(this was part of another post, but I decided to separate them…)
I was able to spend time with Lailah twice this weekend. Friday night was “Finding Dory” and then, we spent most of the day together on Saturday, going to a children’s book reading session at B&N on Saturday morning, where an employee reads a couple of books to the children – we’ve done this a few times in the past, but this time, Lailah was the only child there, but that didn’t matter to her: she just sat on the kid’s bench besides me, and listened with rapt attention to the young woman reading the two children’s books. They then had some coloring activities, and so we colored for a short bit of time. I also found her a “Dory” book, and we read it together while we were there, sitting in a hugely comfortable chair.
Next, we went to the local farmer’s market and got us some fresh fruit, vegetables, etc. She wanted a cherry snow cone (remember those?), and of course, she got one. It melted pretty quick, but she enjoyed it.
The farmer’s market is just across the street from “Michaels”, so we ended our errands by going into Michaels, and we bought some paint, and a few other craft type things, etc., for her to play with.
Took everything home, and we opened up her present from Michael’s: something called “Shopkins”. This was a set of very small little rubbery squishy things in all sorts of shapes, with cute names like mini mixer (kitchen mixer), snippy scissors, chatter (for a old rotary style phone), and “Wanda waffles”. She loved playing with these things. My guess is, there’s an associated tv show, probably.
Apparently, there are “collections” of these gizmos – kitchen collection, housewares, vegetables, cakes, etc. Each collection having one or two dozen rubbery, squishy things. Some Shopkins items are deemed “rare” or “special edition”, according to the packaging insert, which lists all known Shopkins objects – just to ensure the child knows there are lots more to be bought!
(this is how I became an Obsessive, Compulsive, I think. It was around this age, that I first became “aware” of “collecting”: “Hey Kids! Make sure to buy them all to complete your collection!”, not realizing that the toy company was creating hundreds of different and unique little gizmos (aka hot wheels, etc.) EACH month, and that a little kid like me would never be able to collect them all!!)
(I think someone needs to sue Hasbro, Mattel, etc., someday!)
Later on, she and I ended up painting at her little girl easel, before we had to leave to head back to her parent’s place later that afternoon. She, of course, fell asleep half way there. She didn’t even make a sound when I took her out of her car seat, and brought her into Katie and Jordan’s home. Still sleeping, I placed her on the love seat, and kissed her goodbye.
And, walked outside back to the parked truck. Already missing her. Not able to get that last chance to get (or give) that one last kiss or that one last hug from her since she was fast asleep.
No matter. The hugs I got from her through out that day will fuel me until the next time I am able to see her.
She is awesome.
She is special.
She is Lailah.
