"This is Weird"

That is Mallory's favorite word to use, "weird". She uses it all the time to describe things. It's either "cute" or "weird". In order to enjoy this post, or understand the background, you should go back and read a post on my old blog at:

http://writetoremember.sampasite.com/zike-family-site/default.htm

scroll down and read the post titled, We only have ourselves to blame!

Then come back and read this one!!!!


THIS IS WEIRD

We were on our way to North Carolina, and we stopped to have lunch and get gas. It was one of those gas stations that has Subway inside, and this one had Steak and Shake attached to it as well. I know most of you have been in one, there is also LOTS and LOTS of "gifts". They had phone accessories, souvenirs from South Carolina, and a small section of stuffed animals.

Well, I had walked the girls to the bathroom, and on the way out they "ran into" the stuffed animals. I just wonder if they were strategically placed just outside the walkway from the bathroom...huummmm. They were the ones where there is a little horse, cheetah, puppy, or kitty inside those little cloth purses and the animal's cute little face sticks out the front of it. Of course the girls stopped and picked out their favorite one, though they had 15 others in the camper (I told them to pick a "few" to bring camping).

Now even though Emma has been "working" and has money to spend, I didn't want her to spend it at the JIFFY on a stuffed animal when we weren't even in the state we were going to be vacationing at. What kind of special meaning would this thing have from a Jiffy Store??!!! So she was fine to wait and see what she would find this week in the mountains. But behind her was Mallory who had her little heart set on this "cute" kitty, which looked a little something like this:

I SAID, "NO." Can you believe it???? I told her, no, and we went into Steak and Shake to order lunch (her Daddy was filling the truck up with gas)...you need to know he wasn't with us.

While in line for lunch, she is bawling...you know with the lips stuck out, snot and tears. She kept asking me over and over for that "cute" kitty and I finally told her I was going to "wash her mouth out with soap" if she asked again. GASP (It always worked for me when I was a kid). She dried it up and I wiped her face clean and she was sitting with me waiting for our food. Oh, I had also told her I would go out to the camper and get her white kitty and she was happy with that.

Then, DADDY WALKED IN.....

He went up to the counter to order his lunch, and she says to me, "I need to tell daddy something." I say, "What are you going to tell him?" (I knew exactly what she was going to "tell" daddy...but I think she meant to use the word, "ask") She just smiled her Cheshire grin and shrugged her shoulders. So I said, "sure, go see Daddy."

I motion to Raleigh that she is coming and mouth, "tell me what she says." Mallory taps on daddy's leg and wants him to bend down, she's got her hand next to her mouth so she can whisper....hummmm can anyone else guess what she is whispering about??

I walk over and say, "What did she just say?" He says with confusion, "something about a kitty." UUUGGGGHHHHH. I led her BACK to the chair we were sitting in and explain all over to my bawling daughter that we are NOT buying the kitten. If you could have heard her little voice say, "but that kitty is so cute" all while her face is all contorted and tears are streaming down her cheeks...it was sooooooo hard to stand my ground, after all, didn't most of us have a collection of stuffed animals??? But, I didn't get it for her, and to my surprise, neither did her knight in shining armor!!!

I got her white kitty out of the camper and off we go on the road again. She is sitting up front between Raleigh and I, eating her lunch and drinking daddy's drink. She puts the drink in the cup holder and says, "THIS IS WEIRD." And I replied, "What's weird, Mallory?"

Her response, "You guys didn't get me that kitty."

Totally out of our character not to buy her what she wanted.

P.S. I am reading a book called, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World by Jill Rigby. This was only the tip of the iceburg!! I've got a lot of work to do to erase the habits I've already created. Wish me LUCK!!