Her People

On Christmas Eve, Tom, the girls and I went to my mom and step dad's house so the girls could open the presents my parents had bought them.

As my mom placed package after package in front of each girl, she paused a moment to whisper to me, "Olivia is SO hard to buy for."

At first I thought, "She's four, how can she be hard to buy for?"

But then I thought back to that Saturday a few weeks ago when Tom came so I could go shopping. I remember finding item after item that Alyssa would love. But near the end of my shopping trip, I found myself standing in the middle of an aisle, trying to figure out what I could get Olivia.

What would make her quiver with delight on Christmas morning?

Lip gloss? Check.

Chapstick? Got it.

???

What else was there?

Honestly? Not much.

I got her several pairs of tights, because she loves tights but she's FOUR, what four year old just wants a few pairs of tights for Christmas?

I ended up getting her a Rapunzel baby doll from the movie Tangled, and she likes it. She plays with it a bit here and there but...it's definitely not her Bubby.

See, while Alyssa adores things and stuff, Olivia prefers people.

She MUCH prefers her people. She considers the following HER people (in order of preference if they're all available at the same time):

Me
Gram
Daddy
Lyssie
Jaxon (cousin, aka Buddy)
Papa (step dad)

And those are the 'things' she'd rather entertain herself with rather than toys or games or tv. She wants to be around her people. She wants to run around one of them, or climb onto someone and let them help her jump off. She wants to sit on or against her people and let them keep her warm.

She'll play with a toy much longer if she's sitting on the couch, leaning against me than if she's on the couch by herself. Just touching one of her people is often enough.

She's a very social girl and having her people near is important to her.

Hmmm...I think I've got an idea for future gifts. The dreaded homemade 'coupon' book chock full of "Free: One hour of alone time with Mom."

Honestly, in a few years, I think that would be the perfect gift for this little sweetheart.