All vans look alike.

As soon as I realized that the sun was out, I asked Abu to get ready, because we had a few things to do. She wanted to do some shopping and meet P for lunch. As we were leaving Wally Mart, P and I talked, and he asked me if anything interesting happened (as in, what new, over the top, bratty, embarrassing behavior, is our spawn displaying in public). I said, no, and as usual, I spoke too darn soon.

I placed our bags in the back of the van, and Abu offered to take the cart to the corral. As I am securing SS in her carseat, I hear a a woman state (in a nice way), "Honey, you are in the wrong car." I know I am a ditz, and G-d knows I have confused both our very popular cars (model and color) for others. But, come on, I KNOW SS's carseat, right? And I did unlock my car. I looked behind me, and I saw Abu, comfortably seated on the front passenger seat of the van next to ours. The van is similar to ours, and a similar color, so I give Abu a pass. Also, the owner of the van unlocked the doors, so it was normal for Abu to walk right in and sit down. Never mind that SS and her daughter were NOT in the van. Abu was understandably mortified, and I had my first, badly needed laugh of the day. The women in the van seemed to be mothers and teen daughters and were good sports about the incident. They all laughed when I said to SS, "This is SO going on your baby book." Since her baby book is her blog, I had to come home and post.

P had a great laugh about the misunderstanding. He laughed so hard that he choked on his Coke. We had a nice lunch and when it was time to go shopping, SS pulled the same stunt, making a scene about getting in the shopping cart. P looked at me, we both shrugged our shoulders, and he handed her to Abu. Since our arrival home from China, I have only held SS ONCE while shopping. There was a good, no, great reason for that. As much as I adore my mother, she created an amazingly beautiful monster, and we are letting her deal with her creation. :)

Poor me, I have never sat on a shopping cart. This is inhumane, cruel and unusual punishment. Someone please call S0cial Services, this certainly meets the legal definition of abuse or neglect. Auntie C, Taun, or D, please get a yellow out!