Justice

We were all tired yesterday. None of us slept well on Saturday night. Me, because I listened to three girls have a cousin sleepover experience; my daughter because she was part of the sleepover; my son because he slept over at Papa's house; and my husband because he took care of the dog in the middle of the night.

The girls went to bed sometime between 10:40 and 11, which for two eight year olds and a nine year old is fairly late. They were also up by 6:30 where they happily fulfilled their desire to make my husband and I breakfast in bed. The intention behind it was good. The reality behind it meant that we had a significant mess in the kitchen and they burnt at least one slice of toast. But, they were very excited to do something that felt adult-like! Memories can't be recreated, but messes can definitely be cleaned up and since the girls only get to spend quality time together, sibling-free, about once a year (or less), I can survive having a mess in my kitchen.

Once everyone was back with their respective families, I noticed a significant neediness from my daughter. She clung to me the way that she does when she's not received enough attention from mom and wants some one-on-one time. There's a few things that we've done - gotten our nails painted, went swimming, visited the library, etc. But there was one thing we never did - until yesterday. We visited Justice. 

Justice is a store that is marketed to preteens. (How the bleep did my little, tiny girl transition into more of a preteen?) She'd been asking me to go to Justice, but never suspected that I would actually take her. When we got to the mall (if you can still call it that with more vacant stores than occupied ones), we entered and her first thought was to ride the carousel. (Now that doesn't sound like a preteen). I walked her to the store and told her to read the title.

"J-u...jus...just...JUSTICE!" Her face lit up and she headed right for the backpacks that have the sequence sewn on to reverse the image. Each section of the store required concentration and silliness of trying on slap bracelets, and investigating how the stuffed animals fit in their carriers. At the puppies and the kitties, she asked how much they were - $9.90, I told her, followed by "You have enough money for the kitty or the puppy (I had given her $10), but not one in the carrier."

My eight year old, in true preteen fashion, replied, "You can put it on your credit card. You have enough money on there." 

Leave a comment of what your children have said that leaves your jaw on the floor and share this post so everyone can have a good laugh today.