No. No. No. No. Maybe.

Back to school shopping with Alexis is always a bit of a challenge. While I'm standing there trying to get her to pick out a few outfits, she locks her laser focus on just one item. She can't pick four things because JUST ONE THING, MOM.

I created that monster.

Alexis was a grabby, greedy, indecisive little thing when she was a toddler. She entered stores with the intention to leave that store with all of the things. ALL of them. This toy and that toy and where are all of the toys? She can't live without all. of. them.

Thus, my mantra became "You can pick one thing." I still practice the mantra on occasion today, but mostly Alexis just does it herself automatically.

Not Mila, though. That particular brand of toddler looks at the world and says, "No." To all of it. She wants nothing to do with anything. If I hand her the cutest, fuzziest toy in all the land, she will look at it, say "No," and hand it back to me.

Every. Single. Time.

The challenge with that is that a quick run through the store can't ever be quick because I can't bribe Mila. I can't hand her something shiny and bright and let her push buttons and spin and whatever while she sits in a cart and I rush through a store. I got nothing. NOTHING. She has no interest in keeping any of the toys that she sees in stores.

(Remember that at Christmas, family types. It's not that *I* am being difficult when I say I don't know what she wants, it's that SHE IS SO DIFFICULT SHE WANTS NOTHING OMG IT IS SO GREAT YET SO ANNOYING.)

There are exactly three exceptions to the "No" and instant give it back. THREE. The little porcelain dog that lives in Mila's fairy garden was a keeper from the instant she set eyes on it. She grabbed it, held tight, and refused to let it go, even when it was time to pay for it. That little dog entertains the kid every single day -- she stops to visit it in the mornings as we're leaving and again when we return home at the end of the day.

The second exception to the "I don't need your distractions" thing the My Little Pony hat Miss Mila acquired last week. She still loves that silly thing, for what it's worth.

And now we have Flora. Flora is a Beanie Boo (aka "Big Eyed Things," which is what Alexis has called them for a few years now) and Mila is in loooooooove. Flora has travelled everywhere with Mila for the past few days.

A dog. A pony. A skunk.

This is the start to some sort of terrible joke, isn't it? A dog, a pony, and a skunk walk into a bar and only Mila knows what happened next.

Comments

[Mary]

That costume. Too cute!