A daily task turned to field trip

After we dropped off the Princess at school, the Bear and I stopped by the local grocery store today to return some plastic bags to the conveniently placed recycling bin. We collect all the plastic bags we receive and store them until we feel it's "time" to drop off. That day was TODAY!

I had the Bear carry the two bags filled with plastic grocery bags. He happily swung his arms around making the crinkly sounds. There was a gentleman sweeping the front area of the store as we walked up to the recycle bin. The Bear tried to toss the two bags up into the container, but the opening was small and our bags were quite large. The gentleman saw the Bear and came over and opened the top for us. The Bear looked SO happy. I think he felt good about helping me out with the grocery bags. I mean, he did all the work -- carried them in and put them into the bin. AND he thanked the nice man without me reminding him to do so.

Since we were at the store, I decided to get some fruit. It wasn't busy, so we pretty much meandered through the vegetables and fruits. I had him select which kind of apples he wanted. We looked at the Granny Smiths, the Gala, the Fuji and the Braeburn -- he decided on the Gala. We then continued meandering and talked about citrus fruits -- the grapefruit, the tangelos, the clementines, the lemons, and the oranges. We looked at all the melons in their natural form AND we took a look at the cut-up versions (so the Bear would be more clear on what the insides looked like for each melon). We rounded out our discussion with the various sizes of tomato. He really took it in and I'm glad I took the time to take a slow walk through the section.

What's funny about our little side-trip is that two ladies stopped us in the store. One was a gal who was restocking the meat section (which is adjacent to the produce area). She said it was nice to see me talking to the Bear about the varieties. Another gal (a fellow shopper) stopped and let us know that it was nice to see me TALKING to the Bear. She said that every time she's went out shopping that she'd see a parent talking on a cell while the child(ren) trailed behind.

Now I found it strange that two people stopped me to tell me that it was nice to see my son and I talking as we shopped. Is it the norm to just not talk to your child(ren) when you're out and about? When I'm with the kids, I can't help BUT talk to them. It's infrequent that I need to "shush" them so that I can talk on my cell. The rest of the time we're together, we talk. Now that I'm not working, I'm only on the phone MAYBE 5 minutes max with the Hubs each work day. FIVE MINUTES! But I guess I'm one of those people who only talks on my cell when I have to (school, doctor, appointment, interview). I was never one who enjoyed talking on the phone just to talk (except when it's one of my sisters). I never talked endlessly on the phone as a teen. I just didn't. My neighbor? He talks on his cell ALL THE TIME. But that's just how he's made. He's a talker.

But do you talk on your phone a lot? How many minutes a day do you think?