Recovering

Rosalie had an ear infection this week, and yet she still found some time to be adorable.

We were at the drugstore on Tuesday, and I pulled out a child-sized cart for her to use for the first time. I got a cart of my own and lead the way through the aisles. People passed by her and smiled. She took her job very seriously and did a pretty good job of navigating and steering, as long as nothing caught her eye. When it did, she would veer off to the side and risk knocking over shampoos and roasted peanuts, but magically, Mommy's foot would nudge the cart back on track before any major collisions could occur.

When we found an item to buy, I would put it in Rosalie's cart. She was very happy about this. At one point I turned around and there was a can of Comet in the cart. This was not on the list (and I forgot to take it out. Do you need some Comet?). Soon afterward, she attempted to load up several packs of chocolate-covered-somethings, but I had to explain that we were not getting those, and helped her put them back. It was impressive to me that she was okay with this.

We passed through the Seasonal section, which reminded me that we needed to replace our kiddie pool. I selected a pool and turned around to find an enormous purple ball perched on the top of the cart. Rosalie was bent over trying to get another one.

It was so cute that I said, "Okay, we can get a ball." I watched her try to add the second one, since the first one didn't even fit. After I stopped laughing, I said, "We can get one ball, but not two. Can you help me put this one back?" She put the second ball back. Great! But then she took the first ball out of the cart, too, and also put it back. Well, that was so impressive -- that she was able to give up her purple ball -- that I didn't even try to confuse her by putting a purple ball in her cart. I am amazed that at the drugstore she seems to understand that things like teddy bears and magazines are fine to look at and hold, but then you say bye-bye to them.

The meltdown happened during checkout, though. Taking all the items out of the cart and onto the counter was like taking off Rosalie's arms and legs, by the sound of it. Well, anyway, she was a really big girl for the shopping part. And this was all with an ear infection!!!