Thursday, April 26, 2007

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................

20 comments:

FH said...

Happy 7th B'day for your kid.Growing up fast,eh?!!!

Winnie the Pooh was my daughter's fav show,book and stuffed toy when we were in England!!She loved Winnie!:))

Of course,we are waiting for the big finale for Mr.Potter!!Wallet will be lighter of $25!!!

Anonymous said...

Sally,
My age 7, soon to be 8, likes Bratz as well. I hate them! They look like little sluts! Her friend gave her one, and it's been requested that one come for her birthday.
Arggghhh! How far do we have to go to be a good Mom! I gave in on the sexist Barbies, now slutty Bratz, what's next, a belly button ring at nine?!

Anonymous said...

winnie the pooh was one of enidd's favourites too. can she recommend pseudonyms for your children on the blog? it would stop them having to be renamed every year. you could let them choose them, too, which might be amusing.

happy birthday, six soon to be seven!

sallywrites said...

Asha

They are half price on Amazon -a s they are in Waterstones, although I guess you don't ahve Waterstones. And Amazon uk appears cheaper than Amazon.com Maybe owrth teh extra postage, if you can bear the extra u's in the words!!

Lisa

I agree!! They are not nice really! i don't mind Bratz other stuff so much. It's just a dark pink and otherwise as normal!

Enidd - That is a good idea and one which I shall put some thought to!!!

Beccy said...

Mollie toyed with Bratz for a year but now they are packed away in the loft (the best place for them)!

Mollie really loves Winnie the Pooh, still. She came home from the school fete with winnie the pooh toys, wears piglet and eeyore t-shirts and has pictures of them on her wall.

I guess my point is that taste overcomes trash in the end.

pierre l said...

I was going to say that keeping track of the meaning of ED and ESOS was fun, but of course those don't change every year.

What a hectic day. Happy birthday to aged 6, soon to be renamed aged 7.

~ej said...

happy birthday soon to be seven girl!! my son was just seven, how interesting how lives somehow intersect....
and wonderful to find something bratz for the birthday girl. she will love it all no doubt....

Alice Band said...

Sally,
I'm drawing the line at Bratz. It is not so much the look of the doll as the name itslef. It makes me shudder - as if it is ok to be a brat!
Definitely cool about plastic toys though having too gone through the pc toys when my first came along - no guns, no action man, bought him a dolly and a pushchair! What was I thinking?! Hope the party - if there is one - goes well. We are not competitive crazy mother's down here in Cornwall and kids are still very happy to have a plastic party bag with a bangle in it , a fun sized Mars bar and a pencil! What about where you live?

Anonymous said...

OMG thats such a fab idea Enidd!
can i please be...
Tallulah-Saphire?!
or Holly Wood
OR Ella Rose Latte
OR Summer Grace!!!!!
oooh this is hard!!
you choose out of those fabulicious choices!!
LOVE YOU!

great post btw hehe made me giggle
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anonymous said...

That reminds me, I must buy my brother a birthday present tomorrow....

sallywrites said...

Beccy - I agree. The classics win every time. As for Bratz, i just hope that it is a passing phase, but the dolls are SO ugly.
Pierre - Indeed! Thank you!
Elena Jane - Happy Birthday to your son too!
Alice - I know! To say that we have never been pushy is perhaps a slight exaggeration on my part. I do admit that with ED I tried to teach her, as a one year old to read, using a Glen Doman method! And as I said in the post we bought much educational paraphernalia!! How much her actual reading aged five was influenced by that early intervention though, I have never been sure. She certainly didn't read properly until she was ready, aged five, about the same time as all the others! According to ED though I am now far too laid back about it all........ But I do like nice books. We've always had story times together with all of them as they've been growing up...
ED - Latte? What on earth do you want to be named after a cup of coffee for?
Ig - Good luck with chossing the present!

Anonymous said...

Nice post Sally. It gave me an idea for a new series on TV,

"Dr Who meets Pooh" Good idea? No? Oh well, just a thought....

Wendy

sallywrites said...

Well it could lead to all interesting thoughts. Although I ahve to say, much as I am a fan of Dr. Who and Torchwood and stuff I was a bit upset when fairies were made evil in Torchwood........... so if they did the same to dear old Winnie the Pooh, that would make me a bit sad........

ChrisB said...

sally I think there is a problem with comments I could have sworn I left a comment here last night.
I can't remember all I said but it was about being old fashioned and loving w-t-p and all those old toys and books. It brings back memories of the girls childhood. I suppose each generation has their favourites (I remember thinking Sindy and Barby were a little too 'life like' but nothing compared to Bratz and today's dolls- here I am showing my age!!

sallywrites said...

I know Chris. Nothing like the old favourites!

Anonymous said...

What is it about children and mobiles? My 12 soon-to-be 13 year old is DEMANDING a mobile for her birthday - her excuse being that all her friends at school have one (I thought they were banned from schools!). I absolutely refuse, and as far as I'm concerned she won't have one 'till she's an adult (I suppose that means 18). Am I being old-fashioned?

Alice Band said...

Sarah,
Just ever so slightly old fashioned. Is it really worth the aggro? Can you remember the fuss our mothers made about us having our ears pierced? What did they acheive? Mine came with me to have mine done - another friend whose mother remained resolute about letting her have them done, ended up with appalling infections as she coudln;t keep them clean for fear of her mother finding out she'd had them done behind her back. It is a terrible thing allowing chidlren to feel far removed from their peers. Believe me Sarah, it is not important enough to be this intransigent. Let the kid have her phone, she'll be thrilled to bits.

Anonymous said...

haha I agree with alice band! don't think of it as pester power getting the best of you, think of it as it being your descision...cos u no that as soon as she earns some money she will buy one anyway...this way, you have control and she is happy!

Anonymous said...

ed, enidd *loved* ella rose latte. she thinks you should have gone for one of the coffee names. how about violet spark frappucino? or short alla americano with semi-skimmed? just a thought.

sallywrites said...

Hi Enidd

I think that the latest was short skinny latte! Then she decided she wanted to be ED after all.......