Secret Stuff!

"Ow, that hurt!" says aged 8, as I quickly try to do the hair of aged 6 and aged 8, before dispatching them off to school. "Oh naughty brush" I say. Apologise to Age 8. "I'm sorry" says the brush, I didn't mean to hurt you. "Ow you hurt me again." She says. "Now really brush, do you think you can be a bit gentler? Apologise again" "I've already apologised once" says the brush, "She shouldn't be so fussy".

They laugh........

It's shortly to be aged 6's birthday. This will of course make her aged 7, just to confuse the blogosphere. So hubby and I decide to make a rare trip to the shops together to buy her a birthday present. He has to be back home by a certain time, so we are in a rush to get out early.

The present clues have been unhelpful. "What would you like?" We have asked. "Some Bratz stuff, or a mobile phone." She has replied........ The toy selection in our house does slightly resemble the floor stock of a 1990's Early Learning Centre. It's a pity that we didn't buy shares at the time.... But it actually doesn't leave much room for new toys.......... Or so we say.........

But then we think again. Second hand toys from ten year's ago aren't always a lot of fun...... And she certainly isn't getting a mobile phone at seven!

We make our way into Toys R Us, to peruse the Bratz paraphernalia and are greeted by Doctor Who. Well, not personally you understand, although that may have brightened the day to have had a chat and a coffee with David Tenant. It is instead a massive Dr. Who display, which talks and lights up. A megasized model of said David Tenant is staring at us, and I do wonder momentarily how he must feel every time he walks into a Toys R Us store and sees himself staring back. It must be a bit like one of those out of body experiences.....

The Bratz stuff is abundant, but both hubby and I look at it with dismay. Now please do bear in mind, we have never been pushy parents, and although in the 90's we did buy predominantly ELC, we do understand that children should be allowed to be children, and are quite happy to give toys to children............. but everything that we see seems either too young, too ugly or too expensive for what it is.

Hubby turns round and starts to make his way over to a different part of the store.

As he turns, the extremely extra large soft toy horses that he knocks off the pile are very nice. They preferred being on the pile with each other, but apparently are quite happy to have a little tumble to the floor. We hastily try to restack them. It is a bit like one of those puzzles where everything has to be balanced just so.

Eventually we do it, and then walk backwards carefully, before we, in a very mature way, run away from the display. It is one of those very funny moments in life. We laugh a lot - ignoring any strange glances from passers by.

Just as we are about to give up on Toys R Us, we suddenly see the perfect present for aged 6 - soon to be 7. A Bratz MP3 player and a Bratz walkie talkie that you can even use to send text messages within a 2 mile radius. Brilliant! That will keep she and her friend down the road entertained for hours. It even looks a bit like a mobile phone............

We then make our way to Smith's to buy a copy of Winnie The Pooh for her. This is because we found The House at Pooh Corner on the bookshelf the other day, and both she and aged 8 love it. We have a £5 Smith's voucher to spend, but sadly their only copy of the book has sat on the shelf for so long, that it is battered.............. a sad reflection on our modern world.

So we make out way down to Waterstones, where they have a Costa Coffee inside. I have just persuaded Hubby of the merits of parting with some hard earned cash in order to sit and peruse the books while drinking a coffee, when we find that Costa is being overhauled and refurbished. Back soon they promise...

Still Waterstones do have a pristine copy of Winnie, AND they are selling Harry Potter at £8.99 a book, if you pre order it..........

So we buy Winnie and pre order HP.

And we shall of course return at midnight on 21st of July to collect Harry. Perhaps Costa will be open by then, and we will be able to sit up all night and read it there and then................