Saturday, May 9, 2009

Like Mother like Daughter??

I was shy as a child. Painfully shy. In fifth grade, my friend Amy and I walked to the local gas station with a couple dollars of spending money to blow on the candy aisle. I remember the panicky feeling in my chest as I realized that--gasp--I was going to have to talk to the cashier and pay for my items myself. I begged Amy to take my money and pay for mine. It took a couple minutes to convince her (shockingly, she thought it would be good for me to do it myself!) At restaurants, I would always tell my parents what I wanted before the waitress came over so that they could order for me.
So is it any wonder that I sometimes wonder where my daughter came from? At the deli counter when I order sliced turkey, she always says loudly, "And can I have a sample of that please?" I have occasionally been a little embarrassed by her extremely outgoing behavior.
The boys are currently out of town on the Father's and Son's campout, so last night we had a special girl's night. We went out to dinner at Panda Express, which is Sareny's favorite place. I ordered my meal first, and as the girl was putting it together, Sareny said "I would like the Mandarin Chicken. A lot please." At the checkout, she kept telling them we wanted cookies, or the bottles of drinks (which, we didn't.) It was getting a little obnoxious. Later, after she finished eating, she wanted fortune cookies, which I had forgotten to grab. I was still eating, so I told her I would get them in just a minute. She said, "I'll go get them." Since she can't reach the dish of cookies, this meant asking for help from the workers. She promptly walked up to the counter and said, "Excuse me." (It took them a minute to spot her.) "I need eight fortune cookies." I'm dying over at my table, and told them she didn't really need eight. But the nice lady got a bag and counted out nine cookies for her. This whole encounter just makes me shake my head and think how different we are. And mostly, I'm glad.
Before we went to Panda, I painted Sareny's nails. Her fingernails had a white background with blue butterflies. Her toenails were white with hot pink and light pink polka dots. Very cute! Even Finley got her toenails painted pink, although she smeared them within a couple of minutes.
After putting Finley to bed, we did a couple science experiments from a kit I bought that is designed for ages four and up called Funky Science Experiments. Sareny told me this was her favorite part of our evening together. We had fun mixing acids and bases and turning some water colored with purple cabbage juice pink and blue.
To finish the evening off, we had popcorn and watched the old movie Yours, Mine, and Ours with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Maybe I'm crazy, but that movie always makes me feel like having a bunch of kids. They make it look so fun and easy!
I sent the camera with Keith on the camping trip, so we don't have any pictures, but hopefully he will!

9 comments:

Tanya said...

Your story sounds a lot like mine. My dad would make excuses to disappear so I would be forced to talk to cashiers. I HATED it! Spencer will go up to the workers at McDonald's and tell them he doesn't like the toy and wants another. Good for Sareny! A girl who's not afraid to ask for what she wants!

cassidy said...

How funny! I still am too shy to talk to people and always try to make James do it. It's funny that Sareny doesn't mind asking for what she wants, and it sounds like she usually gets it!

Alayna said...

That sounds like so much fun! I was super shy as a kid too (hard to believe, I know ;)

Vicki said...

I guess I didn't know you much when you were in that stage. I don't remember you being shy at all!

Lexi said...

i hate talking to people. at disneyland i made mom tell the worker that they messed up my order. i like that sareny isn't afraid to things like that.

linds said...

it is so strange to see your kids do things you would never do...even as an adult. kids are awesome. i love this story about sar.

Jolynn said...

I'm proud of my little Sareny Agnes! I'm so glad she speaks up for herself. It's very hard to go through life shy, as all of my children know. You get over-looked and ignored even. I'm actually pretty shy myself, believe it or not. I have had to work to overcome it. Sareny, you go girl!

Dot said...

Sounds like you had a fun girls night. Isn't it interesting how different our little ones can be? ;)

Amy B said...

I love your stories! You are the funnest!