You know those automatic doors at stores, in this case grocery stores? Typically I don't think twice about them. I walk up to them, they open, I walk in - end of story.
Well this isn't necessarily the case when you only weigh 20 pounds, as Eleanor does. We found out yesterday that those doors don't open for 20-pounders, parents beware.
Let me first start by telling you about our local grocery store - Hardings. I will run there for the quick, middle-of-the-week grocery items. Yesterday a co-worker brought in tomatoes, so I went to Hardings for some salsa ingredients - limes, cilantro - and tortillas for quesadillas (mmm, dinner was umbagood as Eleanor would say). I digress.
Anyway, the Hardings parking lot is on a hill. Not ideal for shopping carts. I once lost 4 6-packs of beer in that parking lot (only 3 bottles broke - not bad). I have yet to lose a child, but fear it each time we go. I digress again because that fact has nothing to do with my story other than pointing out the fact that it's hard enough getting my girls into and out of that store safely. Imagine pulling on child out of the cart while the other is still in it and getting that one child in the car while trying to keep the cart and mainly the other child from rolling down the parking lot.
So we pull into a parking spot, I get Eleanor out, watch closely as she follows me to Carolyn's door. We pull her out, walk up to the door, everyone is safe, so we enter. We made it!
Not so fast (literally). I walked in before Eleanor and she was too far behind so the door started closing before she could get in. She starts screaming, I look back and see her still outside. I make the turn but fall in behind a man walking oh so slowly out the door. I have a feeling this man was also slow mentally because as I was rushing behind him saying "Excuse me! Excuse me, sir!", he made no acknowledgement of me. He only walked (slowly) out the door staring at Eleanor. His look made me a little nervous that he may grab her and take off, but it made Eleanor even more nervous so she screamed louder.
I finally made it outside, stepped on the automatic door mat, and make certain Eleanor got into the store safely. Whew, what a start to our trip! The rest was somewhat uneventful besides the stop at the restroom - Eleanor loves checking out the restroom at every place we go.
So, my lesson learned is - walk onto the automatic door mat, shew small children through, then proceed through the door yourself.
3 comments:
wow - that is really scary! But, dinner sounded good! ;)
Oh my - so scary! Good pointer too. I didn't realize the doors worked that way. I agree with Michelle, yummy dinner.
I'm glad everything turned out okay, but that had to be a scary experience for both of you. Those doors always scare me as both of my kids have the tendency to just stand on the black mat while the door is open and starting to shut. Grocery shopping is hard enough, you shouldn't have to worry about getting your child trapped outside or rolling down the parking lot hill!
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