Grocery Shopping - educational?

BabyJ is 8 months old, all squishy and cuddly. SO cute, and... well..., what else can you say about an 8 month old? She's curious about her toys, puts everything right into her mouth, and is getting so heavy she's hard to carry around for any amount of time. She's making tractor sounds, blowing raspberries, and clicking her tongue. Now, we are having an issue with independent play. This is an important skill that every child should learn, for various reasons. It teaches the child to entertain themselves, that they can be alone for periods of time without needing their caregiver and will remain safe. BabyJ is fine playing by herself, as long as she can see me. Really, as long as I'm sitting about 6 feet away. When I create a play area for her outside the kitchen, so that I can have my own lunch, or clean up from our noon feeding, she starts whining and complaining. We're going to keep encouraging this, since it is an integral part in the development of her self esteem.

My current issue, is that I would LOVE to take BabyJ shopping. Go to the mall and walk around, go to the grocery store and do my shopping for the week, visit the drug store for that last minuet item. We have gone to Hobby Lobby to pick up craft supplies for our Mother's Day project, but that was a very short and specific trip. How can I make grocery shopping be about BabyJ's learning, and NOT about how it will help me and my family? I was hoping to work on the -stranger angle- since she has been getting scared by other people looking or talking to her, but Nanny-mom said she has been fine with other people lately. If BabyJ was about 15months or older, going to the grocery store would be a learning opportunity. We would talk about the different types of veggies, fruits, their texture, appearance, smells, all those things. Being 8 months old, I really don't think she'll appreciate any of that.

wrapped up snuggly, and put to bed

For the new year, Baby J is 4 months old. These means prime baby-fat play time. Lots of smiles, squishy baby cheeks, and almost sitting up. This also means introduction of the SPOON, and another round of shots. Believe it or not, but we have to teach children to swallow solids. They have to get used to the feeling of soft solids in their mouth, and understand that this new food will be replacing their warm soft bottle. My son was not interested in this new phase. He would eat about 4 bites of cereal, then be done. No thank you for mashed potatoes, applesauce, purred bananas -nope. For Baby J, we'll see. She hasn't figured it out enough to say "no" to me, but it's just the 2ed day. I was able to get her to eat her whole tablespoon of cereal for lunch, but she didn't want anything to do with the rest of her bottle of formula.

Baby J also had her 4 month shots yesterday, on top of already not feeling great. These 2 issues leads to a pretty fussy baby who really just needs to be snuggled in, and put to bed. After I suctioned her nose again, and got some mega boogies, I wrapped her up and she instantly took a deep breath and went to sleep.

this is what I do...build cathedrals...one day at a time