Cynthia'S New Home

[robehouse]

"Yes, I said it was like a lot of walmarts together. The stores aren't going to be walmarts. There's clothing stores, toy stores, music stores, game stores and a lot of other kind of stores all connected inside a large building."

Melanie brings Cynthia downstairs again. "Okay I think we are ready to go now."

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia nods. "I know. It would be really boring if it was bunch of Walmarts attached to one another. They would all have the same thing and it wouldn't be no fun to go to the same store over and over again. If that was the case. We could just go to one of the Walmarts and then go home."

Sam nods. "Ok let's go." She takes Susan's hand and leads her out to the SUV. Sam puts her into the car seat and looks at Melanie. "Does Cynthia have a car seat or does she ride in the car without one?"

[robehouse]

"yes it would."

"She doesn't have a car seat right now. It would probably be a good idea to get her one. It might be a little dangerous for her to just use the seat belt."

[baby_snow_white]

Sam nods. "Yes it would be a good idea to get her one. There is a baby store at the mall. You can get her one there and then she could ride in the car safely. Until you can get one. She can ride in the booster seat. That should be ok for her for now."

Cynthia looks at the booster seat when Melanie helps her into the backseat of the SUV. "It is really plain looking and it is purple."

[robehouse]

"okay, I guess I can let her pick out which one she wants. That way she would be more likely to sit in it."

"Maybe we can get you a car seat more to your liking while we are out, Cynthia."

Melanie fastens Cynthia in the booster seat and sits down next to her.

[baby_snow_white]

Sam nods. "Yeah that is where I got Susan's carseat at. She picked out the one she wanted." She smiles. "Yeah Susan can't wait to go off somewhere. So she can ride in her carseat."

Cynthia nods. "Maybe we can find me one. This purple one is boring looking and a horrible color."

Sam gets into the driver seat and backs out of the driveway. She drives to the mall and pulls into a parking place. "We are here at the mall Cynthia."

[robehouse]

"I'm sure we will find something you like. What colors are your favorite?"

Melanie unfastens the seatbelt holding Cynthia in the booster seat and then gets out of the car. She lifts Cynthia out and sets her on the parking lot.

"This is a mall, Cynthia. It may not look so big on the outside, but once you get in there and look around you will see it really is big."

"Where are we going to first?"

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia thinks for a moment. I like green because that is the color of Tinklebell's dress, Red because that is the color of Elmo's and Clifford's fur and yellow because of Big Bird's feathers."

Susan giggles. "You like Elmo too? I also like Cookie Monster and Ernie. I would like to be Emily Elizabeth so I could have Clifford. She is really luckly to have such a big dog to play with." She takes Cynthia's hand as they walk across the parking lot with the others.

Cynthia looks at the inside of the mall. "Wow this place has a mall on top of a mall."

Sam looks at Melanie. "Well I don't know about the rest of you,but I'm going to the bathroom. I meant to go before we left,but I forgot about it. My bladder made me realize my mistake on the way here."

Cynthia looks at the bathrooms as Sam goes in. "Mommy, why is there a family restroom? Shouldn't boys and daddies go to their own bathroom and girls and mommies go to their own bathroom?"

[robehouse]

"Those are nice colors. We'll see if we can find you a car seat with at least some of those colors in it."

Melanie follows everyone down to the restrooms.

"They have a family bathroom so daddies can take their little girls to the potty or mommy's can take their little boy to the potty, or a daddy can change their children that need it."

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia nods. "Yes they are nice colors. Green,Red and yellow are the colors for christmas trees. That reminds me of my favorite season. Snow season. I love when it snows. It makes the trees look beautiful. I have a few pictures of fir trees with snow on them."

Susan giggles. "Cynthia,trees don't have fur on them. They have bark and leaves. Animals and some of the Sesame Street characters have fur."

Cynthia looks at Melanie. "Daddies can take their daughter to the men's room and mommies can take their sons to the Women's room. So there is no need in having a separate bathroom for that."

[robehouse]

"Snow is nice to look at, but I don't like having to clean up the sidewalks and driveways."

"She is talking about a type of tree. F-I-R. Fir's are just one the types of trees they use for Christmas tree."

"Sometimes people complain if a father takes his daughter into the men's room or a Mother takes her son into the ladies room. It's just easier for everyone if they have a family bathroom."

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia looks at Melanie. "What driveway? Our driveway is rock. You don't have to shovel snow off of rocks."

Susan nods. "Oh I see. I thought she meant fur as in animal covering."

Cynthia shrugs. "Why would people complain about that? It seems natural to me for a daddy to change his daughter in the men's room and for a mommy to change her son in the women's room. To me it seems like putting both of them into the same bathroom is just asking for trouble."

Sam walks out. "What was the two of you talking about? I heard Cynthia saying that someone was just asking for trouble."

[robehouse]

"our driveway is pavement. If we try to drive on it in the snow our car might slide."

"Cynthia was just saying they don't need a family bathroom. that it is perfectly okay for daddy's to take their daughters in the mens bathroom and mommy's to take their sons into the ladies bathroom."

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia looked puzzled. "It is? I thought it was black rocks. It didn't seem smooth when I was looking at it and it wasn't hot like pavement was. So I thought it was black rocks."

Sam nods. "Oh I see." She looks at Cynthia. "Let me ask you this. Would you want a bunch of other males looking at you when your daddy is changing you in the men's room?"

Cynthia thinks for a moment and then shakes her head. "No I don't think so. That would be creepy and uncomfortable."

Sam nods. "Exactly. That is the whole point of a family bathroom. The only people in there are people who are changing someone."

Cynthia looks up at Melanie. "Why did you explain it like that? That would have made things alot easier to understand."

Sam looks at the group. "Ok ladies. Where should we head off to first?"

Cynthia and Susan look at each other. "Toy store."

Sam laughs. "How did I know that would be the first suggestion?" Cynthia and Susan starts to giggle.

[robehouse]

"I guess I am not very good at explaining things, huh?"

"I guess we go to a toy store first. How many toy stores are in this mall?"

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia shakes her head. "No you aren't mommy."

Sam laughs. "Well you will get better at explaining things once you get more experence as a parent."

Susan holds up 6 fingers. "There are 6 toy stores in this mall."

Gina shakes her head. "No there is only 4 toy stores for kids. One is a toy store for guys and one is for part of a baby store."

[robehouse]

"A toy store for guys? what do they sell, electronic stuff? How are we going to decide which toy store to take Susan and Cynthia to?"

[baby_snow_white]

Gina nods. "Yes they sell electronic things,video games,RC cars,massage chairs and basically useless things that guys want."

Sam takes out her cell phone and brings up an app that is a map of the mall. "Well the closest toy store to where we are at is 3 stores to the left of us. It is called A Mountain of Toys."

Susan giggles. "That is my favorite toy store. It is two stories and they have a playground in it."

Sam nods. "Yes I know it is your favorite toy store. You drag me there every time we come to the mall."

[robehouse]

"I guess we go to A Mountain of toys then."

Melanie takes Cynthia's hand and starts following Sam and Susan toward the toy store.

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia giggles as they walk to the toy store. She lets go of Melanie's hand and runs into the store. Cynthia almost knocks a lady down as she was coming out the door with bags in her hands. She goes over to where the dolls was at and starts to look at them.

Susan walks into the store and starts to look around as well. She goes over to where the dress up clothes was at. Susan looks at all the outfits on the racks.

[robehouse]

Melanie follows Cynthia into the store. She is glad that Cynthia didn't run into the woman coming out of the toy store. She follows Cynthia over to the doll department and watches as Cynthia looks over the dolls.

"Do you see any dolls you might want want, Cynthia?"

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia nods. "Yes I do,but I can't decide which one I want. The Tinklebell Barbie is nice,but so are the baby dolls down there and the Sesame Street characters are nice too. I've never seen so many toys in one place. This place makes the playroom at the orphanage seem small and sparce."

Susan comes over with some play clothes in her arms. "Looks Cynthia. They have clothes you can play dress up in. Including a section with outfits for TV characters and disney characters."

Sam walks over to Cynthia. "How do you like the toy store?"

Cynthia looks up at Sam. "It is the greatest place I have ever been in. I never want to leave."

Sam laughs. "You sound like Susan. She would live here if I would let her."

[robehouse]

Melanie laughs as Cynthia says all the dolls she would like. "You can get get a couple of dolls today and then we can come back and get some more later."

"Do you want to go to the playground?"

[baby_snow_white]

Cynthia nods. "Ok mommy." She picks out two baby dolls and a Baby Big Bird. Cynthia carries them over to Melanie. "These are the ones I want mommy." She nods. "Yes I do,but if I go to the playground. Then I will not see the rest of the mall." Cynthia stands there for a moment and the little girl inside her gets the best of her and she runs up the stairs towards the playground. She knocks a little girl down as she was going up the stairs. Cynthia doesn't stop to say she was sorry or to see if the girl was ok. She just continues up the stairs to the playground.

[robehouse]

Melanie takes the dolls from Cynthia and puts them aside to pay for later. She watches Cynthia run upstairs and frowns as Cynthia runs into the girl, knocking her down. Cynthia goes upstairs and stops where the little girl is.

"I'm sorry my daughter knocked you down. Are you alright?"

Melanie goes to the playground and finds Cynthia. "You need to apologize to that girl for knocking her down."