naked juice," Ella said, out of nowhere. I bought the kids some of this awhile ago at Costco thinking it'd be a decent way to quickly get them a nutritious breakfast in our rushed mornings. They actually did like them; but we had been out of them for over a week.
A stop at Costco for this instead of dropping groceries off at home was feasible but definitely pushing it if we were to pick up Cal at 8:30. It was 8:08. I decided we'd do it. "We have to be fast, Ellie," I told her. Then pulling into the Costco parking lot at 8:14, I told her, "okay, we have 10 minutes to get the Nakeds and a box of chips." We parked, jumped out of the car and ran in.
We ran right to the freezer section for the Naked juices, and Ella said she'd carry them. We then jogged up to the chips, picking up some bread on the way. "Pringles or Baked Lays?" I asked her. "Pringles," she quickly chose. I grabbed those and we made our way to the checkout area.
"Look, Ellie, this is new," I told her, realizing Costco had added some self-checkout lanes. Ella and I love self-checkout lanes. We knew exactly what to do, scanned and paid for our stuff and then walked quickly toward the exit, Ella with the Naked juices and bread, me with the Pringles.
We were slowed by the Costco guy at the exit who chose to entertain a little kid with a stupid, slowly-drawn smiley face on the back of the kid's father's receipt in front of us. (I find this to be so annoying, especially when I'm in a hurry). He then took ours, drawing only a line through our items. "I guess he only does that for really little kids," Ella said, suggesting she wanted a smiley face for herself. I ignored her, looking at my watch instead. 8:23! We were better than targeted and right on target to get Cal in time.
"We're so good, Ellie," I told her, watching her struggle a bit with the jog while carrying the Naked juices and bread. "Do you want me to carry one of those?" I asked her.
"No, I've got it," she answered. "Plus, it's a good workout."
I smiled. "You're your mother's daughter, Ellie," I told her.
She said, "I know."
She really is her mother's daughter.
