We had some nice weather this week, but today was rainy and cool again, not good weather for the outdoor stuff we'd thought about doing.
So instead we went to the mall to get shoes for Otto, whose everyday kicks have taken a beating on the playground this winter.
We parked outside Von Maur and went in to use their lovely clean bathrooms (something I'm hyper aware of now with kids). The ladies bathroom is upstairs, on the same floor as the children's department, and after we finished our bathroom run we walked past the kid's department. I had half an eye on the clearance rack, but within five minutes Bel found and appropriated two things: a beautiful hot pink tulle skirt with a sequined waistband, and a rolling Dora backpack.
And so, dear reader, I bought them.
I told Jon later, it's hard to turn her down when she's so perfectly reasonable about what she finds. The skirt is comfy, cute, and will be perfect for her birthday party and other dress-up events to come. She actually needed a new backpack, her old Elmo one is showing its age and not quite big enough for her daily gear anymore. But it still felt a little funny, facilitating her impulse buys.
I don't know why I worry about this sort of thing, it's not like we do it often. Maybe it's that she's not even 3 yet, but is so certain about what she likes. Or maybe it's that she loves shopping so much -- she kept asking where we were going next, then wailing that she wanted to stay at the mall and didn't want to go home. (Jon told her that when she's a teenager she can ride the bus to the mall and stay there as long as she wants.)
Her brother spent some allowance money this evening on a new LEGO set, and he's a stereotypical guy -- mission oriented. He found what he wanted, then climbed into the shopping cart and read the back of the box until we got to the checkout station. When we were shoe shopping I had to really work to get him to agree to a 2nd pair of shoes, water shoes he can wear at the splash or water park (mandatory for his summer camp activities). While he was debating light blue vs. dark blue, Bel was taking off her own new tennies and putting them up on the display shelf. She wanted to give them back and get new ones.
On the way home we talked a little about camping this summer, and Bel told me that she would need her backpack for camping. I said yes, that made sense. Then she told me we would need a tent, and that she could bring her cot from school to sleep on. We talked about campfire cooking, and she outlined a dinner menu of hot dogs, jello with marshmallows, and strawberries.
We got home and she went to get her safety scissors from the kitchen drawer, then proceeded to cut the tags off her new backpack herself. It's now holding her most precious possessions (today's doll, a Dora cutout, and a few stickers), and I have no doubt she'll take it up to bed.
You know, I think I'm just amazed at how good she is at what work counselors call "managing up" -- in other words, at managing her superiors in a way that makes them happy but still helps her get what she wants out of life.
Or maybe I'm just used to being the family organizer, not an organizee. In the same way I can probaby turn weather watching over to Otto, it sounds like I can turn camp organization over to my not-quite-3 year old.
This is promising to be a very relaxing summer...
