Santa at the mall.

Any time Dillard's has a sale they call my mom to let her know. She's a triple platinum card carrying member of the American Express Dillard's elite club. She loves Dillards. I used to work at Dillards. I like them pretty much too. But they don't call me. I have to hear about the sales like every one else. They usually put an ad in the paper.

So today we went off to the mall. I wanted the kids to see Santa. And really hoped that they wouldn't be too scared to see him. Eddie protested a little bit. But I think Alexa's enthusiasm to get to the front of the line calmed him down a bit and the fact that Santa wasn't eating the children as snacks, was a bit warming to him as well.

I was pleased that they didn't cry (like she did last year) and that at least I got a somewhat decent picture. Which I will not post, because I don't have a scanner here where I am. I did however manage to take a shot with my phone, so here it is.

When we finally made our way around to Dillards, there was a nice lady who stopped to talk to my children. She asked them if they saw Santa. They immediately began chattering to her. She had asked my daughter what she told Santa that she wanted for Christmas. And miss Alexa looked at her and told her, "I wann uh gun. But ah need twoo guns." And then Mr. Eddie chimed right in and told the woman, "But I already have a gun right now." The lady looked a bit surprised, as was I, and she said that she hoped that they were pretend guns. I nodded and yanked my children right out of there and walked away. Quickly.

What's up with kids when they do or say something like that? Why couldn't she have said I want a hello Kitty doll? Or a bike, like she told the other strange man wearing a red santa hat who didn't even have a red suit on, or a beard or even white hair for that matter? He looked nothing like Santa. And she stopped to tell him, after she called him Santa, that she wanted a pink bike for Christmas. No. Of course not. My sweet little two year old daughter tells a complete stranger, a woman, that she wants a gun. That's just nice. {Mommy rolling her eyes here.}

Ok. So we shopped very little. We saw Santa, and then we played in the play area that most malls now have centrally located by the food courts. It was here, today, that I found out exactly how aggressive my little girl is becoming. I saw her push a bigger boy. Why? Because he was a little too close? I would gather. She didn't say anything to him, she just kind of pushed him. And there was another boy there too, she started pointing at him, and it didn't look at all friendly. I called her name to divert her attention. She came over to me for a moment and then went back to play.

I watched her run around and climb on the toys. I watched Eddie too, running, jumping, happy. I saw Alexa climb on top of a turtle's head and sit there. There were two little girls near her, talking to her, but not looking happy. It looked as if they wanted to push her off the turtle's head. I got up to join her. The girls were not her size. In fact, they were quite a bit bigger. Like maybe 6, or 7 at least. When I went over there the girls began to talk to me. They told me that my daughter was telling them to go away, and that they couldn't play there. Because it was all hers. And she kept telling them to leave. I had to smile, but I was really surprised to hear this. My baby girl was telling these big kids this. I smiled at the girls and told them that they are fine, and to ignore her. I told them that she is only two and she doesn't understand how to share very well. I took Alexa down and started to take her out of the play area. She promptly dropped to the ground where she started screaming bloody murder. I walked away and when she realized that she didn't get the attention that her efforts deserved, she quickly followed.

I had to take both of my kids out of the play area because my two year old is being a bully. Nice. The girl in the picture in front of Alexa sitting on the turtle is one of the two that she was telling to get out of her play area.