The Awkward Inbetweenies

I decided yesterday to drop Alex off with my friend, aka Aunt Mandy, so that I could go do my weekly shopping with one less monkey on my back. Well, long story short...that didn't go over so well. Apparently this new 'mommy phase' that he is going through only leads to disaster if I leave him with anyone. I was only half done with my errands and got a call from Mandy. She didn't have to say anything. I could hear him hyperventilating in the background. So I headed back without my groceries and rescued him from his miniature disaster. One Wal-mart run and no food later, I decided to head back into town this morning and get the food we so desperately needed. (Enter disaster #2 here)
Apparently, I have two kiddos that have entered what I am affectionately referring to as the 'awkward inbetweenies.' They are both at a stage in thier lives where they are somewhere inbetween where they need to be to make my life easier. Alex is in the stage where he is too big to be riding in the shopping cart but still too small to walk by my side without running insanely up and down the store aisles leaving a wake of unpurchased items dangling dangerously from the shelves. Abby is too big to ride in the carseat without screaming and too small to sit in the shopping cart. And guess what handy-dandy item I forgot at home? My front-pack to carry her in. Whoops...what a mistake. So Alex ran down the aisles at warp speed while Abby sat in her car seat screaming all the while. One whirlwind trip and several dirty looks later, and I was back in the safety of our home. Too bad stores can't baby/toddler proof thier shelves. Ugh...I SO do not want to do that again. Now I have two peacefully sleeping monkeys and five more minutes of me-time to kill. So I am putting up on the side bar of the blog, Alex's birthday wish list. Feel free to be creative though if you want to get him a gift. He likes Elmo, Choo-choo trains, dogs, cats, books, pretend playing, and art stuff like markers, playdough, crayons and colored pencils so feel free to use your imagination if you don't want to stick to our little list. I can't believe in a few mere weeks i'm going to have a two year old. Where has the time gone?