*
I had to run some errands the other day, late in the day. M had the boys with her while she set up the feed for the animals and Sophie, who had been having a bad day with her brothers, decided to come with me. She loves to go into G’ville so once I told her that’s where we were going she was quite excited and we had to go through a whole to-do about she was going to wear (with the giraffe boots, the only shoes she’ll wear are the giraffe boots!) and how she was going to do her hair (2 horns, aka braids, or just loose hair which won out because I was running out of time!). So we piled into the car and started off on our little adventure.
When I got on 85, I had one of those weird out of body moments where it felt like I was observing what was happening from outside the car. I had brought our iPod and Sophie and I were singing Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend (the clean version, but really we all know what she’s saying and speaking of that… how do the lyrics of the Kidz Bop one go? I mean the radio version just beeps out the one word… how does Kidz Bop deal with the “what the Hell were you thinking?” lines?? Sorry, just got to wondering on that one). Anyway, we were both belting it out and it was just one of those weird moments where everything was perfect (ok so admittedly, it could’ve been a better song, but let me finish my story) and I don’t know if Sophie thought so too, but she managed to catch my eye in the rear view mirror and gave me one of her million watt smiles.
Did I mention it was Sunday? Around 5:30 and the place we were wanting to go to closes at 6? So anyway, we were hurrying and did manage to convince the girl at Petsmart that she couldn’t bar us from entering the store with 15 mins until closing and were able to pick up cat and dog food (and there was much rejoicing, and the cats laid down with the dogs and… I really shouldn’t eat ramen noodles while I’m typing, MSG man, it’s a drug). On leaving I made a rash decision to go into Office Max to check out their ink situation and to see if they had any of the cheaper fountain pens** (this all concerns Sophie, just wait). The staff were useless and the ream of paper that I toted all the way to the front is actually still there as the cashiers had already closed down their registers. The store was still open at the time, I might add. Most frustrating.
So anyway, on our way back to the car Sophie asked me why we didn’t get the paper, and I gave some bland response that offered no real explanation. So she got in the car and I noticed she was wearing a particularly sulky expression so I asked what was wrong. She responded with “you never explain why. Sophie asks why and you never say.”
To say that I was blown away wouldn’t suffice. I literally sat there for a moment and processed what had just happened before going into a long and detailed explanation of why stores close early on Sunday and how the practice started and so on. It was a good 5 minute explanation and at the end she said “oh, ok” and that was it.
So since I was feeling that things were good, I decided to treat Sophie to a trip to the bookstore. At first I thought I might have made a mistake. Bookstores are like Candystores to Sophie. She can’t get enough of them!! So we went straight back to the kids section and she started prowling (because there is no other word for it) for a book. She went through a couple maybes before settling on a Star Wars pop up book (a nearly $40 value!) and while I was quite fascinated with the book as well, I knew that realistically, it wouldn’t last an hour in our house with the boys. So… as much as I wanted to get that book I decided to see if Sophie was still willing to compromise. It went down something like this:
Me- Sophie do you really like that book?
S- Yes Mommy, it’s Star Works (she says Star Works, we can’t break her from it, she’s taught Xander to say it too).
Me- Yes I know, but it’s such a big book.
S- Yes, Sophie likes it.
Me- Why?
S- It has pictures and monsters!!
Me- Can we read it?
S- Ummm…..
Me- Would you be able to carry it in the car?
S- Ummm, Sophie really likes Star Works.
Me- Oh I know, but I just thought you’d like a Star Wars book that you could carry in the car. That big book is more like something you’d get for a birthday or Christmas… it’s not just a regular book.
S- Not a regular book?
Me- (acting disinterested) No, it’s a special book.
S- A special Sophie book?
Me- yeah, you know, one that you have to ask for and then wait… kinda like Santa Claus….
S- Oh….
A long pause, where she continues clutching the book to her chest.
S- Um, Mommy ask lady for Star Works book?
Me- Why don’t you ask?
S- OK. (and she does!!! Do you believe it???)
Me- So do you like this book?
S- it’s ok (said with a snarled nose).
Me- It’s easier to carry in the car.
S- (no comment)
Me- and it’s cheaper than the other book.
S- (again no comment)
Me- so we could get ice cream if we got this (the smaller) book.
S- Vanilla? with chocolate chips and gummy bears?
Me- Yeah, but it’s up to you. (I walked away from her and watched her wrestle with the decision. I think it was a close thing, but she put back the pop-up book and got the smaller Star Wars book instead).
So we left, like normal people, with no crying. I think that’s a first. Of course we went for ice cream (it’s across from the bookstore) and she was perfectly polite even after eating “trigger” foods. M called during the ice cream outing and sent us to get supper from Whole Foods. I had serious doubts that Sophie would maintain her good behaviour after ice cream, but thought what the heck… let’s try.
So… Whole Foods. Why is it that WF is covered over on Sunday evenings? Does this make sense to anybody? And knowing that it’s going to so busy, why is it they only have 3 registers open???
I digress (blame it on the MSG).
Anyway, Sophie and I were discussing our grocery list. It wasn’t much and I had her “remember” parts of it for me. We had whole discussions on the merits of red versus yellow tomatoes (Sophie thought the yellow ones were too weird), whether Wellshire Farms bacon is better than WF’s brand and does anyone really like AppleWood bacon…. We got around to one of Sophie’s big triggers and I steeled myself for a meltdown. The bistro in WF is one of Sophie’s favorite experiences and once we got to that end of the store she started angling to eat there. When I said we weren’t eating there, she asked why. So I explained that we were only picking up a few things so that we could make supper when we got home. To which she asked why. So I explained further that M didn’t want a big supper since lunch had been filling and that we were just going to have sandwiches for supper. To which she asked why. So I explained that all M really wanted was a bacon sandwich with chips. To which she said ok. And that was it. No tears, no crying, just OK.
Weirded me out.
But I kept cool and we continued shopping, filling her little customer in training cart to the brink, only to discover that it had one of those trick wheels that made it careen into anyone nearby. Honestly, that was some of the funniest dialogue of the whole evening as Sophie wrestled with her wayward cart!
Anyway. While I was deciding on which combination of frozen fruit would make the best compote for Dandy I noticed that I was sans Sophie. When I turned around, I found her pushing her cart with one hand, while daintily eating a choc. chip cookie. I said- who said you could have a cookie? she said- Sophie said Sophie could have a cookie.
The self assured smirk was almost enough to make me laugh out loud, but instead I encouraged her to ask an adult next time so that she could get the cookie she really wanted (turns out she ended up with a pnut butter/choc chip and she’s not so fond of those) and she agreed that maybe that would be better.
So we queue up to leave. Remember when I mentioned that there were only 3 registers open?
Our line went back so far as the baby food aisle (which by way, Tina, I bought all of kids baby food too) which turns into the cosmetics aisle. So since I had a feeling I was going to be there a while (and we were), I decided to make friends with the lady in front of me. She was very nice, moving to Costa Rica, yada, yada, yada… then I noticed, no Sophie. Again.
Turning around I see that she’s sitting up in one of the cosmetic chairs and from the distance I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I noticed that she seemed to have an audience.
So I asked my new found friend to save my place and went to fetch Sophie. As I got closer I heard this:
S- … to brighten the brow, you want to add color…. oh…. umm… Hi Mommy.
M- Sophie, what are you doing?
Cosmetics Lady- She’s been giving us an very good tutorial on how to wear makeup.
Me- Oh really?
CL- yes, actually everything she said was spot on.
I smiled, collected Sophie.
CL- By the way, I love your boots.
S- Thanks! Aren’t they fabulous?
Really, I tried to act like this was normal, but I was somewhere between rolling my eyes and bawling!! My little crazy girl, acting all normalish! And where does she get this language and the prissy attitude?
I don’t know… but I’m liking this talking fashion diva version of Sophie.
* Please ignore the clutter, I still had Sophie’s school books and pens and pencils all over the place. And there was still paint splattered on the floor and yes those are Christmas decorations still on the wall.
