Soccer Ball Incident

Today I violated one of my own parenting rules by taking Sophia out to stores too close to nap time. The results were not pretty.

It all started out OK. We were just going to Old Navy to look around. Sophia is currently learning how to walk through a store holding my hand. Yesterday I took her on her first shopping trip without the stroller and she did great. Today started out well, but there was a ball in the dressing room...

Why is Old Navy selling soccer balls?!

Sophia found the ball under the seat in the dressing room when I tried on a skirt and didn't want to let it go. Not to set a bad precedent, I told her it needed to stay in the dressing room. She tried to put it down but was too sad to let it go. I could actually see her struggling with the direction. She would start to put it down, but then cry and hug it again. When I finally had to firmly insist, she broke down. We walked around the store for a minute and she just kept crying and pointing back to the dressing room. It was so sad.

After I finally got her calmed down and finished our little bit of shopping, she didn't want to get in the car and pitched another fit. Note to self: Don't do that again.

On the upside, she sleeps a lot better when she gets to walk around instead of ride in a stroller everywhere. Last night she only woke up once.