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"It's only for children who have underwears!"

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Would you know that while I was taking these pictures, they were singing and dancing to "Shake it Off?" 

To hear them sing it cracks me up, especially since the only lyrics they actually know are "shake it off...ah ah...shake it off!" 

So...now that we live so close to an ikea, I decided to see why I've heard so many moms talk about what a great place it is to take kids. 

Two words: chocolate cake. And play place. So, four words. 

I decided to go way out of my comfort zone, and dropped S off at the play place, and have some one-on-one time with Pato. He couldn't go with her because as she will tell you, "Its only for children who have underwears!" She marched right in there, telling me not to worry MOM! That she would have fun and make friends. As I filled out a little sheet out before the the drop-off (I felt like I was signing a form to let a total stranger take her to Abu Dhabi or something) she was basically begging me to hurry up. I quickly scribbled out some contact information (although who knows if it was even legible...I'm telling you...she was insistent) and off she went. When the lady working up front asked if I wanted to leave her for the full hour-and-a-half or just the hour I almost fell over. 

"Just an hour. Wait...do I have to leave her the FULL hour??"

"No. Of course you can pick her up earlier!"

I made it a full forty-five minutes, folks. 

But, those forty-five minutes were so good! I let Pato pick out any treat he wanted, and naturally, he went straight for the big honkin' slice of "chocowet cake!" He only let me sneak in three bites, and he finished the whole thing. I do not know how he does it! In between bites of cake, he mostly wanted to talk about his sister, and I can't blame him. When I asked him if he was ready to get her, he leapt out of his seat. And so did I, for that matter. We were ready to get our girl.

I peeked in on her for a second just playing contentedly by herself and I wanted to scoop her up and smother her with kisses. So when she ran out with that huge smile on her face, I did just that. 

One of those parenthood moments, you know? 

***

In totally unrelated news. Anyone else watching Grey's Anatomy? UGH. Just ugh. McDreamy? Why?! I'm never watching again. Well, that's a lie. I'm watching it now. BUT, I'm mad. I can't stop because I'm a sentimental sap about everything. I started binge watching this show right when S was born to pass the time as she nursed. So, I feel this silly little tie to it because it reminds me of that time. 

Hanging in there.


Daniel Tiger I tell ya. I wouldn't survive in a world without it. I mean, I get it. Billions of people do manage to go on living their meaningful lives everyday without it, but as for me...I wouldn't make it. I'd be a nutcase of a mother. If there's two things that bring these two together in the worst of times, it's food and that little tiger. And it usually buys me about twenty-three minutes of peace. 

And right now, I'd do just about anything for some peace. 

Things have been pretty quiet on the blogging front, and for a good reason. In the past few months, our lives have been turned upside down. I feel like I was inside a Christmas snow globe, and an over-zealous toddler just shook us up. And shook and shook and shook. In a span of two months-ish, we traveled across the world, came back, packed up our entire house, and drove across the country.

To be honest, I don't know how I held it together. I think I came pretty close to just throwing all our things in the trash and never looking back. But, with the help of my mother-in-law, and friends who feel like family, we got it all done. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how. 

Now, I'm sitting here battling our two that don't want to go to sleep because I swear it doesn't get dark till like midnight here. I feel for them. I really do. Both were so heartbroken to see all their belongings packed into boxes and out of their rooms. We are trying so hard to make our temporary Utah house feel like home to them, but I know they miss Virginia. I miss it, too. 

Well, not the heat. Certainly never that. The temperatures have been simply glorious here. That eases the pain a bit. 

But, I'm so proud of our two monkeys. I know they are trying hard to keep it together as well, and sometimes when I see them just cry and cry over one thing or another, I wonder if it feels good to just release all those feelings. Those "mom-and-dad-took-all-my-stuff-and-strapped-me-to-my-car seat-for-five-days" blues. And the "my-toys-are-gone" blues. And the "our-little-best-friends-live-so-far-away" blues. 

And Sof! Bless her heart. Bless that little girl's heart. Everywhere we go she gives herself a little pep talk. She says she will be brave and make new friends. And so far, she HAS been so brave. Just in primary last Sunday I watched her shyly, but also confidently say, "I'm Sofia Jones, and I'm from Virginia." And after church she couldn't wait to tell us about how she wasn't scared and that she had made new friends. Sigh. 

Oh, Virginia, we just weren't quite ready to quit you. 


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