Shop til we drop, girlfriend!

I've been running out of activities to do with you.

We can't go to the park anymore because I'm too pregnant to chase you around.
We can't go for long walks because I get tired after three steps. And you don't sit in the stroller much past three steps, anyway.
For a while we were going to Borders because it's air conditioned and there's coffee there. But you started throwing books and stuffed animals on the ground and my stomach is too big to keep picking things up off the floor all afternoon.

So our options are:
Lestat's coffee house? (Two blocks away.)
Play on the grass in front of the Catholic school? (One block away, but now that the students are back, sort of awkward.)
Watch "Signing Time" three times in a row? (Which we've done.)

Today, however, I decided to take you to the mall. And that flyer about the Bloomingdale's sale had absolutely nothing to do with my decission.

I consider myself a pretty good shopper. But. Wow. You totally, totally win.

First, you sat in the stroller and waved and giggled at everyone.

Then we went to the teddy bear store where you SQUEALED and LAUGHED and ran to all the teddy bears and hugged them and SQUEALED some more. It was so cute that even the bored dads out on the bench were pointing at you.

Then we went to Bloomingdale's where you actually let me look for a take-home outfit for Ella because you were busy hiding underneath the racks of clothes and cracking up about it.

After that, I took you to some kids clothes place that I hate and. OMG.
You ran around putting on all the hats and purses. Then you wanted to try on a purple, puffy jacket. Like the kind the guys wear in New York, and the kind your uncle Alex got when we were in New York. But as I said, this was purple. And you couldn't stop looking in the mirror and posing. Yes. Posing.

Finally we ended our journey with a cafe con leche for me, some water for you and chocolate grahams from Starbucks for both of us.

It was like I had just spent the afternoon with my friends. Only you are only 14-months old.