Carters: The Children’s Clothing Store From Which We Are Now Banned

I love Carter’s.  Fantastic place.  Adorable, sweet, comfy clothes for kids.  In my head, a recent errand run would entail a quick run into the outlet store to return some of the items I ordered for my growing daughter online (Beware: when it says “pink” online, it may actually mean “a blinding neon hue that necessitates immediate donning of dark sunglasses”).  In reality, this was another what-the-heck-was-I-thinking moment (been having a lot of those lately).  Cutting dangerously into naptime territory, we had spent the day so far visiting my sister at the ginormous nursing home where she works and touring the facility and then hitting the nearby mall food court for lunch and a romp in the play area.  One minor hiccup?  Mommy FORGOT THE STROLLER.  I felt like my left arm, which is indisputably butch by this point, was going to fall off after hefting my 90th-percentile-on-the-growth-chart daughter around all day.

Upon arriving at Carter’s, I had the brilliant inspiration to forego the obnoxiously large children’s luggage I tote diaper bag and just toss my credit card in my pocket.  Daughter in arm and son in hand, we trekked into the store.  The children’s lego table/play zone in the middle of the store seems like a good idea, but the enormity of clothing racks prevented me from actually seeing my son if I ventured more than 2 feet away from him.  Super-paranoid mother of the 21st century, I basically clung to his side until I dragged him away, literally kicking and screaming so I could actually make the intended return.  Yes, this was supposed to be a straight return, but may have gotten slightly side-tracked by the adorable 4th of July outfits for my daughter…

How did he find it?!

After finally making it to the register, obviously I then realized that I had lost my credit card.  Warding off tears as the too-kind sales ladies scoured the area, I drug both children back out to the minivan to do a search (arm still actually breaking at this point).  Very maturely decided to just give up, cancel missing card and pay with another card, and returned into store.  Just as I was handing over the new card to complete the transaction, my son looks up at me and innocently hands my missing card up to me.  WHAA?!  Here’s the thing, he doesn’t even know how use his pockets yet and I KNOW he didn’t have it in his hot little hands b/c I was holding them as I drug him through the store…chalk this one up to the wonders of toddlerhood–and an extraordinarily exhausted Mommy by the time we got home.

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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