A 1.5 Hour Long Target Trip? Yes Please!

When is a 1.5 hour Target trip the best trip ever?

When Olivia gets to walk and explore on her own, for the very first time!!  Woo hoo!  High fives!  Fist bumps!

Olivia starts 2 year old preschool in a few weeks and we realize she needs more practice in her gait trainer.  So, who better to give her the practice than the lovely red shirts at Target?!  #gettheaddictionstartedearly 

When we got there we set down the gait trainer and started the encouragement.  In retrospect if may not have been the best idea to start next to the dollar section, with their Sofia the First and Frozen toys taunting Olivia...

 After making it past the dollar section, Olivia walked all the way from the front door carpet to the back corner by the men's clothes.  Yes!!!!!!!!!

It took a bit of guidance, lots of coaxing, and some bribery (see photo below) but it got the job done!!!

Icees make the best encouragement!  Obviously. 

As we were walking a nice woman stopped to ask about the gait trainer.  She was extremely kind and genuinely interested.  She cheered Olivia on and went on her way.  Immediately following a young teenage girl came up. She curiously and respectfully asked so many questions about Olivia.  Why did she use this?  What is Spina Bifida?  Would she ever be able to "just walk"?  I was able to have an open conversation with her and it was beautiful!  I thanked her for stopping and having the courage to kindly ask about Olivia.  She got a huge smile and walked away.  She said "I'll pray for her."  Not in a condescending way but in a kind and loving way.  Olivia has another prayer champion on her side 😉 

After that, baby girl got tired and asked to "rest".  So here is what Mama and Dada looked like walking around Target with the gait trainer hanging out the side of the cart.   Haha.  We were a sight!  

Got to the toy section and she asked to walk again.  She got a new toy for her efforts. Won't happen every time but since this was her first public store gait trainer experience, she needed some encouragement 😉.  You can see a bit of the toy box sticking out of her bag in the below picture.

Thanks to everyone that was so patient and made plenty of room for us all at Target! I also want to say that Target was lovely and highly supportive as well. I knew there was a reason I loved that store!

Be Happy.  Laugh.  Enjoy Chaos.