My mom and Jim had told Makenna that for her birthday they were going to take her to Build-A-Bear. Makenna didn't really understand what she was going to get to do or see until we were actually there, even though I tried as best as I could to prepare and get her excited for it. Unfortunately, on our 30 minute drive out to get there she fell asleep in the car and she is what you call a slow-to-wake child. She was pretty grumpy but we decided that my mom, Jim, Alycia (my sister), and Scott (my brother-in-law) were all there so we were going to do it anyways and hopefully she would snap out of it as soon as she saw all of the excitement. We met the four adults outside and already she was in a better mood...phew! Then when we went inside we explained to her that she got to choose one stuffed animal and immediately she saw the pink bear and was sold; don't even try to sway her decision.
Then we explained that next she would get to put a sound in the bear if she wanted to. She decided not to put a sound in it because she wanted to be able to sleep with her new bear and didn't want it to wake her up with a noise...so no sound.
Next step was to stuff her bear. The only problem was that she was already attached to the bear and really didn't understand why she needed to give it to the lady to put stuffing in it. We tried to explain to the slow-to-wake child that she would be more soft and cuddly that way and finally persuaded her that the nice lady was just going to put stuffing in it to make it fluffy and then would give her right back.
I don't think she was totally sold but she did relinquish her death grip on the bear and gave it to the lady while grandma and her patiently watched.
Then she was asked to choose a heart (of course she chose pink) and did all kind of things like wave it in the air, wave it down low, and give it a kiss...I don't remember the exact wording but it was cute and Makenna played along. The heart was then placed into the bear and the bear was stitched up.
We went over to the area that you can "bathe" the bear and brush their fur. She decided that her bear didn't need a bath but that she would brush the bear a little since there was a pink brush available for her to use. Then she found some pink underwear for the bear that she thought she must have.
Now Makenna was really getting into this whole idea and at a good time because it was now time to dress the bear. And since she is a child that knows what she wants, she told us that she wanted a pink outfit for the bear (can you tell the kid likes pink:-). So we searched around until she found a pink Aurora princess dress with a matching crown. Again, as soon as she found it she was set on that outfit and nothing else would compare. I love that she is so definitive and knows what she wants (well...most of the time it is good). Then to look for shoes. She fell in love with some sparkle boots...guess what color they were...PINK!! And then to accessorize she had to have a pink purse and pink sunglasses to go with her pink, pink, pink outfit.
She and grandma decided that maybe she also needed a more casual outfit so she got another little pink skirt outfit to go on the bear too. She went over to the dressing room station and got her bear all dressed up in her princess finery.
We filled out information on the computer and she decided that a good name for her new bear was "Princess". Upon checkout she was given a special house (aka. box) to put her bear in and the birth certificate for her bear. She had a great time and it was so cute to see how much she loved that gift. Now, several months later she is still so in love with Princess and takes her to bed with her nearly every night. That was the perfect idea for a gift from grandma and papa. You made one little girl very happy!!
