Yesterday we went shopping.
It's hot and the mall is air conditioned and it's a fabulous way to spend a hot summer afternoon. We were going to hit the clearance racks for back for back to school clothes and I was hoping to get some ideas from Devree about what she wants for her birthday.
Normally this is a girl only affair as I couldn't PAY Austin to join us and he was gone anyway but Alex-upon hearing we were going to the mall-assumed he was invited as well. Well, okay.....
We hit Aeropostale first.
I found James and Austin clearance swim trunks. Alex modeled a pair of sunglasses he wanted for his birthday. They were like the one's the Erick Estrada wore on Chips and they were HUGE! I wish I had my camera. I burst out laughing-I couldn't help it. Kambree saw him across the store and informed him they were girl glasses. He thought he looked so cool but honestly, they looked almost like clown glasses on his little face.
Alex is too small to fit into much at this store so he just followed me around from rack to rack-not looking at anything-just dutifully following me around. The only break I got was when I went into the dressing room. The minute I came out-bam! There he was right next to me. Every time I turned around he was in the way.
I decided we'd go to a store with clothes his and Rylee's size. (Note: Rylee LOVES shopping and she will try on clothes ten times too big for her-and comb through the racks-she'll shop anywhere!)
We went upstairs at Sears to the kids department. I showed Alex his area, told him his size, explained that we're looking for sales and pointed him towards the clearance rack. I followed Rylee across the isle to her area. Alex would bring me over a shirts-button down the front, plaid shirts. He would say:
Alex: "Look mom this shirt."
Me: Do you LIKE this shirt?
Alex: No.
Then he'd take it back and bring me over more-very similar shirts.
Me: Would you wear that to school?
Alex: No.
Me: Then why are you showing me this shirt?
Alex: (Shrug)
Grrr....why in the world would he be showing me shirts he doesn't even like or will wear? Shopping is clearly a skill he has yet to develop.
Me: Okay, just bring me over things to look at that you LIKE and would WEAR. That is the point of shopping.
I eventually went over and combed the racks with him and since I have an aversion to all things with skulls and cross bones there just wasn't any thing worth even trying on. Not a good sales day in the boys size 14 slim department. (Although we did have a lesson about what slim vs husky means and why he has to find pants with a 14S on them.)
At one point during our shopping trip-each girl-me included-asked Alex to fix his hair. He's insisting on having a shag like Justin Bieber yet he doesn't take care of it. It just flops in his eyes and sticks up here and there. For caring about how his hair is cut-he certainly doesn't care about how his hair is combed. Oh well. At least it's clean. Baby steps. I'm trying to remember if Austin was like this at his age and I don't think he cared about how he combed his hair either but he also didn't care about how his hair was cut so we kept it short.
We caught up with the older girls and hit a few more stores with Alex just 12 inches away from me. Finally I told him he was giving me claustrophobia. Of course we had to have a vocabulary lesson on what that actually is.
We stopped at Mrs. Fields and I got all the kids a cookie. (Torture for me as I LOVE cookies.) Alex wanted a brownie and we had a quick lesson on graciously taking what is offered and the cost of a brownie vs a cookie.
Then we went into Claires-the store that gives me claustrophobia in its own right and Alex is once again right by my side- so now I'm not only hitting the displays with my bags-I'm bumping into Alex every time I turn around. Exasperated I send him to the front of the store. "Just stay out there. You don't want to look at anything in here anyway."
I soon left Claire's instructing the girls to meet me at Dillards and that I would take "Velcro" boy with me. He was actually looking at the cell phone booth in the middle of the mall. Hurray! He found something to look at!
He walked with me to Dillards and we had yet another lesson. I asked if he were at a store of interest would he like it if I followed him this close-and I placed myself as close to him as he has been to me- and just stared at him?
No.
He smiled when he saw how ridiculous I looked following him and gazing at him. I think he finally got the point.
Then I asked him why did he want to go to the mall with us in the first place?
Alex: Because I can't stay home by self.
Me: No, but we could have made plans for you to play with Brach or something. You didn't have to go with us. I explained before we left that we were only shopping for school clothes. And it's apparent you really don't care to shop for clothes.
Alex: Oh.
We hit a lovely sale at Dillards. I found Alex a place to sit and he was set guard over our bags. He was very patient and sat and played with his wheels on his Heely's. We were there for quite a long time-having a fabulous time-the girls were trying on formals-and we found quite a few good deals. Poor Alex just patiently sat with our packages. At one point the sales clerk asked Alex if he was grounded? "No, just watching bags for my mom."
We rushed out when we realized the time and that we were suppose to have dessert made and be at a ward picnic in less than thirty minutes.
We stopped at Smiths and grabbed a dessert and ran home to let the kids change into swim suits.
Luckily, there were water games and Alex got to run and jump and play to his hearts content! Something I'm sure he enjoyed after our torturous mall trip.
The picnic was at the park right by our house and pretty much over when I told the kids it was time to go home. Everyone wanted to stay so I told them (Devree, Rylee, Alex & Jasmine) that was fine-just stick together. I walked home and stopped at my parents and sat and talked with them for sometime. It was so nice. About an hour passed when my cell phone rang. As I answered it I said "I bet it's Alex asking where I am." Sure enough.
Mom?
Yes, Alex
Where are you?
He was home. I asked where everyone else was. "At park." "Remember I told you all to stick together?" "Oh." "Alex, you need to listen. You didn't listen and now you're home all by yourself." Silence. "That's okay, just get in the tub I'll be home soon."
With that I left. (I was two doors away.)
Sigh.
It's hot and the mall is air conditioned and it's a fabulous way to spend a hot summer afternoon. We were going to hit the clearance racks for back for back to school clothes and I was hoping to get some ideas from Devree about what she wants for her birthday.
Normally this is a girl only affair as I couldn't PAY Austin to join us and he was gone anyway but Alex-upon hearing we were going to the mall-assumed he was invited as well. Well, okay.....
We hit Aeropostale first.
I found James and Austin clearance swim trunks. Alex modeled a pair of sunglasses he wanted for his birthday. They were like the one's the Erick Estrada wore on Chips and they were HUGE! I wish I had my camera. I burst out laughing-I couldn't help it. Kambree saw him across the store and informed him they were girl glasses. He thought he looked so cool but honestly, they looked almost like clown glasses on his little face.
Alex is too small to fit into much at this store so he just followed me around from rack to rack-not looking at anything-just dutifully following me around. The only break I got was when I went into the dressing room. The minute I came out-bam! There he was right next to me. Every time I turned around he was in the way.
I decided we'd go to a store with clothes his and Rylee's size. (Note: Rylee LOVES shopping and she will try on clothes ten times too big for her-and comb through the racks-she'll shop anywhere!)
We went upstairs at Sears to the kids department. I showed Alex his area, told him his size, explained that we're looking for sales and pointed him towards the clearance rack. I followed Rylee across the isle to her area. Alex would bring me over a shirts-button down the front, plaid shirts. He would say:
Alex: "Look mom this shirt."
Me: Do you LIKE this shirt?
Alex: No.
Then he'd take it back and bring me over more-very similar shirts.
Me: Would you wear that to school?
Alex: No.
Me: Then why are you showing me this shirt?
Alex: (Shrug)
Grrr....why in the world would he be showing me shirts he doesn't even like or will wear? Shopping is clearly a skill he has yet to develop.
Me: Okay, just bring me over things to look at that you LIKE and would WEAR. That is the point of shopping.
I eventually went over and combed the racks with him and since I have an aversion to all things with skulls and cross bones there just wasn't any thing worth even trying on. Not a good sales day in the boys size 14 slim department. (Although we did have a lesson about what slim vs husky means and why he has to find pants with a 14S on them.)
At one point during our shopping trip-each girl-me included-asked Alex to fix his hair. He's insisting on having a shag like Justin Bieber yet he doesn't take care of it. It just flops in his eyes and sticks up here and there. For caring about how his hair is cut-he certainly doesn't care about how his hair is combed. Oh well. At least it's clean. Baby steps. I'm trying to remember if Austin was like this at his age and I don't think he cared about how he combed his hair either but he also didn't care about how his hair was cut so we kept it short.
We caught up with the older girls and hit a few more stores with Alex just 12 inches away from me. Finally I told him he was giving me claustrophobia. Of course we had to have a vocabulary lesson on what that actually is.
We stopped at Mrs. Fields and I got all the kids a cookie. (Torture for me as I LOVE cookies.) Alex wanted a brownie and we had a quick lesson on graciously taking what is offered and the cost of a brownie vs a cookie.
Then we went into Claires-the store that gives me claustrophobia in its own right and Alex is once again right by my side- so now I'm not only hitting the displays with my bags-I'm bumping into Alex every time I turn around. Exasperated I send him to the front of the store. "Just stay out there. You don't want to look at anything in here anyway."
I soon left Claire's instructing the girls to meet me at Dillards and that I would take "Velcro" boy with me. He was actually looking at the cell phone booth in the middle of the mall. Hurray! He found something to look at!
He walked with me to Dillards and we had yet another lesson. I asked if he were at a store of interest would he like it if I followed him this close-and I placed myself as close to him as he has been to me- and just stared at him?
No.
He smiled when he saw how ridiculous I looked following him and gazing at him. I think he finally got the point.
Then I asked him why did he want to go to the mall with us in the first place?
Alex: Because I can't stay home by self.
Me: No, but we could have made plans for you to play with Brach or something. You didn't have to go with us. I explained before we left that we were only shopping for school clothes. And it's apparent you really don't care to shop for clothes.
Alex: Oh.
We hit a lovely sale at Dillards. I found Alex a place to sit and he was set guard over our bags. He was very patient and sat and played with his wheels on his Heely's. We were there for quite a long time-having a fabulous time-the girls were trying on formals-and we found quite a few good deals. Poor Alex just patiently sat with our packages. At one point the sales clerk asked Alex if he was grounded? "No, just watching bags for my mom."
We rushed out when we realized the time and that we were suppose to have dessert made and be at a ward picnic in less than thirty minutes.
We stopped at Smiths and grabbed a dessert and ran home to let the kids change into swim suits.
Luckily, there were water games and Alex got to run and jump and play to his hearts content! Something I'm sure he enjoyed after our torturous mall trip.
The picnic was at the park right by our house and pretty much over when I told the kids it was time to go home. Everyone wanted to stay so I told them (Devree, Rylee, Alex & Jasmine) that was fine-just stick together. I walked home and stopped at my parents and sat and talked with them for sometime. It was so nice. About an hour passed when my cell phone rang. As I answered it I said "I bet it's Alex asking where I am." Sure enough.
Mom?
Yes, Alex
Where are you?
He was home. I asked where everyone else was. "At park." "Remember I told you all to stick together?" "Oh." "Alex, you need to listen. You didn't listen and now you're home all by yourself." Silence. "That's okay, just get in the tub I'll be home soon."
With that I left. (I was two doors away.)
Sigh.
2 of my blog friends said something...:
Ha! I get to Gobstopper your blog now! I love the Velcro boy comment. Maybe that happens when they start to love you or something. Mine stay pretty far away most of the time and thanks to your experience, we won't go mall shopping anytime soon.
Christy
PS I had to delete the first comment because the spelling part of my brain was damaged in Ukraine.
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