"Ni-ni, sweep tight"

Bed time is becoming my favorite part of the day. Cecilia is doing great in her big girl bed! She has always been a good sleeper and usually didn’t give us any problem with going to bed, but now she literally runs for her bed when we say its bedtime. In fact, sometimes she even volunteers now. She’ll be playing and suddenly say, “ni-ni toys” and start heading to bed. Sometimes she whines while she’s going, like she doesn’t want to – but even then she never fights it. She will crawl up in her bed and start busily getting her blankie and moo-moo and then she’ll say, “tuck, mama” or “tuck, dada”. When we tell her it’s time to say her prayers, she gets so excited and clasps her hands together. She hasn’t figured out how to close her eyes on command yet, so when I tell her to close her eyes she covers them with her hands…but she still keeps them clasped. She waits for me to say Amen, and then she bounces up a little and shouts, “AMEN!” She gives us big hugs and emphatic kisses and says, “Ni-ni, fish. Ni-ni Mama. Ni-ni Dada. Love ew.” And sometimes, if we are really lucky… as we close the door we hear the sweetest little voice in my world say, “sweep tight!” A few nights, she has laid in bed for awhile and then decided she needs something; we will hear a soft, little, “Mama? Dada?”, then five little fingers slide underneath the door crack. If we lie down on the floor and peek under – she giggles and smiles and says, “Hi!”

With endings like this…Mama, Dada, our big girl, and fish will all “sweep tight.”

The Terrible, Twenty-Four Month Britches

Cecilia has been growing out of her 18 month clothes, so we decided to make a trip to the outlets Saturday. Cecilia is an awful shopper, she always has been and no matter what we try it just doesn’t get any better.

Mistake One: We weren’t sure whether or not we should brave another shopping trip with her, but we decided that she was just going to have to suck it up and start behaving when we shop. We were completely resolved that she was going to be good and that was that! You can all stop laughing now…I realize you know how this is going to end.

Mistake Two: The morning began with Cecilia having a very big appetite. While we were getting ready to go Cecilia ate breakfast, and lots of it. Not seeing any need to limit her (she’s a growing girl) I kept filling her bowl.

Mistake Three: I decided as I was packing her bag that I wasn’t going to bother with an extra outfit…we never use it, and we were going shopping so if there was a catastrophe we would just use one of her new outfits.

Well, we started off and about half way there we heard an awful sound and turned to see that she had thrown up her whole breakfast all over herself, her blankie, her moomoo, her carseat, etc. It was a very sad event at the time. She was so grossed out and upset. She never cried but she just looked so sad and kept saying, “Mama, mess! Hold you, Mama!” We pulled over and I managed to strip her down to her pull-up and wipe her off without puking myself, which was nothing short of a miracle. The cleanup was quite a process. By the time it was all done Cecilia was fine and she didn’t seem like she felt bad at all – we decided it must have just been a combination of a full tummy and car sickness. So, we made the decision (very hesitantly) to continue on to Osage Beach. Of course we he had no extra outfit to put her in, so we had to put her in her car seat with nothing but a pull-up on. I tried to use my coat to cover her up, which only made her realize that she didn’t have her blankie and she began weeping for her blankie and moomoo. It was a very long and sad trip, listening to her cry. Right before we got there she fell asleep, so Ryan ran inside a store and found an outfit (and a blankie) to put her in when she woke up. Things were starting to look better, she had a little nap, a fresh change of clothes and was smiling! So off we went to our first store.  

I would guess that things went well for approximately five minutes and then the crazy, possessed child that only seems to come out when we’re shopping showed her ugly face!! Still determined, we struggled through while she sobbed, screamed, twisted, writhed, reached, and any other awful thing you’ve seen those horrible “Wal-mart kids” do. The moment we walked out of the store, she was all smiles and sunshine. So we gave it one more shot and after another embarrassing display, we threw in the towel. Yup, she won…no more resolved to force our child into submission…we started taking turns. One of us would stay in the truck with the horrible child who had taken over my sweet girl’s body, and the other one would go in and pick out their favorites, hide them in a corner and then run back out and switch, so the other one could make their selections. Ridiculous – I know. What could have been done in a quick two or three hour shopping trip ended up taking the whole day.

Driving home that night, Ryan and I were laughing about the days events. How crazy is life? I never imagined myself as the Mom with the screaming child – but you know what…I think she’s gonna turn out just fine. Truth is, I don’t want a perfect child…I want just the one I got – because no matter how exhausting she can be, she can’t stop making me smile! When we got home that night Cecilia started excitedly pulling her clothes out of the bags, exclaiming how “toot (cute)” they were and trying them on – I would love to know where that enthusiasm was when we were buying them!

Despite the trauma, we had a really good day – a little team effort and we pulled it off! That’s what family is really about anyway, loving life where it’s at and letting it teach us. The lesson for the day: Start online shopping!!