Today Josephine stayed at home as she has a bad cough. She has slept really badly for 3 nights in a row with all her coughing...
So, what to do with the extra time and wanting to stay calm and not go out too much??? ..... make a Christmas list: who does she want to buy a Christmas present for? And what does she think they would like?
Well, the list part went easy: We had 2 lists: family and friends.
She wanted to buy "jewels" for everyone. Cwowns, w(r)ings, gold. So we decided to make a trip to the 1pound shop so she could have a look around and see what "jewels" she could find. At the 100Yen shop (£1 shop) one can't really go wrong. And she loved the right to choose for herself. She got her own basket, some small change...and off she went! She rushed right on in, body trailing slightly behind her head and hunched shoulders (a sure sign of a hurrying child whose legs can't keep up with the thought processes). ;-)
She went straight to the first shelf she saw and started packing into her basket. Not quite what I had in mind at first, but well, it's a learning curve. Do you want to know what she picked? Shower caps, some hand towels with Pokemon type cartoons on them (not my favourite, but she liked them!) She was however in such a hurry, she didn't really check what she was putting in anymore. "Ah! Dis is so nice!" and "Ah! Dat is so nice"!
As I could see this was getting less productive/fun than initially anticipated, we had a short team talk. I tried to re-explain to her that well, she didn't have enough money to buy as many things as she had put in her basket; and that she had to think about finding small things so that it would fit into the envelopes. Eyes never stopped darting through the team talk moment...scanning for further basket options...
So, we (I) tried to narrow our search down for starters and decided to focus on Gwan, Gwamps, Joshua and Jesse.
I don't want to give it all away, but there were so many precious moments where you could just see her thinking of what SHE would like the others to have. It may not be their favourite pick, but I think that they will treasure it just because it genuinely comes from Josephine. And so, I will not give it all away... but just to give you an indication of how the next 20minutes went....
....She picked fluffy pink slippers for Gwamps. A small size. I'd guess a 4. (privately, I thought "Gwamps, your toes are gonna cramp up in there!!smile). So, I tried to point out that those tiny slippers were for teeny weeny Japanese ladies. Maybe she should look for something bigger... so, she energetically swopped the pink fluffs for some polkadot ones.
Anyhow, after a while she started spotting LOTS of things for herself and then it took a bit of effort to redirect her attention. She found some jewels and some handbags and so on. And after some things had to be returned to the shelf, she finally said that "Why is dis all taking so LONG!?!" So, the patience was up and we went to the till and got our few chosen items.
Was maybe a bit of a premature experience, but it was cute and fun!!
"It's better to give than to receive." So true, so true!
