The Knowing Smile

I Love George

When I asked Edmund if he "liked" Curious George, his response was "I love George." I decided then and there that he needed his own Curious George book. We have several paperback stories of George's antics at school. I've read them so many times I've gotten tired of them. I decided to take Edmund to Borders to read through some of the books and then decide on his favorite. We must have read through ten different Curious George books before my mouth was so dry I could read no more. After Edmund's pleas of "mommy read it one more time, OK?" subsided we narrowed down his choices to "Curious George and the Baseball Game" or "Curious George and the Pizza Party". Edmund went back and forth, so I decided to end the stalling and chose "George and the Pizza Party".

I had Edmund carry the book up to the cash register. There was only one cashier, and we were "fortunate" to get in line behind a grandmother buying books for her grandchildren. She must have had a hundred books in her basket, and, no, I'm not exaggerating. Edmund began to get antsy and threw his book on the floor. I told him he needed to pick the book up off the floor. Normally he is happy to oblige, but he thought this was the perfect time to make his body go limp (which I might add he found hilarious). I again told him to pick the book up off the floor. He continued to ignore me, laughed, then said "mommy do it." I wouldn't have been as embarrassed as I was, save for the fact that the children who were to be the recipients of the hundred books and their mother, were standing in front of me giving me the "control your child" look. This time I said "if you don't pick your book up we're taking it back to the children's section and leaving." I had my fingers crossed that Edmund would pick up the book, as I really wanted a change from multiple readings of "Curious George and the Train". As an early childhood educator I know the importance of follow through and knew that if Edmund didn't pick the book up we were leaving. I have to be honest, if there weren't a bunch of bystanders, I'm not sure I wouldn't have caved. Fortunately for me I did have an audience and Edmund was so gracious as to listen to my third request.

Later that night Aunt Alison came to visit Master Edmund so daddy and mommy could finally go all out for tax free weekend. Edmund couldn't contain his excitement to see his Aunt Alison that he nearly jumped out of his bath when she walked in. Steven and I shopped for about an hour and a half when Steven had about all he could take. Steven left and I pressed on. I headed to Belk where I found a very cute pair of "goggie" pajamas for Edmund. While I was in line to pay I saw a mother and father shopping with their two young boys who appeared to be about 3 and 5. It was 8:30 and I'm sure these kids were exhausted after their evening of tax free shopping. They ran around the racks and the little one hit his head. He recovered quickly after being told that Belk was all out of "boo boo bunnies." Then the two boys began trying various screams. Their mom looked at them and emphatically said "if you don't stop this we're going home." I thought "what a threat!" If these boys are anything like Edmund I'm sure they'd rather spend their time at home than at Belk. I knew better than anyone these parents weren't going to take their boys home. The younger one decided he would try a quiet scream and the mom seemed OK with this idea. I almost told the mom I knew what it was like, and that I'd been there earlier in the day, but I was afraid I wouldn't say the right thing. I just gave her a knowing smile and moved on. As I headed to my car a few minutes later, I passed the same family, boys still screaming, parents still shopping, and couldn't help but chuckle.