Shopping Trip
Gleek was grounded from friends today, which meant she was bored. In fact by 7 pm she was in-my-face Boooorrreeed. I had to go to the mall and return a couple items anyway, so I suggested we make an outing of it. Patches, with unerring four-year-old senses, showed up and demanded to go too. So I took my youngest pair of kids to the mall. They were unbelievably good while waiting with me to return the items. Gleek did try to convince me to buy several clothing items. They were right there and obviously my size and so I should buy them. I didn’t. Instead I returned unwanted clothing items. Then we braved the wilds of the mall.
Our first stop was a toy and hobby store. Small stores have a very different feel that the big chain stores. The kids were intrigued to wander the aisles and discuss purchasing possibilities. They’d both brought their money and fully intended to buy something before we went home. The toy store didn’t seem to have anything they wanted in the right price range, so we headed out. Then Patches spotted it. A sword and shield set complete with axe and gauntlet. The whole thing was $4.99, which was just exactly how much he had. From the moment he saw the set, no other toys existed. He didn’t even care about looking at anything else. So we bought the set and went on our way.
Gleek requested that we find a store with more girl stuff, so we stopped at Claires. I do not think it is possible to find a more girly store than Claires. It is full of make-up, jewelry, hair decor, and all things pink. We quickly made our way back to the corner filled with Hello Kitty, Strawberry shortcake, Disney princesses, and Dora the explorer. Gleek fluttered from item to item like a little butterfly that is determined to sample every flower before settling to eat at the very best one. She loved quavering between to possibility of lip gloss or folding hair brush. Most of the items were quickly ruled out as being too expensive, so Gleek began circling the stands of sale items as she tried to narrow things down to what she really wanted. I would have loved to let her dither and enjoy the shopping experience for another hour, but Patches had begun to do his potty dance and was asking to leave. So Gleek finally selected lip gloss.
We wended our way home and Patches instantly broke out his new weaponry. Within 5 minutes each of the kids had one of the new items and they were all playing together hacking away at imaginary monsters. I love the way that my kids share. They’re really good about it except when they aren’t. It amused me greatly to observe Gleek sporting the new gauntlet and brandishing her new lip gloss in lieu of a sword.