Little Ones Love

I spent lots of time with children I love today.  It began with waking up next to my niece and bringing her to Japanese school.  Then I stayed in Japanese school with my 3 year old nephew for his first hour.  I learned that he loves to play and decorate with scotch tape.  Forget stickers or crayons, he just wants to keep pulling, more and more tape.  When we finished that activity we used the cardboard paddle he was supposed to be decorating to hit a balloon I'd toss in the air.  He was captivated, focused and confident.  It was really fun to get a glimpse into this part of their world.

Later I brought my partner's two daughters to a personal shopping appointment at the thrift store as their Christmas present.  I've wanted to try this myself for a number of years but always give up because the appointments are all taken.  When the personal shopper opened the fitting room filled with clothing in the sizes and preferences that we'd sent her, it was really quite beautiful.  Both children said they'd never had that much success before at a thrift store.  The 10 year old dutifully folded up the clothing she had selected and had already added it up to the dollar amount allotted her.  She actually even had a little to spare which she generously offered her sister.  The 13 year old was a bit over her dollar amount so had to pare down a bit or chip in herself.  She did both, including deciding that a $10 sweater was too much.