Chapter 12: Parental Sanity - 2023

"Ima, Ima," two-year-old LJ tugged at his mother's coat sleeve. "Want dis!" The little boy pointed to a large metal fire truck with a moving ladder and several firefighter figures. "Me want!"

"IMA!" Beth and Rivka spoke as one as the two almost four-year-old girls pointed to a display of princess costumes.

Riv fingered a blue sequined dress, "I want this blue one, Ima."

"I want the pink one," Beth touched the fabric of the dress she wanted.

Ziva sighed; what had she been thinking when she decided to take three preschoolers shopping less than two weeks before Christmas? All she wanted to do was to buy the items on the Giving Tree list for their adopted family and get out of the store.

"I will make sure that Santa knows these things are on your wish lists," she tried to explain to the kids. "Today, we are shopping for the children in our Giving Tree family. I have a list of extremely specific things that the children want from Santa. Those are the things we are buying today."

"Oh; are they boys or girls?" Riv asked.

"How old are they?" Beth wanted to know.

LJ just grinned at his Ima and pointed to the fire truck again. "Dat!"

"The boy is six and the girl is three," Ziva replied as she steered the shopping cart towards the aisle of dolls. "The girl wants a baby doll with some clothes and a bed. You can help me find one for her."

Beth picked up a Barbie doll, "This one is good Ima."

"That is not a baby doll," Riv yanked the box from her twin's hands. "A baby doll is like LJ."

The little boy heard his name and turned to his sister, "Me not baby. Me big boy."

"Enough!" Ziva's patience was wearing thin. "Please look with your eyes and not with your hands." She found the selection of baby dolls and skimmed over the choices. She narrowed it to two possibilities: a soft-bodied larger doll with five outfits, a snap together plastic cradle, and some other accessories or a set of smaller hard plastic twins with two outfits each and a convertible stroller, seat, and bed in one, plus accessories. The price difference was only about a dollar.

"Which one would you choose?" she asked her twins. Rivka pointed to the set of twins, while Beth chose the larger doll. Ziva inwardly groaned; why did it not surprise her that they had different choices? She showed the options to LJ, asking the little boy which he preferred.

"No, Ima. No baby. Want fire tuck!" He pointed towards the aisle with the trucks. When he looked over the two choices for the doll, though, he finally pointed to the single doll. "Dat one."

Ziva placed the box for the single doll in the cart; it really was the better choice since the contents were closer to what the child had requested. She steered the cart towards the construction and building toys aisle. The boy had requested a specific Lego set; hopefully, she could find it easily. Since the sets were arranged by theme, Ziva spotted the item she wanted quickly and placed it in the cart.

"We have that one," Riv commented. "Anthony got it for his birfday."

"It is not for us; remember that we are buying for our Giving Tree family. The boy wants this set, so that is what we are buying," Ziva reminded the child.

"What else are we buying?" Beth asked out of curiosity.

As she headed to the clothing departments, Ziva explained what gifts would be purchased for the family of four. "For the girl, some play clothes in orange and or pink, pajamas, and socks and underwear. For the boy, school clothes, underwear, socks, and pajamas. For the parents, socks, underwear, shirts, and pajamas or a robe. Also, we will buy a Christmas dinner for them through NCIS."

"Oh." The girls watched as Ziva found four coordinating pieces with the orange and pink colors. Two shirts, a skort, and leggings to mix and match. She added the underwear and socks for both children to the cart before moving to the boys' clothing area to select school clothing for the boy. The girls played in the clothing racks as Ziva made her selections; two pairs of jeans and two long-sleeved t-shirts.

LJ squirmed in the seat of the cart as the group moved to the adult clothing area. "Down, Ima." LJ gave his mother his best puppy eyes. "Pweese?"

"You may walk but remember to stay where I can see you," she placed his feet on the floor and turned to select socks and underwear for the father of the family. "Come, we must find some shirts and pajamas for the father." She motioned for her three to follow.

"NO!" LJ shouted out. Ziva turned to see him swatting away his sisters' hands as the girls tried to grab his. "Me big boy!"

"Please let him walk by himself," she admonished the two girls. "I do not want any meltdowns while we are in the store, please." She found the items on the list for the father and led the kids to the women's department. Sensing that the three preschoolers were getting bored and antsy, she quickly chose socks and underwear for the mother and found several racks of shirts from which to choose. After making the selections, she glanced around for the children. LJ and Rika were making silly faces at a mirror, but Beth was nowhere in sight.

"Where is your sister?" she asked the other two.

"Dere," LJ pointed to a shelf of folded jeans and shirts. Riv shrugged.

Ziva searched where LJ had pointed, no sign of the child. "Beth, please come to me now." LJ and Riv heard the stern tone and rushed to Ziva's side. All three looked for the little girl to join them.

"I will count to three, and you had better be where I can see you, Elizabeth," Ziva continued to do a visual scan of the area. "One, two, three." Still no child. "Elizabeth Shannon DiNozzo, show yourself now!"

A small giggle came from under one of the racks of shirts; Ziva parted the hanging garments to see her child crouched on the interior of the rack. Beth looked up at her mother and grinned.

"You're it, Ima!" She climbed out of the rack as if it was no big deal.

Ziva grabbed the child and lifted her into the child seat on the cart. Beth stiffened her legs to try to avoid getting restricted by the cart, but Ziva was determined to make sure the child did not scare her by disappearing again.

"Ow, you hurted me, Ima," Beth pouted as the other two just watched with wide eyes.

"I will hurt your bottom if you continue to misbehave. Why did you not come out of the rack when I first called you?"

"I wanted to play hide-n-seek, Ima," the child's lower lip quivered. "It is a fun game."

Ziva glared at the child, trying to compose herself so she didn't lose it completely. "We are done with the shopping. You will stay in the seat as punishment for hiding from me until we get to the van. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ima," Beth sighed. LJ and Rivka followed by each holding on to a side of the cart as Ziva steered to the checkout area. Thankfully, one of the self-check lines was empty and Ziva quickly scanned the codes and paid for her purchases. With the clothing items in bags, the receipt in hand, she started to the exit.

"I wanna ride too," Riv whined. "No fair that we have to walk, and Beth gets to ride…"

"Ride," LJ echoed his sister. "Me ride."

Ziva place LJ in the basket of the cart with the bags and boxes and motioned to Rivka to stand on the end, hanging on to the basket. "That is a good as we can get for riding. Let us get to the van and go home without any further complaints or whining. Okay?"

The cart was heavy with the three kids and their purchases, but Ziva managed to guide it to the van. She opened the doors and rear hatch. Riv climbed into the side door and her toddler seat as Ziva lifted Beth from the seat and then LJ from the basket.

"Get into your seats while I put our purchases in the back," she directed the children. "I will make sure harnesses are properly buckled after I take the cart to the cart return." She closed the rear hatch and put the cart in the chute in the return corral.

"Ima is gonna check me first!"

"Uh-uh, me first!"

Ziva could hear the twins arguing from behind the next car over from their van. LJ was in his seat, but his harness was twisted around his jacket. Ziva helped him first then checked the twins, Beth and then Riv. She sighed to herself as she started the engine and backed out of the parking space.

The three little DiNozzos sang Christmas carols as they rode, in particular, the fa-la-la-la-la from Deck the Halls nonstop all the way home. Ziva tried to tune them out as best she could.

At home, Tony came out the garage door to the kitchen after Ziva used the garage door opener to raise the door. The kids rushed to their Abba full of stories about their shopping adventure.

Beth grabbed her Abba's hand, "We buyed presents for the Giving Tree family."

"Yep, we buyed toys and clothes and Beth got in trouble," Rivka tugged at her Abba's sleeve.

"Tattletale," Beth stuck out her tongue at her twin.

"Am not."

"Are too."

Tony held up his hand, "Enough; Tali and Anthony helped me set up the trains around the Christmas tree. Why don't you go check it out?"

"Twains!" LJ ran inside followed by his sisters.

Ziva handed Tony several bags and the box with the doll playset. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Toda. They were a handful today."

"Oh?"

"Your daughter decided to hide in a clothing rack and scared me when I could not find her," Ziva explained. "Remind me that taking three preschoolers shopping is never a good idea."

"How about we take these things to your office and I will make you a cup of tea while you enjoy some quiet time for a bit?" Tony offered. "I will keep the kids entertained for half an hour or so."

"Oh, yes, please; Ima needs her sanity!"