We were in Charming Charlie's yesterday just killing some time. If you don't know what Charming Charlie's is, it's a shop full of accessories, hats, bags, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses and clothes too. We were waiting for a table at a nearby restaurant. Upon entering the shop, we, or rather Eden, was greeted very enthusiastically by an employee. She told Eden she was such a pretty shopper and gave her a wire basket. She also told her that if she needed any help, to just ask.
We walked around a bit, trying on sunglasses and hats and looking at shoes and jewelry. Eden was mumbling something about asking the employee lady for help and soon got to the point where she was stopping every time I paused to look at something, plunking her basket down on the ground and sitting down with a big sigh as if we'd been doing this for hours. I thought that might be the signal to leave, so I told her we were done and should head back outside and entertain ourselves out there while we waited for our buzzer to go off. She didn't want me to put the basket away (even with all that plunking) and I explained that we couldn't take it with us and it had to be returned to the stack for another shopper to use. She relinquished it begrudgingly, but still wouldn't go out the door. I tried to coax her, finding it strange that she wouldn't want to leave when she seemed so bored only moments ago.
She explained, "I have to ask the lady for help!"
I chuckled and asked what she needed help with.
"I need help with... (something unintelligible)"
"We don't need help with anything because we don't want to buy anything. Let's leave the sales person alone and go outside."
She reiterated that she was not leaving until she had asked for help and, not knowing quite what to do, I just stood silently. After about 15 seconds of scowling, she gave up and walked outside with me.
We spent the rest of the time until our buzzer called us balancing and collecting leaves to feed the ants. We had a nice lunch and when we were walking back to the van, she suddenly stopped and said,
"I forgot to ask the lady for help!"
As we continued walking, I asked her what she would have asked the lady to help with. That didn't work, so I asked what she wanted the lady to bring her.
"Chocolate," she answered matter-of-factly.
"Eden, they don't have any chocolate in that store."
"Then WHAT am I supposed to ask her to help me with?!"
The mind of a chocolate-loving three-year-old...