We went to Belk's first and I conquered my fear of taking the big stroller up the escalator. I know - big step!! In previous shopping trips, I always made Andie perform this feat, but since it was just me and I really, really wanted to hit the men's section AND the Christmas section (both upstairs), I just sucked it up and did it. I probably stood at the bottom of the escalator for a solid minute or two before I got the confidence that my timing was right... I stepped forward, got the front wheel on a step, picked up the back end, then hurried to get my feet properly aligned on a step. In retrospect, it really wasn't that difficult, but things like that sometimes make me nervous. Lame, yes.
Ok, now that I've gone on and on about the escalator, let me get to my actual story. We get upstairs and I'm browsing through the Christmas section when Luke suddenly sits up and starts excitedly pointing to something ahead. I look up, and there is a huge row of cuddly, white teddy bears (complete with hat and scarf) for the holiday season. I grab one off of the shelf and hand it to Luke (thinking "score! he can play with this guy while I finish shopping"). Luke is so excited to get his hands on the super-soft bear! He is all smiles and immediately cuddles with his new friend. I continue shopping... look at all the Christmas items, head over to the men's section... that's when I realize that Luke has been really quiet. I look down and notice that he is asleep with his arms completely wrapped around the bear (if I forgot to mention this earlier, I was not planning on purchasing this bear).
So, I look through the men's section. Luke sleeps. I go back down the escalator (high-five to me!). Luke sleeps. When we get back downstairs, Luke kind-of opens his eyes for a brief moment and shifts his position - so I decided to take this opportunity to snatch the bear away and hopefully he will go right back to sleep.
Well, as soon as the soft bear left his grasp, Luke opens his eyes wide, looks up at me with the bear, and lets out a big cry while pointing and gesturing up at the bear. My heart broke at that moment, so I immediately handed it right back to him. Luke wrapped his arms back around the bear and went right back to sleep.
He won.
As I was checking out at Belk, I put my merchandise on the counter and said "Well, I guess we'll take the bear too". The cashier looked at sweet, sleeping Luke and just went on and on about how precious he looked with the "Belkie" bear and that he needed to be the next ad for the bear. She even called over another cashier to look at Luke and said how she wished that the store manager was working that day so that she could see him. It was hilarious!
Luke continued to sleep through one more store, then woke up feeling refreshed and was a wonderful shopping companion for the rest of our outing. We purchased some Christmas gifts, ate lunch at Which Wich, then headed back home for a real nap. It was a fun day :)
