Every week, I receive flyers from stores in our area with their weekly specials. And I sit and go through the grocery flyers, circling with a marker the items on sale that I want to buy. Kerri has watched me do this, and now sits with me and goes through the department store flyers, crayon in hand, and circles the items she is interested in.
So today we received the Sears wish book, a huge catalog of practically every item the department store sells. And I set it aside. And within minutes - crayon at the ready - Kerri was "oohing and aahing" at every page. She circled hundreds of items, talking to herself the entire time. Kerri would exclaim how she just "had to have" one item, only to turn the page and start all over again. My words cannot truly describe her joy, her longing for the things she circled. Everything from toys, a bean bag chair, perfume, jewelry - every page delighted her. This she definitely did not learn from me!
And then she got to the end of the catalog, hours later. And decided she really, really wanted the very expensive and not so practical toy at the end of the catalog. She pleaded, negotiated, and even tried to "make a deal" because she "just had to have" this item. So I told her she could choose between the toy or a birthday party (where she would get more toys as gifts). Because I am a mean Mom. And she chose the toy. I told her to sleep on it, think it over, and we would discuss it again over the weekend. And that catalog is going to disappear tonight.
Life with Kerri draws circles around my heart.