Saturday 11 October 2008

Not berry amusing

So there we were in the supermarket this morning, supposedly sharing a delightful family shopping expedition before heading off to the playground in the autumn sunshine.


Recently, Littleboy 1 has been allowed to walk around in the supermarket; he is a) really too big for the trolley, b) highly likely to fight with Littleboy 2 if sitting in a ‘2 seater’ trolley and c) at three and a half could, we thought, be trusted not to cause too much damage in the aisles.


To keep him entertained, I let him help to pick out the food, name it and put it into the trolley. I once read in some book on fussy eating that one should encourage them to take as much interest in food as possible, to get them used to the idea of different ingredients. I was impressed that he knew broccoli (God knows he’ll never eat it, but it’s a start) and he was most excited at being allowed to pick out a pumpkin (result: we are having roasted pumpkin tonight. Mmm). It worked well at first. OK, he did throw a mini-tantrum at not being allowed to put ‘red milk’ in the trolley (skimmed seemed unnecessary in addition to the 16 pints a week of full fat and semi-skimmed we seem to get through anyway) but all was fairly harmonious until we reached the fruit aisle.


Littleboy 1 insisted that we buy blackberries (inspired by a recent country walk on which he virtually ate his weight in juicy berries) so I gave him the punnet to hold. Whereupon he hurled it, with great force, into the trolley. Blackberries exploded all over the floor, the trolley and the copy of FT Weekend that the Doctor had meaningfully placed there (ominously lying in wait to tell us about the horrors of this week and how stupid we were, along with half the world and his wife, to have an Icesave ISA.) Both the Littleboys roared with laughter.


The Doctor was uncharacteristically furious – whether because of the laughter, the reckless throwing of soft fruit, the wastage of horrendously overpriced blackberries, because everything was covered in sticky black juice or because his precious copy of the FT was soiled, I am not entirely sure. Anyway, Littleboy 1 got a real dressing down from both of us – cue surprised stares from all the other parents shopping nearby. We then had a rather bad-tempered debate over whether we should own up and pay for the berries and newspaper, or go and get replacements and leave the soiled ones surreptitiously at the checkout? (Reader, we left them at the checkout.)


Well, it’s been a strange old week all round, quite frankly. Perhaps blackberries exploding on the FT in Waitrose are a metaphor…..

14 comments:

Catherine said...

At least you know he likes blackberries!

Iota said...

Yes, a metaphor.

Reminds me of the scene in Alvin and the Chipmunks, where the chipmunks are behaving badly in a supermarket, Dave says to a fellow harrassed parent shopper "Kids, huh? Sometimes you just want to put them in a box and leave them deep in the forest" - and gets a rather shocked reaction.

Mutter said...

I refuse to take my four to the supermarket. There have been near riotous scenes as they charge around other customers and through the aisles playing "it" or 40-40 home and I have even considered selling them all on Ebay the minute I get home. Something about entering a supermarket seems to make my children go deaf and wilfully disobedient. Back home Tesco Online was the answer. Here I do the shopping when they are all at school or nursery in the mornings. My nerves won't stand the alternative!

A Confused Take That Fan said...

Horrendous is the only word to describe shopping with my nearly two year old.
In fact shopping with children AND husband = tantrums all around. I think internet shopping or evening shopping solo is far more relaxing.
Hope the weekend improved...

Nota Bene said...

Next thing you know they'll be throwing anything they can get their hands on into the bath water. Tee hee

Anonymous said...

Very metaphorical...

Icesave ISA - me too! And what a good idea it seemed at the time...

nappy valley girl said...

AM - you're right. Despite being one of the most eccentric eaters I've ever known, Littleboy 1 does, to his credit, like all fruit....

Iota - I LOVE Alvin and the Chipmunks! Must be because I was brought up on a diet of American cartoons in Hong Kong...Hardly anyone here has heard of them.

Wife in HK - it's true, I usually resort to online shopping. I rarely go on my own with the two kids, but thought that having husband there too would be OK.....never agin.

CTTF - thanks yes it did improve - fabulous weather, a boozy lunch party on Sunday and cocktails on Sunday evening at a friend's birthday bash...small mercies, even if the washing machine did break down.

NB - that is indeed their speciality.

Mud - you, me and virtually every company, council and charity in Britain it seems. I blame Bjork for making Iceland seem cool....

Frog in the Field said...

hey, at least it was an electronic Blackberry!
Oh dear, not a good trip then.
I hear Ocado is a great service with you...

Polly said...

Blackberries explode? Ill keep that little tidbit to myself, I think my little boy would think that amazing!

I would have hidden the magazine in the shelves!

Millennium Housewife said...

I laughed from the begining at that, never trust a child under five, strap them into the trolley until they're ten. MH

nappy valley girl said...

Hi Frog - it will be back to Ocado next week....

Hello and welcome Polly - yes indeed they do explode, particularly if they are a bit overripe!

MH - you're so right. (Maybe we should strap husbands in too, so they don't wander off for ages looking at stuff in different aisles?)

Google Mummy said...

hi!

As a Mum Blogger, we'd like to invite you to the www.mini-et-moi.com SuperMummy Event at Cupcake Spa in Putney.

You can find more info here:

http://mini-et-moi.com/2008/10/03/thats-super-mummy/

It'll be an afternoon of champagne, cupcakes, raffle prizes, 5 minute fixes, goodie bags - and a creche for the little ones!

Email me at michelle@mini-et-moi.com for more info.

thanks!

david mcmahon said...

It's autumn sunshine there - but mid-spring weather for us here!

Mom/Mum said...

Oh this made me laugh mainly because my family would have handled it all so similarly.
I now rarely go to the supermarket with both boys as it's too fraught. So I send the hubs with them on the weekend, or I go alone at the weekend.
but there is one supermarket chain here that has these amazing TV trollies, shaped like little cars with a huge basket on the back. You pay a dollar and the kids can sit and watch Thomas, Dora, Bob The Builder or some other show while you shop in peace.
Good, but not so fun when the TV breaks down in the middle of the dairy aisle. cue M A J O R meltdowns.
Glad yor weekend improved...