have you ever had one of those days that could come straight from a sitcom, where everything goes completely wrong in a rather hilarious (at least afterwards) way but ends on a warm and fuzzy note? well, today was one of those days.
this morning was beautiful. the sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot (mid 80's was the high), there was a nice intermittent breeze, and the girls slept in a bit (which means that mommy slept in!). so, with all of us in such a good mood this morning, i decided that i would take the girls to the zoo (something i hadn't attempted on my own until now). i get the girls dressed, pack up the diaper bag with everything i could think of that might come in handy (patting myself on the back for thinking of extra items such as clothes for me as well as the girls, a spoon and little bowl for mali's banana, extra toys and batteries, etc.). i stuff my pockets with my phone (newly charged, thank you very much), credit cards (including my newly found license), directions (to and from because i've learned my lesson the hard way), an extra hair tie for noe, and my car keys. i decide that it would be better to go before nap time and just let the girls sleep in the car on the way or it would be too late to enjoy the zoo if i waited until afterwards (nap time is generally from 12 to 2 and the zoo is about 36 min. away...then add the hour it takes to get out of the house). we're all ready to go without a fuss and i bend over to pick up mali's car seat...and dump noe's juice from her cup in the diaper bag slung over my shoulder all over my shorts, mali, and the floor. i don't despair, however, and quickly change shorts (easily done since the folded laundry from yesterday is still in the living room) and clean up the mess. i even remember to put the dog in the kitchen with the gate up this time, and off we go!
did anyone catch where i went wrong? if not, let me continue. i get the girls loaded into the car easily...a little too easily. i should have known then that something was amiss. i slide into the driver's seat and noe starts asking for a snack (whenever we get into the car, she thinks she's getting fries from mcdonalds...an unfortunate side effect from house hunting lately because i almost always have to eat out for lunch). i give her some mini-muffins that i remembered to pack for the ride (see? i am on the ball!). she doesn't want them. so i tell her we can get something on the way to the zoo, which doesn't stop the oncoming tantrum. i figure to get to mcd's as quickly as possible and go to start the car....figured it out yet? oh, yes...the keys. they are not in my pocket any more...at least not in the pocket i happened to have now since i changed my shorts. i forgot to get the keys out of the other shorts...but i did remember to lock the doors. i try to jimmy the lock like i had to do often in lexington, but this door is not old enough (the only thing in this house that works right, apparently) and the windows are locked, as well. i'm stuck. fai can't get off of work to let me in and i don't have the number to my land lord's house, not that she would be home in the middle of the day, anyway.
i am lucky that my land lord's aunt and uncle live next door to us. perhaps they have a spare? um...no, they don't. but they can call mindy and ask her for one. so this is happening while i am now trying to calm noe down as she screams about a nonexistent bug in the car. mindy is at work, but thinks that hubby dan can come out...from desoto...half an hour away. okay. what other choice do i have, right? so then i sit in the car with the girls, letting noe "drive" and holding mali who has gotten tired of being in her seat while sissy gets to play. they are cranky because they haven't had a nap or snack and it's hot out. after about ten minutes, my neighbor says we can come in her house where it's cooler to wait for dan. i accept and just prayed that the girls would behave themselves. too much to ask two young, tired, bored, and hot girls. so mali fusses the whole time because she's tired and noe is climbing on and jumping off of my neighbor's furniture, pulling stuffing out of one of the cushions (yikes!), banging on their big screen tv, and then mooching chips from her! i am almost helpless to stop her because i'm trying to comfort the baby and not appear completely inept or ungrateful to my neighbor by ignoring her while she's talking to me to scold my daughter, who isn't listening to me anyway. after almost an hour, dan shows up...and has the wrong key. seriously. does this really happen in real life?
luckily, since he used to live there and he and mindy locked themselves out on more than one occasion, he knew how to trick the window open and got us in anyway. but then mali was hungry, so i had to feed her while noe ran around making more messes. anyway, we didn't get out of the house until about 1:30. noe, at this point, is starving, so i pull over at mcd's on the way there and order her a happy meal...and she goes to sleep before i get it. those of you who do not know my daughter should realize that she does not do well when woken up from a nap early. if she goes completely without, she's fine (usually), but if she goes to sleep and doesn't get her entire time in...well, lets just say it's not a fun time for anyone. i had to wake her up after only ten or fifteen minutes. then i pushed two cranky girls in the stroller for another fifteen minutes from where i parked to the entrance of the zoo. by the time we got inside, no one was happy.
the bad moods pass quickly, however, when we get moving around and seeing the animals. noe got to see her favorites (the elephants, giraffes, penguins, hippos, and monkeys) and got to pet the goats, sheep and some cow-like animal at the children's zoo where she also got to play in the water spouts and watch the otters play. mali got to touch goats and guinea pigs and put her hands in the water, but didn't want to play in the spouts. instead, surprise, she wanted to eat. anyway, we were doing really well, despite both girls' unwillingness at various points to ride in the stroller and needing to be carried (i'm getting pretty strong!)...then it got to be 5 and time to head home. i walked one way...hit a dead end. walked another way...another dead end. another way...wait...this looked familiar. i had gone in a circle. and then again. and again. i had tried to follow the map several times to get out, but always ended up in the wrong place! i got lost in the zoo. i didn't get back to the car until after 6. then noe wasn't happy to be going back in the car and mali wasn't happy to be woken up to be put in the car. mali i can usually settle down quickly, though, by simply giving her the pacifier, as long as she's still half asleep. but as i bend down to pick her up, i smell something...rank. yes, she had pooped. which meant, she was not going to be woken up pleasantly, nor would she be half asleep and easily comforted when i put her in the car. *sigh*
the ride home, however, was really not that bad. both girls were pretty well behaved and daddy had dinner ready when we arrived. then both girls pooped again and he changed them. there is a reason i love this man!
anyway, the warm and fuzzy part came when i was putting noe to bed. after the lights are out and before i sing her a song, i ask her what she did that day. usually, i'll have to guide her and say things like "did you go to the zoo today?" and she'll say "yes". that's usually the extent of her participation in the conversation. tonight, however, while i was singing her song (after we established that, yes, she went to the zoo), she stops me and says "elephant." i reply that she's right, we saw and elephant today. she says "fun." then pops her thumb back in her mouth and i go on singing. she stops me again to say (with her hands on both sides of my face so she can look directly at me, i might add) "baby giraffe". again, i confirm that we did see a baby giraffe and that she's very good for remembering that, and we go on with the song. she stops me one more time to say "play in the water," and then whispers "fun". that was pretty cute. then i finish the song and lay her down, give her the bear and she looks up at me and says "hippo." i ask "you saw a hippo today?" and she replies with another "fun". i kiss her goodnight and leave the room, and in the hallway, i can hear her still talking to her bear that she saw "monkey" and "penguin". how cute is that?! i'm glad that she had such a good day after such a bad start. it makes all the trouble worth it.
well, i don't have pics ready to put up yet. i still need a CD to burn things from the computer on to to make some room. i don't have any pics from today at all. it's really difficult to get pics when i have to juggle the two girls and a camera. hey, cut me some slack, it was my first attempt. i'll figure it out soon. and then...maybe i'll even post them!
in the mean time, my mom has started a blog now and has some pics up from saturday when we got to visit with her and cecil a bit when we dropped alec off with them in chicago. feel free to check them out for your poon family fix: robin-notesfromnanashouse.blogspot.com
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