may 6

The past few days with Mia have been...let's call it...challenging. Yes, challenging. One minute, she's handing me a dandelion, telling me she loves me, and the next minute, she's yelling at me and pinching my arm. And not love pinching. Like the kind of pinching that leaves marks. And hurts. 

So, basically, she's behaving like a normal 2 1/2 year old. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself so that I can survive this ridiculous, exhausting stage. 

I thought some one-on-one time with momma might help her, so she went shopping with me today. We went to Marshall's to get shoes for Aunty Beth's wedding next month and then to the grocery store. She insisted on wearing ballet slippers and pink sunglasses. She insisted I carry her sunglasses in my purse. She insisted on walking as much as possible. And she asked no less than 8,352 questions. 

Where we going?

To the store. 

Why?

To get shoes.

Why we going this way?

Because this is where the store is.

Why is the store here?

Because this is where it's built. 

Why we going this way?

This is the way to the store. 

I see a puppy. 

Yes, that's a picture of a puppy. 

A puppy and a kitty. So cute. 

Yep. 

Where we going?  

To the store. 

Is that the store?

Yes. 

Why we going shopping?

And this is just during the walk from the car to the store. 

But really, these conversations are endlessly entertaining to me. Yes, it gets exhausting to answer the same questions over and over, but she is trying so hard to understand everything. And sometimes, the things that come out of her mouth just blow me away with genius or just plain make me laugh. 

Her behavior didn't really improve during or after our outing. She tried multiple times to climb out of the cart and she yelled at me in the juice aisle. I let her eat a Lunchable to get through the rest of the shopping trip in peace. And after devouring the meat and cheese parts of her snack, she ate her Oreos. Before today, I didn't know you could spend ten minutes eating a single Oreo. 

Now I know.