Pep Talk

The rainy and cold (by Scottsdale standards) weather continued today, so I knew I needed to develop a plan of indoor activities to do with Alexa.  Thankfully, she had a Build-A-Bear gift card that she was eager to use.  I did a little research beforehand and let Alexa know that Pinkie Pie (a My Little Pony) was an online item only, but she was undeterred, as she had seen a Build-A-Bear commercial advertising their Rudolph collection and wanted to build a reindeer.  Perfect - - a trip to the mall was on the agenda after gymnastics

A poster advertising Santa's Workshop almost deterred our visit as soon as it began; Alexa froze in her tracks, petrified that she might see Santa.  She's a pretty fearless kid, but when it comes to people in costumes or dressed up as characters, she is a nervous mess.  She was torn between wanting to head upstairs to Build-A-Bear and walking out of the mall.  I assured her that I would do everything I could to make sure she didn't see Santa, so she decided to proceed.  The poor little girl was giving herself pep talks as we made our way through the mall, muttering, "Be brave, Alexa" to herself over and over.

At Build-A-Bear, she decided to make Clarice (the girl reindeer from Rudolph), clad in a white dress with green and red polka-dots and a red sequined Santa hat.  Damon had stepped away from the restaurant to meet us at Build-A-Bear, and the three of us decided to have lunch together.  Uh oh...I knew the walk back to Wildfish would require us to walk by Santa.  Sure enough, Santa was standing by his chair waving when we made our way past his workshop.

Alexa hesitated, and I was ready to act as interference and walk beside her so she wouldn't have to see him.  However, her pep talks seemed to take effect, and she stopped to wave back at him.  "Wait - I want to go talk to him."  I couldn't believe my ears, and asked her three times if she was sure;  she assured me she was.  Apparently visits to Santa aren't as popular before Thanksgiving, so Alexa was able walk directly up to Santa.  She stood in front of him, about three feet away, and spoke to him, showing off her Clarice and telling him about the Calico Critters and hula hoop she wants for Christmas.  I knew sitting in his lap was out of the question, but I could not believe she had summoned the courage to speak to him.  This was a huge achievement, as she conquered one of her biggest fears!

She was bragging about her visit all afternoon, telling me that now she think she's ready to visit Fredbird (the St. Louis Cardinals mascot) too.  Talk about some powerful self-pep talks!

Enjoying her latest Build-A-Bear creation.