Stuck in a Westfield with two

“Well I don’t know why I came here tonight… I gotta feeling that somethin’ ain’t right…”

Trust your instincts when you drive into a shopping centre car park and feel an urge to drive straight out again. This week I decided, for some unknown reason, to take both kids to our local Westfield, which is currently undergoing major renovations. Last time I was there I vowed never to return, so I really don’t understand what possessed me to try again. But I did.

Trolleys: never around when you need one!

Being a Monday morning, and the first day that this centre had introduced paid parking (after three hours free), I assumed that the place would be relatively quiet and hassle free. I imagined that all the commuters that used to use the car park for free all day would have to park somewhere else, and there would be loads of spaces nice and close to the shop entrance for us. First mistake.

The place was mobbed. We drove around in circles looking for a park for about 15 minutes, and ended up parking on the rooftop car park, quite a walk away from the lifts down to the shops. Now I knew I needed to get groceries, so I really didn’t want to take a pram. I’ll just put the kids in a trolley when I get inside, I thought. Second mistake. After trudging about 400 metres from the car to the lifts, with the Stuntman on one hip, nappy bag slung over my neck, shopping bags around my elbow and holding Little Miss by the hand, we were faced with a sheepish looking security guard who quietly mumbled that there was a problem with the lift and that it would be two or three minutes. And when it did come, another security guard would have to press the buttons as they weren’t working. A nagging voice in my head said “turn around, go somewhere else, LEAVE NOW!”, but sadly, I ignored it. It’ll be OK, I thought. Two or three minutes I can handle. I really needed to catch my breath anyway. So we waited for the lift (about 10 minutes in reality), and then piled in with the 20 or so other shoppers who’d turned up in the meantime.

We finally got down into the shopping centre, and the Stuntman started his wriggly-limp-noodle act (where he goes limp, puts his arms up over his head, and basically wriggles out of my arms), and Little Miss promptly ran off. Here we go, I thought. Quick, find somewhere to buy them a treat, STAT. But first we had to walk past the ABC Shop, which is a trial on the best of days. Usually I’ll have at least one of them restrained in a pram or trolley, but this time they were both ‘free range’ and on the loose.

“Mumma, Mumma, look Peppa, it’s Peppa, it’s PEPPA!!!!” screamed Little Miss.  Yes darling.

“Uh! Ooh ooh!” exclaimed the Stuntman, excitedly.

“Mumma, Mumma, Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit, it’s Peter RABBIT! LOOK! LOOK!!!” Smile and nod, keep your cool woman. The Stuntman grabs a Tombliboo off the shelf and the whole display topples over. Oh shit.

“Come on, let's go, I can see an ice cream shop over there,” I scoop up the Stuntman over my right shoulder, and somehow lift Little Miss onto my other hip, bags still in tow. I’m now carrying an extra 27 or so wriggly, unwilling kilos, and trying to gracefully maneuvre my way out of the shop without knocking anything else over. This is relatively successful (i.e. we didn’t actually break anything), so once we are a safe distance away from the shop entrance I breathe a sigh of relief and let the kids down.

We now find one of those horrid shopping centre ‘rides’ (a Wiggles car in this case), which occupies them for a few minutes while I try to get my bearings. I have no idea where the supermarket has moved to – I don’t know which way I’m facing, there’s no natural light in the centre, no clocks. It’s like a giant casino, without any booze. I guess they hope that people will just lose track of time and spend hours and hours in there, handing over wads of cash at every turn. It’s horrendous, I hate it.

After a minor screaming match to get Little Miss off the Wiggles car, we finally make it to the supermarket. Hooray, a trolley! I wrestle the Stuntman into the trolley seat and strap him in as tight as the belt will go, grab Little Miss’ hand and start cruising the aisles. Everything is going smoothly now – the Stuntman is secure and entertained, talking to all the old people in the shop, Little Miss is having a good time grabbing things off the shelves and dumping them into the trolley, and I’m checking things off my list. We get to the checkout without incident and I’m feeling so pleased with us all that I suggest we go and have some sushi for lunch. Cheers all round; both the kids love sushi, so off we go to the sushi train. Lunch is also incident-free, and by this stage I’m wondering what I was so stressed about earlier. 

This parenting thing is easy really, just keep everybody happy! Don’t stress! Don’t yell! Offer treats and bribes! Chill out mum!

I now decide to tempt fate by swinging into a different supermarket just to check if they have any coffee pods (which were out of stock at the other place). I know I’m pushing it here, the kids are now fed and it is dangerously close to their sleep time. But I’m a glutton for punishment (and desperate for coffee) so we do a quick lap of the second supermarket (out of stock here too!), and then head to the lift to get back to our car.

“I’m sorry madam, this lift is out of order, you can’t get in, the stairs are just over there.” Umm, what? But I need to get to the rooftop car park on level 5. That’s on the roof. I’m on level 1. I have two very sleepy and almost-grumpy children and four heavy bags of groceries in my trolley. What am I supposed to do?

“Can you call someone to help you madam?” Umm, what?? Who the fuck am I supposed to call at lunchtime on a Monday to come and rescue me from this suburban shopping centre/hell? 

Steam is coming out of my ears by this stage, but I’m trying to hold it together and not swear at the man, if only for the sake of the kids.

Then this dickhead of a security guard sends me up to the next set of lifts up the other end of the centre, assuring me I can access the rooftop car park from that end, so off we trudge another 17kms or so (I may be exaggerating here, but it felt like a VERY LONG WAY!), to the lifts at the other end.

Of course, being the only effing lift working in the whole effing centre, there is a line of people waiting to get in that actually snakes past several shops and doubles back on itself. We wait in the queue for an eternity; Little Miss is almost falling asleep in the trolley, and the Stuntman is doing his best Houdini impression trying to escape from the trolley seat. While I have my back turned sharing an exasperated eye-roll with another mum he actually manages to get his legs out of the straps; as I turn around he is standing up in the trolley seat, reaching out for me. FUCK! I catch him just as he tries to step forward into thin air. 

There is no way I’m going to be able to get him back in the trolley seat . I’m now trying to steer a trolley with a sleepy toddler and four heavy bags of groceries with one arm, and holding a wriggly, writhing slightly smaller toddler with the other arm. Just for kicks, he decides now would be the perfect time for a breastfeed, and tries to help himself down my top. To keep the peace I'm now stand-up-breastfeeding holding him in one arm, pushing the trolley with the other. 'Awkward' is an understatement.

We finally get into the lift, and ride all the way up to the roof. But, as I had suspected, this roof doesn’t connect with the other roof, the one where our car is. I’m almost crying by this point, and take a few moments to try and calm down. I walk to the edge of the roof (no, I’m not considering jumping), and try to look down to see where the two towers of the car park connect. I *think* it’s level 3, so we go back to the lift and wait another 15 minutes or so for the lift to return, and get us down to level 3. Fortunately I’ve managed to get the Stuntman back into the trolley by this stage, so at least I’ve got two hands to control the trolley. I’m in a definite no-pedestrian zone here – running the gauntlet of frazzled shoppers backing out of car parks to get home for their lunch. But my goal is now in sight – I can see the giant giraffe head that my car is parked under. It just happens to be up on the next level, and the only way up is a steep, curved ramp that has two-way traffic and no pedestrian access. With no other way up, I position the trolley in the middle of the ramp (i.e. between the two lanes of traffic) so that we are as visible as possible to cars coming in both directions, and take the ramp at a run. Several people drive past, shaking their heads at me, looking disgusted. If I had a spare hand I would give them the finger, but it’s taking everything I’ve got to get this bloody trolley and my precious cargo up the ramp. We make it! OMG, I nearly cry with relief. 

Our car is just ahead, beckoning us home. I strap the kids into their seats, give them each a biscuit in the hope that it will keep them awake on the way home, and make our way to the exit. As we get to the exit barrier, the fancy new number plate recognition system tells me that I have overstayed the free three hours by 20 minutes, and I now owe $4. I’m pretty sure I burst a blood vessel in my neck at this point. I reach out to press the ‘help’ button, ready to explode, but the boom gate just lifts and we’re allowed to leave. Relief washes over me, tinged with disappointment that I didn’t get to yell at anybody.

Unsurprisingly, both kids fall asleep in the car before we get home. Surprisingly though, I’m able to transfer both sleeping children into their beds without them waking. Finally, a good result.

No more shopping centres for us for a while!

What about you? Do you love or loathe those big centres?

My mortifying brush with fame

I had a rather humiliating experience yesterday, care of my Little Miss. We were hanging out in the parents’ room at our local Westfield (as you do); the Stuntman needed a fresh nappy, and I knew Little Miss would be happy to play in the dingy ‘playroom’ in there for a while. I heard the door open behind me, but didn’t think much of it, until my delightfully erudite daughter started screaming, “No, not YOU boy, this is MY playroom, NOT YOURS,” at the top of her little lungs.

Embarrassed and feeling myself start to blush, I turned around only to be met with the very well-developed frame and surprisingly kind eyes of 'The Commando' from the Biggest Loser, who was standing outside the playroom with his cute little boy.

As I recognised him I had an involuntary intake of breath (ok ok, I gasped audibly if you must know), and I felt my face go an even brighter shade of red. Not just because he was famous and intimidating, but because of how ridiculously good-looking he is in real life, and the overall absurdity of the situation. Little Miss was by now holding on to the gate of the playroom, still yelling, refusing entry to Commando Jnr, who was waiting patiently with the same helpless look on his face as his dad. She’ll make a good bouncer one day for sure.

So now I was in a pickle – the Stuntman was still pants-down on the change table, and, as his nickname implies, he is not one to be left unsupervised on high surfaces.  I had to quickly turn back to him and finish getting him dressed, then wrestle him back into the pram (no easy feat in itself), all the while trying to use my most soothing voice on Little Miss to try and get her to calm the fuck down, and open the damn gate.

“It’s OK darling, the playroom is for everyone to share, there’s plenty of things to play with in there, you can share with the little boy,” this in my most lilting, sing-song voice.

“Just open the gate sweetheart, you can play over the other side, you need to share the room now please,” this as my voice grew slightly louder and more frantic, and not quite so soothing.

“LET GO OF THE GATE WE ARE GOING HOME RIGHT NOW!” this with gritted teeth as I swooped into the playroom, picked her up and eventually pried her tiny vice-like fingers free of the gate.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, she really needs a sleep, we’ve had a long morning,” I said, apologetically, to The Commando, who was still standing patiently with his son. He smiled at me, with what looked like understanding, but could just as easily have been pity.

“Come on darling, let’s go home and have some lovely fresh watermelon,” I said, in my brightest Mary Poppins voice. She looked at me as if to say “WTF? Watermelon?” – we both knew full well that I’d be breaking out my emergency bag of tiny teddies as soon as we got back to the car. 

But The Commando didn't need to know about my bribery-with-sweets parenting style, so I kept up appearances all the way down the hall, talking about the juicy watermelon we were going to have, and even busting out a few lines of the watermelon song. Quality parenting.

Just another Manic Monday (except it's Tuesday)

6 o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream..... 

In the middle of a dream at 6 o'clock? I wish. By 6am most mornings Mr McD and I have already had a mini-argument about who gets to have first shower and who's turn it is to get the Stuntman up from bed (he's an early morning poo-er, every morning without fail - not a pleasant way to start the day). By 6:15am we've had our first coffee and by 7am Mr McD's out the door.

I work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, so Tuesday is the start of my week. Tuesday is my Monday, if you will.  After spending Monday at home with my two kids, I actually look forward to going to work - the train journey, having a coffee while it's still hot, going to the toilet by myself - so Tuesday mornings I usually bounce out of bed ready to get the day started.

Not last Tuesday though. Last Tuesday everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Nothing major, nothing life-threatening, just a million little events that resulted in me getting in to work at 10:30am, in my 3rd outfit for the day, and only wearing one earring.

For starters, Mr McD's alarm didn't go off, which usually wouldn't be an issue, except that on this particular morning the Stuntman decided to sleep in, so no one woke up until the sun started to creep in the window at about 6:30am. Shit. We were already running about an hour behind schedule! Then Little Miss declared that she absolutely would not get dressed until she had finished her breakfast, and proceeded to eat her bowl of Cheerios one by one... the Stuntman meanwhile was attached to my breast as if he'd been starved for days, and would scream blue murder if I dared to try and extricate myself from his death-roll grip before he decided he was finished. It was now 7am - I was still unshowered, Mr McD had showered but couldn't find his work shirt, and the Stuntman had hidden the remote control again so we couldn't even use the calming power of television (remote control later found in Mr McD's shoe).

I eventually got the baby off me, jumped in the shower for 1 minute and 47 seconds, speed-dressed and returned to the lounge room to find Little Miss still eating her individual bloody Cheerios, smiling slyly as I tried to gently cajole her into getting dressed. Gentle cajoling failed, so my next move was to simply take the bowl off her. A tug of war ensued - cue my first outfit change.  

After tears and recriminations (mine and hers, respectively), a ceasefire was reached and we got her dressed and ready for kindy. Mr McD took this opportunity to sneak out the door, somehow only 20 minutes late. The little Stuntman, realising he had been without attention for a total of 11 minutes, started smearing his piece of peanut butter toast along the wall behind his high chair, with a high pitched squeal of delight guaranteed to make everyone turn and look at him. Little Miss took it upon herself to take charge of the situation, saying, "Silly boy, that's very naughty, what a mess, we have to clean it up," in her bossiest big sister voice, and started to spread the peanut butter further along the wall... with her sleeve. Cue outfit change for her. Nanna looks after the Stuntman on Tuesdays, and she walks in the door during this madness, causing both kids to start running around the room in excitement, screaming their heads off like tiny little banshees.

By now it's 7:30am - we need to be out the door by 7:40am if I'm to have a chance of getting to work on time. Our game plan is for Nanna and the Stuntman to drop Little Miss and I at her kindy in the car, then I walk to the train station and head to work. Easy. 

Quick score check: I'm dressed, Little Miss is dressed, the Stuntman is still in his pj's covered in peanut butter, bags are packe..... ARGH NO! Bags are NOT packed! Quickly sort out my work bag while Nanna cleans the Stuntman up and gets him dressed, then I pack Little Miss' kindy bag, round everyone up in the front hallway and prepare to exit the building. Open the front door - it's raining. Shit shit shit. Head back inside to find a raincoat for Little Miss and an umbrella for me. Attempted exit number two - I pick up the Stuntman and make a run for the car in the rain. Just as I'm lifting him into the car seat, he spews on my shoulder. Just a little spew, but spew none the less. Back inside for second outfit change for me, and a quick wipe down for him.

It's now 8:10am. I'm seriously late. We all get in the car and I tell Nanna to floor it. She doesn't. It takes us 20 minutes to drive to kindy (I can do it in 8), so it's 8:30am by the time we pull into the driveway. I get Little Miss out of her car seat, grab my work bag and go to grab her kindy bag from the back seat. Where's her bag? FFS are you kidding me?!?!?!?! The bag is at home, on the front porch. Of course it is. Nanna, bless her, tells me she'll do a round trip and bring it back, so I race inside with Little Miss, explain the bag situation to the kindy teacher and try to leave quickly and quietly. No chance. Little Miss decides that today she needs an extra long cuddle, does not want to play with any of her friends and no thank you, she won't go and read a story on the pillows. It's 8:45am. So after a very long cuddle, during which time, unbeknownst to me, Little Miss had removed one of my earrings, I finally managed to say goodbye, walk out the door, run up the street and get to the train station. 

Just to see my (late) train pulling away from the platform. By this stage I'm beside myself; I'm so late I'm almost early for tomorrow, I didn't have any breakfast and I'm not entirely sure I've put mascara on both eyes. I have to wait 20 minutes for the next train. Fuck it. It's out of my hands now. The universe decided I needed 20 minutes to myself, I think, so I go and buy a coffee (on oat milk) and a piece of (sourdough) toast, and fire off a few emails from my phone.

I finally get on the train and sit back and try to relax for my hour long journey (it only takes 40 minutes during peak hour, but I've missed that well and truly). I stumble into my office at 10:30am, looking like I've been pulled through a hedge backwards, and feeling like I've run a marathon.

"Slept in huh?" says the receptionist. You have no idea.