umbrella and strollers

I was out running errands this morning. Had a few things I needed to get done.

Loaded up the little guy, the stroller, the snack, the water bottle....

Making our way in town, singing some songs....

One of our stops actually required the use of our stroller. Normally, most places I frequent have either carts or their own version of a stroller. Which works outs nicely for us because then I can negotiate with G (on my own terms, of course) just how much he gets to walk and how much he gets to stroll! This usually means that I tell him he can walk from the vehicle to the store and then once we are in the store he gets in the cart. Okay, Im getting so off track here.

We get out of the vehicle and I get G into the stroller. Walk up to the entrance of the building and quickly notice that this is gonna be a huge pain. The building happens to have the double door dilemma. You know, the door that opens into a little tiny space and then there is another door that you have to open to actually enter the building. Leaving virtually no room for a person using a stroller. Making it so that you have to be a yoga expert to manage the first door, push the stroller thru, then somehow configure the stroller and your body just right to be able to then open the second door. At this point I am pretty much climbing up the wall in order to make enough room for the second door to open and to be able to push the stroller thru.

Phew! Made it in. Did what we needed to do then made our way back thru the stupid door set up. Stroll back out to the vehicle, get items in vehicle, get G in vehicle and take stroller to the back of the vehicle to fold it up and stow it away. This is where things just seem to go drastically WRONG. My stroller...its just a little folding umbrella stroller. Easy, peasy. Push in the little bar at the bottom, then move it to the side and voila! Folded stroller. No. NO. Push in the little bar at the bottom, then move it to the side and then realize that my flip flop is now stuck in the stroller, along with my foot. Try to move my foot around, shake it a little, nothing. Its not movin. I am now balancing on one foot, attempting to bend over to release my flip flop, all the while receiving great narratives from my son. Mama, are you okay? Mama, why are you jumping? Mama, can I jump, too?

Its fine, G. Mama is fine. Im just trying to get my shoe out of the stroller. This satisfies him for a minute. Here I am. Trunk wide open, kid in the car, me jumping up and down on one foot with a stroller attached to the other foot ,trying to get my foot at least out of the shoe. Did I mention there was pain associated with this whole thing. My foot is now pinched in the hinge of the stroller. Im trying really hard not to just start dropping *F bombs* everywhere, when, all of a sudden the sky opens up and the biggest torrential downpour is upon me. Yes, you read right. I am now hopping on one foot, with a stroller attached to me, and it is POURING down rain. Beautiful. This is just beautiful.

G, seeing the rain, yells to me, Mama, its raining. Do you see it? Mama, you are getting all wet, mama. Get the umbrella, Mama. Fast. Yeah, get the umbrella, I say. Cuz thats what I need right now. The damn umbrella!(of course, I say this all in my head) Outloud, I say, Wow, it is raining. Mama cant really reach the umbrella right now, hunny. It is under all those bags in the back. At this point, had I been in my van, I would have put myself and the stroller all into the back and closed the hatch. BUT, no. I am in my husband' s car. There is not room for me to do that. So, instead I manage to sit myself down, sort of, in the trunk, lift my foot high enough to grab ahold of the stroller and then proceed to use my hands to first get my (very sore) foot out of the shoe, and then yank with all my might to get my shoe out of the stroller so that I can toss the whole thing(no, not folded) into the trunk and get into the DRY front seat to SIT. For just a minute. I let out a huge sigh of relief to be done with that event.

Its then that G says, Mama, you still need to buckle me. Yep, I do, I say. So, back out into the rain to get to the back seat to lean in and get G safely buckled in.

To which he says, Mama, did you have fun jumping in the rain? You really should have had your rain boots on.