Training a Shopper

Jason was kind enough to take me over to one of the big Jakarta department stores that has a floor of just batik clothes so that I could do a little shopping.  We took Mika along with us to give Laura a litle break. 
Mika is always a crowd-pleaser wherever we go and this time around was no exception.  As soon as I started browsing, the clerks descended on Jason and whisked the baby out of his arms.  We'd hear cries of "Mika, Mika" and then lots of spoken Indonesian as the clerks would all vie for her attention.  It was like having free babysitting.  We'd look up and see her popping up in different parts of the women's wear section being held by whomever was the lucky one who was able to wrest her away from the previous clerk.
Jason found a cute little outfit in batik for Mika (well, he had LOTS of help from the enthusiastic clerks) and we couldn't resist adding it to the pile.  I also found two shirts for the Commander.

Finding batik shirts for myself was harder.  Large sizes is apparently a foreign concept in Indonesia.  Even their XL sizes looked like about a size 12 in our Western sizing.  Finally after much pantomiming, they took me over to a section where there were some larger sizes and I was able to find several shirts that should work for me.  In fact, I was just getting into my shopping stride when the baby started to get fussy and Jason announced that we really should start heading back.  Oh, pooh!

We got back and Jason whisked the baby into the back bedroom to change her into the little batik outfit to surprise Laura.  When he brought her out, we all "oohed and ahhed" and laughed delightedly upon which she burst into tears.  We've discovered that when we all laugh at once at something she does, she apparently gets her feelings hurt even if it was something cute.  So we all had to reassure her that we weren't laughing AT her.
I decided that it might be wise to start her training as a shopper now to help build up her endurance in stores.

There happened to be a pile of small denomination currency sitting in the apartment and little Mika just naturally gravitated to it.  The girl's a natural, I tell you!

She loved to put the whole pile in her hands and if one would drop out then she'd have to crouch down and try to stuff it back in with the rest of the bunch.

Even when she was crawling down the hallway after her momma, she'd have one or two bills clutched in one hand.  You never know when a bargain might appear, right?

Yes, I think this little one is going to be a natural-born shopper.  She was probably just cranky at the department store because noone would put her down and let her look at the merchandise.  I mean, there were LOTS of sales posted on that floor.

I was cranky, too, that I couldn't look at them all.  However, when I went to pay the bill, my dear son took it from me and said, "Merry Christmas."  And that, my friends, is the absolute BEST way to shop......find what you want and then have someone else pay for it.  Have I told you that I have the best son in the whole world?