Why moms park their grocery carts in the middle of the aisle, thus annoying the now blocked-in retired old men trying to buy Metamucil:

Tim and I are getting tired of unplanned purchases.  It seems that everytime we go to the store C. manages to force us into a sale that we otherwise would never have considered.  The above is  a prime example.  Not that giant yellow rubber duck and three rainbow colored ducklings wouldn't have fit perfect under milk and above whole grain spaghetti noodles on our grocery list, mind you.  We just didn't budget for it.  

C. has had a fascination with ducks for as long as I can remember.  Where most toddlers moo like a cow before they develop the "q" sound, and can point a dog out of a barnyard lineup in the crawling stage of development, C. preferred to "Quack!"  Too many afternoons with bread at the pond maybe, but he has developed a love for ducks.  So it shouldn't have been a surprise when he grabbed this genetically disproportionate faux feathered...thing... off of the shelf, and in one deft motion, ripped open the attached embryonic mesh bag that held its pink, blue and green babies, sending them flying down the shampoo aisle.  We then spent a glorious fifteen minutes listening to a toddler-robbed of his hard work and cat-like sneaky skills-scream, "I want duckie!  Quack Quack!  I want it NOW!!!" Another happy trip to Walmart...

After C. made good choices for a day however, he was rewarded with his kidnapped duck, and they are currently inseparable. He feeds the duck (see above), talks to the duck, has the babies walk all around him (yes, he informed us that the big duck is the DADDY duck, NOT the mommy!), and wants to sleep with it.  

Clearly, our days of running into a store, buying the few things on our list, and walking out, are long since past!