Today I came to work with a big bag which contains nothing I need for work. It's all for Autumn. Also, in my car I have an umbrella stroller and a small diaper bag. And in my trunk are items I picked up yesterday on the way home from work. We stopped at Wal-Mart where I bought a plastic box to keep snacks in my car and some little packets of whale-shaped cheese crackers for the box. I also bought a deluxe, all-inclusive first-aid kit (for something like $18.88). It contains all I ever wanted and more.
OK. So off my tangent and back on topic. The reason for me carrying this big back in to work and for the stroller and diaper bag waiting in my car is that tonight is my niece's high school graduation in Jamestown, N.Y. Autumn and I are heading there to see the big event. Daddy hopes to get some stuff done around the house while we're gone.
I have packed two spare outfits because I know at the end of the day at "school," she's going to have evidence of having played well and eaten well all over her clothes. I have yogurt, milk and grapes in the fridge here at work so she can eat later. I also have a cereal bar, teddy grahams and, the most important, Cheerios.
I also have a pacifier (yes, we still have not broken that habit yet), two books ("Moo, Baa, La La La" is wonderful, even if she might moo or quack as the valedictorian speaks), a sippy cup, a small bottle of bubbles for pre-event entertainment and a few feathers to play with. I think there's a bear figurine or a block in her diaper bag, too, along with the diapers, wipes, butt cream, disposable bibs and spoons. And some Purell.
I also have a small video camera and tripod so my brother can have a recording of his little girl graduating, still cameras for my picture-taking addiction, and birthday presents for my sister and another niece.
And this is for a one-hour drive to a two-hour event. I think I packed lighter for a week in Cancun for my honeymoon.
Perhaps I can learn to condense. But if I need to keep a toddler relatively quiet and relatively still for two hours in the evening, I think I need all the help I can get.