Satan's Kitty
For the record, I consider the place to be a hellmouth. Anyone with kids who has been in the hellmouth knows to duck their head and walk as quickly past the store as possible, always armed with a diversionary tactic or two. If a child says, "Look! It's Build-A-Bear!" you'll hear at least five adults in the vicinity automatically retort, "Look! It's ANYTHING BUT BUILD-A-BEAR!" It doesn't matter if it was their kid that made the statement; adults are always on High Alert to try to change the subject when within 100 meters of the place.
The Indy In-laws are currently in town for a visit, which means that Alexis is all about conning her Nana and Pops into doing her bidding. As we walked through the mall, Mr. Husband and I prepared ourselves to walk past the hellmouth. Nana, a seasoned Avoid Build-A-Bear Veteran, also knew what to do. All three of us started to walk a little faster and talk a little louder as we neared the store. When Alexis made her predictable decree, we all three were ready to change the subject and keep moving.
"Look! It's Hello Kitty!" Alexis said, pointing in the window.
She was initially met with silence as the Trained Veterans waited for someone to take the diversionary lead. But then Pops (Mr. Husband's stepdad) asked, "Oh, wow! Would you like a Hello Kitty?"
CLEARLY THE MAN DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE RULES.
He learned. The hard way.
There is few other places on Earth where you will be charged actual money for the right to go insane. It starts with the generally fug-tastic stuffed animals, and continues on to the station where they show small children things that make noise. It's so completely unfair how they let kids push little noise-making buttons and then corner you into paying EXTRA so that the over-priced stuffed animal you are about to take home can make those same noises and then make you extra batty. Pops paid for Hello Kitty to say, "Meow," whenever Alexis so desires.
Awesome. I'm going to remember that when Christmas rolls around and I'm gift shopping for him.
Mr. Husband then joined in on the insanity by finding a pair of Hello Kitty underwear for Hello Kitty. They happened to be Hello Kitty underwear that look EXACTLY like a pair that Alexis already has. Because, you know, nothing is more fun than giving your kid the ability to match her underwear to her stuffed animal's underwear.
::headdesk::
If I find a hole cut out of Alexis' underwear, like there was for Hello Kitty's tail, there is going to be a hefty price to pay. I don't know who will have to pay it, but somebody will.
The only good thing I can say about the trip into the hellmouth is that at least it wasn't my money being spent. That is, after all, what grandparents are for, right?
I just have to figure out how to make sure the noisemaker thing goes home with them.
(Your eyes do not deceive you. Hello Kitty took a bath in suntan oil and then baked herself up real good before crossing through the hellmouth.)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Reader Comments (14)
ooooohhhhhhh, just you wait!!! Build a Bear has NOTHING on American Girl!! Mag SCOURS the magazines until we have to hide them and throw them away when she's not home! It started innocently enough with the BAB's when we moved her 4 years ago. She was only child, sad that we made her leave ALL her family and friends, and my in-laws would have bought her the WHOLE store is her lip quivered the wrong way! There was no BAB in Erie yet, so she thought it was AWESOME. My 3rd floor could basically be a store, it's sad. We stopped getting noise in them though because the cow she has became a weapon during pillow fights! Daddy got one teenie bruise and boom. No more bab's with sound. Just saying, if you can work that angle it's a life saver when you can't avoid getting one!
Good luck with your ummm, sun-tanned kitty.
@Ginger--I already have to make a bonfire out of the American Girl catalogs. Somehow we get four of each one and if Alexis sees them? O.M.G. It's a mess. That is one very big reason why I try to get the mail every day, instead of sending her out for it. If she were to find out that there are stores? I'd have to smash my head against a wall for about four solid days. OYE VEY.
Thankfully we don't get out much and I have been spared the whole 'build-a-bear' phenomenon SO FAR (*knocking on every wood surface and crossing all fingers*). I DID do the boys version once (Ridemakerz) w/ my son...but luckily it was a blogging event and I didn't have to shell out the near $200 for it. Otherwise we'd have never, ever gone *lol*
And yes...Hello Kitty - brown? So, so very wrong
Our Baby Girl got an outfit with Hello Kitty on the front for Christmas. Since we live under a rock, she didn't know who it was. She calls it her outfit with the ghost on it. LOL!
And I actually like Build-A-Bear. Maybe because we've never had a noisemaker...
I suddenly and passionately hope this baby of mine is a boy. A boy into boy things, that is, only because even walking by that store gives me a migraine. Or, a girl into boy things. That would be fine, too...
At least you didn't have to pay for it. Maybe you could seam rip and pull out the meow and sew it back up again, then stick the meow in someone's suitcase. Nah, too much work.
You've done the impossible: made me very, very happy that I live a gazillion states away from the grandparents. :)
As someone who grew up with Hello Kitty (and, my preference, My Melody) at a time when we had to take a trip to the Sanrio store in Japantown to get her gear, I am saddened to learn that she has cheapened herself with an affiliation with Build-a-Bear. If this next baby is a girl I can assure that she will have a Hello Kitty, but it will not be from a Build-a-Bear. The grandparents will be warned.
I am happy to say neither I nor my kid has ever set foot in the BAB store, having now read that it is the hellmouth (and here I got exciting thinking you were going to talk about Buffy and Sunnydale).
I have to say, though, that bear is kind of cute...
So sorry ~ I like Build-A-Bear. I think they are adorable.
Not Hello Kitty though - I don't like cats of any kind (stems from the allergic not being able to breath thing).
I've never been there! ( I put an exclamation point, because I am both amazed and proud by/of this fact). Luckily we don't have one close by.
My kids don't know what build a bear is yet...I'm waiting for some snot nosed kid at preschool to spill the beans about it and Chuck E Cheese.
Like you said, at least it wasn't your "moolah" that was spent. But the noise. Oh the noise!!!
Oh my lord. Build a bear. There was a time when we would have to block that place from my sister's view with our bodies. If she ran in, we were DOOMED. We'd have to carry her out.
Obsessed. She was obsessed.