My Tuesday With Rachel

Rachel kept feeding me great material for the blog Tuesday, so thank her for this entry. I met up with her and Rebecca at a Mexican restaurant and when we were done, I invited her to come with me to Kroger.

She is now old enough to strap herself into her own seat, so I went to the front seat and waited for the telling click from the back. What I didn't know was the metal part was wedged behind Rachel's seat and she couldn't maneuever it out. After a while, I asked Rachel what the holdup was. The frustrated reply was, "It won't raticipate!" So I unbuckled and fixed the problem for her.

From there, we went to Kroger. We selected a cart with a green and yellow plastic front kid car, so Rachel could steer from there. I ran from the car to the front door, about 20 cars, because Rachel had a "need for speed" and was laughing heartily as the wind rushed through her hair.

It took us a while to get our goodies, because Rachel had to climb in and out to look around and most importantly, choose her own non-bruised red delicious apples. Daddy opted for Granny Smith. The doors to the kid car don't open and close, so she looked like a miniature NASCAR driver as she climbed in and out.

Eventually, we made it to self-checkout and since there was no line, I allowed Rachel to run the items through the scanner. She enjoys doing it and I enjoy watching her, as long as we're not holding up anyone else. She scans the first item, the scanner beeps and the mechanical voice instructs, "Please place the item in the bag." And my clearly irritated daughter replies, "I know that! We've shopped here BEFORE!" I'm still laughing the next day. It was adorable and perfectly captures our daughter, who apparently, at age 5, doesn't suffer fools gladly, even if they are electronic.

After checking for traffic, I then ran her out to the car, the wind again rushing through her hair amid laughter. She then climbed into the car, but found a Sponge Bob sticker and wanted to affix it to the outside of the car. I told her the outside was not an option, but the inside was okay. So she takes forever to decide where to put it, refusing to get in her seat.

She settles in the driver's seat and since I have the keys, I decide that two can play this game. I climb into the back seat, straddle her child seat and demand "I want to hear my music!" We both laugh, or at least I did before it almost required the Jaws of Life to get back out of the car.

After the groceries are put up, I go into our bedroom to talk to my wife, who is getting much-needed rest after working a lot of extra hours on backdrops and costumes for a play at the Temple. Rachel comes in and at various times, asks to be tickled or performs front somersaults, as Rebecca and I pray we don't get socked with a stray leg. At one point, Rachel tries a somersault and I either grab her or try to tickle her. Her head ends up at an awkward angle and she is not happy. "Daddy, you made my head go the northeast!" Apparently, she has a weather vane or Doppler Radar in there.

I learned my lesson. Next time she does a front somersault, I'll make sure I don't "raticipate."