This weekend Caroline is at grandma's and pop's house getting some much needed one-on-one attention and a special 5th birthday celebration. Happy Birthday Caroline!!!
Down one child for the evening, Abby (7 yrs old) wanted to have some special one-on-one time for herself with me. I offered several suggestions, but Abby was emphatic that she wanted to go to the mall to go shopping. Is this the same child that I CLEARLY remember having temper trantrums when we went shopping? I don't mean the mini-tantrums. I mean the intense long-lasting kind of tantrums that you end up carrying the horizontal screaming child out to the car while all the strangers shake their heads and make the 'tsk tsk' noises at you. Ok, in fairness to Abby, those tantrums were years ago, but still, what a transformation!
Abby is now a young lady. More often than not she's funny and hip and a little bit sassy (in a good way) and now...wants to shop! I'm a little torn by the shopping. On one hand, the green environmental scientist in me wants to teach her to conservation and a deep appreciation of natural resources. On the other hand, it's been so long since I've had a pleasurable shopping experience...
So, we went shopping (window shopping) at our local mall, which happens to be the King of Prussia Mall, the largest mall on the East Coast. For the most part, I let Abby decide where to go. She had some interesting choices and it was fun to join her. We ended up at Pottery Barn Kids (for toys), the toy store (for more toys), the kid hair cut place (for toys and a sword fight), Eddie Bauer (mom's choice), the Lego store (Legos), Claire's (head bands), Build-A-Bear (stuffed toys), and Godiva Chocolates (also my choice). Whew! I'm glad Abby was toy-focused and not ready to try on fashions. I don't want her to grow up too fast!!
At the end of the excursion, I purhased Abby one luscious piece of Godiva chocolate right from the display case. This was necessary in order to carry on the family tradition. When my mom and I went shopping, she would buy me a single piece of chocolate (unless a 3 piece minimum was required) at the end of our trips. Abby had never had "gourmet" chocolate before and I taught her to savor it appropriately. (I have since learned that Godiva chocolates have food dye in them, so I'm going to have to think about whether or not to continue this tradition in light of the whole petroleum thing. What to do??)
Overall, the shopping trip was delightful! Abby didn't whine to buy anything. We simply walked, played, and chatted uninterrupted for hours and got a little exercise to boot.
I think I have found a new shopping buddy!!
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