Entering a shopping mall with a toddler may be challenging enough when you need to keep them beside you and out of danger (theirs and other people’s). Find out in this post how much more interesting the situation becomes when you throw a toy mop into the mix. . .
We often like to go out for breakfast. Today we went to the Wimpy. Nicky eats his pouch. He also likes the foam on the cappuccino. We enjoyed our food and Nicky had fun moving all over the show. He had a balloon again – which was fun for him, but not much fun for us. We managed to hide it from him during most of the meal.
After breakfast DH wanted to go sort out upgrading his phone so this left me with the little man.
I landed up shopping at Naartjie and Cotton On Kids and got some stuff for next year summer (a cute costume and some pajamas). The balloon burst at Cotton On, but I managed to save the situation. (I picked him up)
We kept going back to see how DH was doing but it was taking a while. Then he said he needed to go downstairs to transfer the data. This is when we went across to Reggies, which is a toy store. This is where we found the mop.
It was there amongst other cleaning implements for children. Nicky already has a broom which he loves. He likes the (adult sized) mop too, so I though he would enjoy this.
We head back to Vodacom with my ever increasing load of parcels and I give Nicky the mop to keep him occupied. Nicky is thrilled and starts mopping the floor industriously.
When we leave the cellphone shop and go up the escalator Nicky has a moment of sheer panic because he thought I’d left the mop behind. It was firmly in my hand however. I gave it back to him and order was restored.
As we walked along Cresta Shopping Centre, Nicky pushed his mop along. It is a bit of a challenge to walk with a mop like that especially when you keep stepping on it. However, he endured and did his cleaning.
Other shoppers certainly had a reaction to my little cleaner. Variations on “Starting him early, are we?” was the common theme. Some women gave me some warm smiles.
By now Nicky had tired of merely mopping and was having fun waving the mop around. I had to move quite deftly to prevent him hitting other shopper’s legs. Please imagine me laden with nappy bag, shopping bags and a toddler waving a mop around. Again, definitely more fun for him.
We got back to the other Vodacom shop to where DH was sorting out final details and Nicky had a new place to clean. Finally we left and the broom was retired. Amazing that once a thing is out of sight, it is generally out of mind.
Until he finds it again, that is…
My kids loved their toy brooms too! Too bad they don’t love it once they are able to finally help! Sounds like a fun–but tiring–day!
Too sweet! Good habit to start. Maybe you can encourage him to see cleaning as a treat?
Funny! But cute!