War Eagle

While Brad had to work some long hours Harvey and I decided to get out and do some things on our own that we knew that he wouldn't necessarily enjoy.  One of those things was hitting up the big craft fair that comes into town every year.  Now I'm not a huge fan of the "crafty" stuff typically but I figured why not try it out and see if I find something I like.  

It was pretty much a waste of my time.  I enjoyed the hour long drive and the beautiful scenery much more than I did the 20 minutes we spent trying to fight through the crazy craft ladies carrying arm loads of overpriced stuff to their cars.  Harvey wasn't a very fun shopping buddy either.  For the most part she has always been pretty good about looking at something and then putting it back but on this day things were different. 

I knew taking her on my own would present its own challenges due to her not being a fan of the stroller for very long. Who can blame her when there is so much out there for her to discover these days?  There were a few things that she liked that I was able to tear her away from without much of a fuss but once she locked eyes on the booth that had stuffed animals wearing hand-made clothing, it was over.  She quickly darted for booth, grabbed a bear and began hugging it and I knew that I was in trouble.  

After a few minutes of her loving on the bear I slowly bent down to tell her to say "Bye-Bye," which usually works, but she was having none of it.  I've learned that in these situations that a fast get away will usually diffuse the situation quicker than trying to talk reason with her. So I ever so gently took the bear from her, put it back and scooped her up as quick as I could. The bucking and squealing that began was so loud that I could feel my face starting to burn with embarrassment and I began to walk away quickly to get the stuffed animals out of sight.

Just then I felt a light tapping on my shoulder.  The sweet owner of the booth said that she usually gives an animal away to one child each day and would love to give her one. The lady got down at Harvey's height and picked up the bear that she had been screaming about and asked her if she wanted it.  Instead of graciously accepting, Harvey starts screaming, "Caaaat, Caaaaat,"and pointing with her long, skinny finger.  We ended up coming home with a stuffed cat dressed in a very fashionable pale pink romper.

And somehow she talked me into stopping for ice cream on the way home.  I'm not sure I should have rewarded bad behavior but her ice cream was free and I was in need of a carrot cake concrete to calm my nerves. So we did.