Page 56 of Broken Grump

“It says here that they mostly live in West and East Africa, among savannas, semi-arid, or dry forests, wooded grasslands, riparian,” he struggles a bit on that last word, but it’s not like I could blame him, “. . . systems, villages, and gardens.”

Luna’s nose scrunches up, and she admits, “I think I recognized about two or three of those words.”

All three of us laugh together before moving onto the next exhibit.

Before long, we come to one of the many gift shops.

While my daughter is used to walking right past such over-priced novelty stores, she pretends not to notice it, but Hayden insists that we go in.

“Really? Can we?” She looks at me hopefully.

“Yeah, can we?” Hayden echoes her sentiments and pouts like a little kid. It would be pathetic if it wasn’t so adorable.

“Fine!” I can’t help but relent. “But just this once.”

Luna nods in understanding before mounting off of his body and storming inside.

“I don’t usually let her go into these kinds of places,” I confess when she’s far enough ahead of us, but I’m still able to see her.

“I figured as much, yeah.”

Of course, I don’t want to just come out and say it’s because I found it a waste of rent money to buy toys or stuffed animals. I suspect that she’ll just grow disinterested in them after a few hours. I assume that would be wildly unrelatable to someone with as much disposable income as he’s grown accustomed to having.

“Hayden!” her little voice cries out with cheer. “Look what I found!” In her arms is a stuffed penguin. “Our favorite!”

We walk closer, and he crouches down beside her.

“I’d say that’s an absolute winner! What do you think, Mom?”

“Yeah, for sure.”

I take it in my hands and see that the price tag says $30. But before I can react, Hayden takes it from me and buries it deep in his arms.

“Oh!” he exclaims while grabbing for another squishy item. “It’s the Beautiful Sunbird.”

Luna’s eyes bulge out of her head. “Two? Are you serious?”

It’s bad enough that we’re already in here, and I don’t want her to get too comfortable doing stuff like this. He’s also getting more than one expensive thing after another.

“Just this once,” Hayden jumps in and says before I can. “It’s a special occasion. But that doesn’t mean we can always get everything we want. Right?”

“Right.”

“So, we should probably take some time and be grateful for moments like this.”

Well, dang.It’s almost like he’s done this parenting thing before or something.

After checking out, Luna clings to her new toys tightly as we continue our journey through the park.

Next up, was her all-time favorite. The penguins.

I sit back as I watch the two of them gawk and marvel at the flightless birds that look like they’re always dressed in little tuxedos.

“I’m going to name her Pearl,” Luna announces, holding her stuffed animal up.

“I think that’s a great choice.”

“What?” I was distracted by people-watching, and I missed where she got that from.

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