Wiggles Car

One winter’s day, all out of entertainment ideas, I decided to shop at a different supermarket in town. I chose this supermarket specifically for the Wiggles song-playing cars for toddlers to ‘drive’ which have a shopping basket on top.

Safely across the busy car park the twins made a beeline for said cars and climbed into one each.

That wasn’t part of the plan.

I stood there a while, humouring them, while concocting a plan to get them into one.

“Go mummy, go,” they chanted, urging the cars forward. It was at this point I noted money was required here. Emerging from my purse empty-handed, I eyed the cashpoint but realised that would only disperse $20 – not the required $2.

After drawing out $20 and miraculously having got them into one car a man approached and, seeing my plight, gave one a push. The wheels began rolling.

“They actually go for a little while before you put the money in,” he said with a wink.

We had motion and were off.

But not for long. Halfway to the door, they froze. “Go mummy, go,” the twins insisted.

I stood helplessly watching people emerge from the exit and toyed with the idea of ducking in and approaching a check-out operator for change. I knew there was no way the twins were going to give up their car but then, eyeing the passing traffic, instantly dismissed this as a dumb idea.

Then a uniformed woman walked past and I pounced.

Obviously on a break, she reluctantly took my $20 and went indoors. Seconds later she was back with change so I profusely thanked her and we were rolling. Wiggles music blaring, Jai and Jayla were happily ensconced in their car while I freely perused the aisles.

Until aisle four.

Jai began climbing out the window while I tried to gently push him back in. By aisle five he’d lost the plot and I decided to call it quits and queue in the checkout line after depositing him into a ‘naughty spot’ at the bottom of aisle five.

I tried my best to ignore him while shoppers rounded the corner, saw a little boy sitting alone and glanced around for his parent. Finally it was our turn to go through the checkout and we rolled forward – and stopped.

It seemed the time limit had expired and the car seized. Now I was faced with a boy in the naughty spot, a conveyor belt-full of groceries and a little girl who didn’t want to give up her stalled Wiggles car.

I pulled a screaming Jayla out as an employee retrieved the car, and dug in my purse for my credit card while a redeemed Jai clung to my legs. It was whilst plotting my next plan of action – how to get kids and groceries safely back to the car – when a kind elderly man offered to bring my groceries out.

It wasn’t till I had the kids strapped into their seats that I noticed he was pushing my trolley while pulling his own.

I learnt two lessons that day: One, there are kind people out there and two, stick to your local.

Grocery Shopping

I’d managed to avoid grocery shopping with three pre-schoolers but, one day without even a slice of bread in the house, I had no choice.

Strangely, despite the amount of twins in my suburb, the local supermarket doesn’t have a double toddler trolley so I settled for placing Jayla in one trolley, which I pushed, Jai in another, which I pulled while Cadeyn trundled along somewhere behind “helping” the motion process.

We looked like a choo-choo train.

Despite the challenge of maneuvering the checkout with two trolleys and getting them safely to the car (I had a little help here), we survived that day unscathed.

Still a novelty, my little ones were far too excited to be sitting on their thrones to consider playing up. I consider myself lucky as I’ve heard of shopping experiences resulting in parents abandoning their trolleys mid-aisle.

These days I place Jai in the toddler seat and, in the trolley, Jayla who, by the time we’ve swung into the fourth aisle, is completely submerged with groceries and can be located only by the tuft of orange hair sticking out. Once unearthed at the check-out it is not uncommon for her to emerge eating an apple and grinning from ear to ear.

Recently however, we popped into the local supermarket one Saturday morning and decided to forego the trolley altogether.

Big mistake.

We managed to turn the place into a complete circus as our tribe took over the supermarket with noise and bustle. I was torn between chasing them and disowning the lot. Having decided on the latter I was picking through the oranges in produce when I noticed someone trying to catch my eye. After feigning ignorance I eventually had to look up. It was none other than local MP Phil Heatley grinning at me. Obviously my charade hadn’t worked.

“Wait till they get to the lolly aisle,” he said with a twinkle.

I shuddered in response.

Not stopping there he addressed my children: “Kids, come and check out the lollies,” he teased, before flashing me another grin and setting off.

Humbled that even he could see the funny side, I decided to take responsibility for my children again so rounded them up before herding them out of the store.

And as the doors closed behind us I’m certain I heard a collective sigh of relief.