Cyprus Mail
Life & Style

Kids growing up reflected in supermarket trips

alexia

By Alexia Saleem

When my kids were first born, going to the supermarket became a big no-no. My sister-in-law had warned me I’d need to embrace online shopping, but I didn’t think that would be necessary. I loved going to the supermarket and picking out what I’d cook that day. Sometimes I wouldn’t even have a shopping list and would get creative as I browsed the aisles looking at all the different seasonal ingredients. I couldn’t imagine wanting to give that joy up.

But I should have known that with a toddler of her own, my sister-in-law knew a thing or two I didn’t, for when Katerina and Leonidas made their appearance, having a shower became a challenge, let alone a grocery shopping expedition.

Our first attempted trip to Waitrose when they were a few weeks old was a disaster. The kids had never been in a buggy before and ours swallowed up their tiny bodies. It must have felt frightening to them both. Even worse, they were each in their own cot, whereas since birth they’d never been apart.

Looking back, it makes me laugh. It took us three hours to get to Waitrose and back that day. A trip that under normal circumstances took us about 50 minutes max. And we didn’t actually make it to Waitrose. The kids sobbed for most of the trip which meant we kept stopping. I was also breastfeeding, and still new at it, so that involved longer stops because both the kids and I were still trying to get the hang of it. I remember feeling super self-conscious and making sure my husband blocked me from view. I questioned if I would ever manage to make it to the shops again.

That day is not only the day I embraced online shopping, but it was also the day we decided that slings were the way forward. I don’t think we ever took them out in the double buggy again as newborns.

Our next attempt at grocery shopping was when we came to Cyprus on holiday. My mum thought a trip to the supermarket would be fun. The kids were eight months old by this point, and there were no tears. I just plonked them in the trolley so they could sit up while my mum and I walked around the supermarket. By then they were used to outings and had even learned to grip on the handlebar as we whizzed them round the supermarket.

From there the fun of the supermarket grew. I’d put both of them in the trolley and they’d happily come round with me, chomping on some pre-packaged fruit they’d picked out, the pomegranate they were particularly partial to going absolutely everywhere. Sometimes they’d play with the packets of food I was buying and smile and wave at all the other shoppers.

By the time they were four we had moved back to Cyprus. Now they discovered trolleys shaped like cars. What a delight. I put them both in one and pulled them one behind the other as I gingerly made my way round the supermarket. Thankfully I’d picked a quiet afternoon so no-one else wanted the trolleys. An elderly couple smiled at me and said: “What mothers do for their kids, eh?” Although I smiled, it was the last time I agreed to take them both on one of those things unless I had company. From that day forward, if I was alone, they shared.

Then they discovered the beauty of having their own mini trolleys and playing bumper cars with them. After the bumper car game, came the chicken game where they’d stand 10 metres apart and run at each other before one swerved off to the side, so they didn’t hit the other.

Fast forward to today and they’re five. Going supermarket shopping these days involves them going for a ride in the trolley while I whip round as fast as I can before one of us gets cranky. If it’s a big shop, I have to prepare myself mentally so I can see the charm of them going up and down the escalators, asking to buy every toy under the sun, in addition to chocolate, ice cream, biscuits, crisps and anything you can think of that I don’t want to give them. Most times it’s fun, but sometimes it’s a real test of my ability to step outside myself and to just breathe as they wail that “this is boooooring”. On those days, I really, really miss the ease of my online grocery shopping app.

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