Yesterday after I got home, we scrambled to put a hasty plan together for dinner. We settled on spaghetti with bolognese sauce, and there was no way in hell I was going to have that tasty meal without garlic bread. It would have been a crime.
I offered to Alie to take the monkey with me to the grocery store. This is ALWAYS a good move, for these reasons:
1. It gives Alie a break. A small break, but a break nonetheless. She had a nice relaxing warm bath (though of course, too short at only 15 mins or so!) during the respite. Since she does the vast majority of nighttime calming duties (the VAST majority), little things like this are the least I can do.
2. Time out of the house is time quickly spent with the monkey. That’s 20 minutes that go by in a snap, during which you don’t have to constantly monitor him to make sure he’s not trying to break your house or hurt himself. You’re constantly monitoring him by default, and there’s always a BCD (Baby Containment Device) to keep him out of trouble, be it a carrier, a stroller, or a shopping cart. Makes life easy so far. I say “so far” because he hasn’t exhibited any “difficult” public behaviour yet. Which brings me to point #3:
3. He’s a joy when he’s out in public. He just loves seeing other people, interesting things (and remember, to him, grocery store ceiling lights are interesting!), and generally has a good time. People in stores constantly point out how smiley and cute he is, with frequent questions/comments being along the lines of, “Is he always this good?” (no, but in public yes!) and “He’s delightful!” (yes!). I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love almost every second of it. I get a real positive feeling out of being able to “brag” a bit about our son (“He sure is our charming little guy!”), and this translates into general positive vibes that stick around for at least the next several hours. It really can turn around an otherwise grumpy day. That’s not to say you can’t get similar feelings from hanging out with him at home, but there’s definitely something about the way our son (well, most babies!) can brighten up complete strangers’ faces that makes the “happy” flow just a little easier.
It was a most wonderful bath, THANKS! I love hearing/seeing you talk about being a Dad, your face just lights up and it is obvious to all that you love the schnootz right out of our little boy.
Lovely
ok, that is a lovely post. my 3 beautiful monkeys are now 6, 8, 10 but reading about your grocery store outing brought me right back to when Aidan(now 10) was with me, or Mark (the lovely husband), on an outing and how we beamed with pride at having this perfect little being who lit up people’s faces with us.
thanks for bringing me back there! Your boy is beautiful!
Alie: Remind me to get you set up with a Gravatar, baby.
You need the spiky-haired monkey version of you in your comments. 
Funny, I never thought of how to write “schnootz” but I love it. LOL! Yeah, we sure do love our little monkey. I could just squeeze the schnootz out of him all the time.
Natalie: Thanks for swinging by (as you always do)! Which reminds me, I gotta swing by and check out the pics of Elise Grace’s 2nd birthday party. I hear a great time is on display.
Angela: Thank you so much for swinging by and sharing your story, too! Hard to imagine that one day my boy (and other children) will all be school age like your monkeys. And that in 10 years I’ll be listening to a new parent talk about their child and remember what it was like when I was that new parent.
He’s about old enough to enjoy Saunders Farm now, too. That’ll be an experience for him!