Accessories are so important
Little Miss Adorable is rocking her new walker. She loves it, is fiercely protective of it and calls it by name (“Walker! Here!”). Zooming around and maneuvering tight turns, she’s mastered the glide (lifting up her legs and coasting), running and rapid changes of direction. This new found freedom comes with a price – for her parents.
The best place for her to use her walker is inside a shopping mall. Endless, clutter-free smooth tile floors means Little Miss Adorable can walk forever. We’re regulars a local mall with a strong mall-walker program, Little Miss Adorable passes seniors in their walkers and gets an encouraging cheer from onlookers.
Shopping malls mean lots of stuff to look at (and ulp! buy). My mall purchases tend to be bare essentials with snacks at a food court.
Not Little Miss Adorable.
I’ve mentioned Little Miss Adorable’s love of all things fashionable and sparkly in The Princess Gene. BW (Before Walker) she’d sit in a stroller and admire clothing in stores, yelling “Oooh, pretty! Look at that!” Now she’s gone shopping. On her own.
At a recent trip to a store for a birthday gift for Mr. Sensitive led to me adopting the ‘patiently/impatiently waiting boyfriend/husband’ pose while Little Miss Adorable perused rack after rack of clothing. Item by item, she’d flip through racks of clothes commenting on every single piece of clothing. It doesn’t matter if it’s ladies or men’s – she’s shopping. Little Miss Adorable is fond of the bold summer prints, gauzy fabrics and daring ombre. Bonus points for glitter.
Little Miss Adorable refused to go to the toy section (where any self-respecting preschooler would want to go). Nope. She’s checking out make-up. And hairbrushes. Backpacks. And purses. (with ouch! $200 price tags)
She loaded up the handles of her walker with purses and strolled through the store. I trailed behind, wondering how I could get them away from her.
Once in the toy section I managed to distract her with the gift idea and enough Dora stuff to remove the purses from her walker. Score! I found a little girls’ purse for on three bucks. She can buy that.
As we headed to the check-out somehow she piled more stuff on her walker. Glitter, Barbie, baubles. I reminded her we were only getting the purse.
Then she ran away from me.
Darting ahead, her arms full of stuff, she squeezed into the line-up to check out. I found her standing patiently in line with the other shoppers, her walker loaded with stuff.
Again, I reminded her we were only getting one purse. She clung to all her purchases. I used the ‘do you want to go to the car?’ threat. That worked.
As soon as we were called to a cashier she marched up and stretched to put her purchases on the counter. I paid and handed her the shopping bag, which she proudly slung on her walker.
She announced she was going to show Daddy her new purse, and happily left the store.
I’m left behind wondering what the costs of using the local mall for exercise will be – after more 15 years of this.
