Careful Negotiation

We are now entering the stage of negotiation as Elsie has decided to take a shine to items and carry them everywhere with her. 

Yesterday we built a den, she took along her shoe for entertainment which she is currently contentedly playing with while reading through a book as I write this.

It's amazing the things she finds interesting and decides under no circumstances is she going to give them up without a fight.

We've had:

• A shoe - which she tries her hardest to put on as yet unsuccessfully
• A spatula - she carried this for 20 minutes up and down the garden
• A pencil - HUGE tantrum trying to get this off her as she decided she wanted to walk round with it
• A wooden block - which I found at the bottom of the wash basket
• A coaster - at her grandma's house which she carried around for another 20 minutes 
• TV remote - which she somehow got an icon on the screen which took me 45 minutes to get rid of
• many many more...

The hardest challenge is trying to find something more interesting to give her instead so she lets go of the offending item. 

I'm pretty sure right now I'd make a good hostage negotiator!