Nerd Alert

Today the gang went Christmas shopping...Helen, Patrick, and myself. And of course, Aunt Me-Me. She can't resist a trip to the Galleria and I can't resist bringing along a helper. It became clear rather quickly that we had different agendas. I hit children's stores. She hit cool stores. She bought accessories and gadgets, I bought "big girl panties." While she made important business phone calls over lunch, I fed Patrick and tried to bribe Helen with a package of purple Nerds leftover from Halloween.

Nerds are my absolute go-to bribe. In a store and a tantrum is coming, out come the Nerds. Refuses to get in the stroller so we can get going, more Nerds. I'm sure a parenting counselor or expert would tell me to use some other strategy, but Nerds work for me. They are easily accessible, cheap, and most importantly effective. Whip out the Nerds and there's an immediate reaction. Pink is the Nerd of choice, but purple is a close second, so I'm never short on either.

Again, today was no exception. Helen refused to sit in the stroller and wanted to walk. Unfortunately, she already had a box of Nerds in her hand from the lunchtime bribery. So there was no ace in the hole...she walked. We had to hit one more store. Burberry. Great, of course it wasn't like we were going to hit the Disney Store.

All I can say is that if you've never crawled on your hands and knees on the floor of a high-end retail store picking up hundreds of spilled purple Nerds, try to avoid it. No one was sad to see us go. Least of all me.

I guess that wasn't as bad as the time newborn Helen poo-pooed all over me, herself, and then spit up all over everything at Saks. But I'll save that for story for another day.