You put a little slide in the top, and it shines a picture down on the paper below, where the child playing with it can trace it. Meagan had a great time with it...all three time that she used it before it broke. I ended up returning it, and to stave off Meagan's tears, told her that I would take her shopping instead, and she could pick out whatever she wanted.
I finally was able to take her out shopping today. I told her I'd take her to the Mall, so Nate sat her down at the computer and showed her all the different stores in the mall, and the kinds of things she could look for. The store she zeroed in on was Build-A-Bear. Now, normally, Meagan changes her mind with every new shiny thing she sees, so I didn't really pay much attention. On the way to the mall, she kept saying that she was going to get a Hello Kitty at Build-A-Bear. I tried to tell her that they might not have Hello Kitty there, but she insisted that she could tell them to build whatever she wanted. Sometimes there's just no changing that girl's mind, so I let it go. I figured she'd find something else before we even got to Build-A-Bear anyway.
We got to the mall, and walked in through Burlington Coat Factory. Usually, Meagan loves new, pretty clothes, and especially dresses. Everything we saw, though, she just looked at and said, "It's nice, but it's not what we're here for. Let's go to Build-A-Bear." So I gave in, and we went to Build-A-Bear.
Can I just say that they have quite the racket going on there? They draw you in with this HUGE display window of all the animals you can choose from, with very reasonable prices posted next to each one. Hah, but that's where they get you. We went in, and luckily (and surprisingly to me), they actually had two different Hello Kittys to choose from. While waiting in line to get the thing stuffed, I saw a display where you could choose different songs or sounds to be put inside your animal. $4-$8 per sound. I redirected Meagan when she asked what all those songs were. Then, you could also get different scents put inside, or a special heart that could give it an actual heartbeat. For even more moolah, of course. And then, there are all the accessories. My goodness, do they have a lot of accessories. Skirts, pants, hats, shirts, dresses, sandals, slippers, shoes (but no socks, oddly enough), and even underwear. Then there were the hats, purses, headbands, bows, bathrobes, pajamas, brushes, hairdryers, dogbeds, Hello Kitty sleeping lounges, wardrobes (to put all the crap you just bought in), and on and on.
Admittedly, Meagan had a great time. The lady who stuffed her Kitty made a big deal out of it. She had Meagan jump three times for joy--to give the Kitty a happy life, and do a bunch of stuff with the heart Meagan got to put inside the Kitty. After Kitty was stuffed and sewn up, then there was a bath station where she could wash and dry her Kitty. But then she wanted to get clothes for her Kitty. There were a few "helpful" displays of possible ways to dress the Kitty, and Meagan had to get an outfit that was just like one of them, which equaled a dress, shoes, underwear and a purse. I should have stopped there, but then I let her get a brush/hairdryer set, pajamas and slippers. Hey, at least I said no to the wardrobe, robe, bed, extra purse, dresser and leash (??) she asked for. (Don't know what she'd want a leash for). I didn't really pay attention to how much each separate thing cost, and was a bit unpleasantly surprised when the total came to about $85. Guess I shoulda watched those price tags, huh? And get this, the original cost for just the Kitty was $24. Wow. I didn't say anything to Meagan, though, because she was having a blast. The whole way home, she talked about how she would put Kitty's new clothes on her when we got home, and change her into her pajamas every night, and put her back in her dress every day. She must've brushed Kitty's fur about 20 times tonight, and opened a little shop to do the fur of the other stuffed animals in the house. Sean's Little Kitty was the first customer. Meagan refers to Hello Kitty as her daughter, and put Kitty to bed a little earlier than her own bedtime. She made sure everyone was quiet because her Kitty was in bed. And when she went to bed herself, she curled up around Kitty and went to sleep.
So, yeah, Build-A-Bear's got quite the racket. But Meagan's joy through the whole thing? Priceless.
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