OH. MY. WORD.

Are we in for it.

Yesterday, I took the kids to our local Hallmark store, because Bug and Nans had some Christmas/birthday money burning holes in their pockets. Both of them LOVE Webkinz, and the store near our house usually has a pretty good selection of them.

So, we go into the store, and the girls gravitate over to the Webkinz display. Puckey, of course, follows her sisters and starts picking up the assorted Webkinz and showing them to me. "Look, Mama, a hippo! Hi hippo!" "Look, Mama, a HORSE! Hi horsey!" "Look, Mama, a kitty! Kitty says, 'MEOW!'" With each one, Puckey would pick it up, hug it, tell me what it was (and sometimes what it says), and when I would tell her to put it down, she would. No biggie, right?

WRONG.

By this point, the older girls have their new pets in hand, and are headed towards the register. Puckey is holding a black lab Webkinz (you can see what it looks like by clicking here). I tell her that she needs to put the puppy down, because we have to go. Puckey looks at me, lip almost trembling, and says in a quiet voice, "I can't." I ask her again to put the puppy down, and again she almost whispers, "I can't" I ask her why. And she looks at me, cradling this little puppy, her dark chocolate eyes starting to get a little moist....
"I can't, I LOVE him."

OH. MY. WORD.

The women working in the store just about died. It's a good thing we weren't at Starbucks, where Puckey once scored a free Walrus just because she was so cute holding it. What a spoiled girl! So Puckey continues to cradle the puppy, petting him and rubbing her little cheeks on his....I swear, I nearly CRIED because she was SO STINKIN' CUTE! We finally got her to put the puppy back, and left the store without so much as one tear on her precious little cheek.

Yes, that's right, I was able to resist the power of the Puckey. Ande was pretty impressed, since he pretty much folds like a cheap lawn chair when Puckey says she wants something. At one point last summer, she almost had him talked into a REAL puppy, because she got so excited over our neighbor's dog. For those of you who don't know Ande - that's HUGE, because Ande doesn't really like animals all that much. I put the kibosh on that one, though, because I knew who would end up cleaning up after the puppy. I have enough people to clean up after, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Okay, in all honesty, I didn't QUITE resist the power of the Puckey. I just ordered the black lab Webkinz online. I DID get it for 1/2 of the cost they charge at the Hallmark Store, though. I thought it would be cute for Puckey's Easter basket. I love to buy the kids stuff, but I like to make it for an "occasion", not just because they want it.