Ulterior motive

Hmmm... call me suspicious, but on a Sunday afternoon when a certain six-year-old boy is given the choice of staying home and playing with Dad, or going grocery shopping with Mom, and he chooses grocery shopping... I have to wonder what he's hoping we'll buy.

I made it clear we were going only to the grocery store. That's it. No surprise trips to a fast food restaurant or store with toys. No stopping at Red Box. We're getting groceries, and then we're coming home. 

And still he wanted to join me.

So during the drive to Cub, I cut to the chase. "What are you hoping to get? Why did you want to go grocery shopping?"

His answer stunned me. And perhaps scammed me.

"Remember last time when we went to Super One and Sydney and I made bad choices?" He asked.

(Yes, I definitely remember. Quick trip after work... everybody's tired and hungry but we couldn't put it off because we needed a couple things to make dinner... not a pleasant shopping experience.)

AJ continued, "I wanted to show you I could make good choices."

He should have stopped there.

"Sydney's the one who made me do bad choices. She always makes me so mad!"

"So you wanted to come shopping with me to prove you're better behaved than your sister?" I asked.

"Yeah!"

We reached the store and all went well. He grabbed a mini-cart and I grabbed a big one and off we went. Anything that AJ particularly likes went in his cart, the rest in mine. I pointed out that it looked like all he ate was sugar, and so we moved the apples into his cart.

He only slipped up once. Those 75-cent Little Debbie's donuts are so hard to resist. The face he gave me as he pleaded (hammy moment re-created below for the camera) cracked me up.

Yes, he got the donuts. The entertainment value alone earned him the treat. Several other shoppers saw it and also smirked. It's nice to have one-on-one time with just AJ. We don't get to do that nearly enough.

And for the record, I don't use nicey-nice terms like "good choices" and "bad choices". (Unless I'm asking the dog a rhetorical question as he's shredding kleenex or destroying yet another child's toy.) That's elementary teacher lingo that AJ has brought home.