Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow Jeremiah 31:13
Today was a day to keep everyone busy. Annie woke up at the crack of dawn (butt crack of dawn) and was seriously grumpy by 7:00 a.m. Dasha seemed to have rolled out of bed on the wrong side, as well,
so I figured that I better pull out the big guns or start living by the "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" mantra.
It was absolutely necessary that I make a grocery store run before doing ANYTHING, though. I was down to one diaper and that's just plain scary! I was also out of milk which is never a good thing with a two year old that can drink a gallon of milk a week just by herself! Anyway, I managed to get everyone dressed and waited patiently for Annie to take care of her morning "business" so I could change her into the last diaper. Apparently, Annie is backed up again. She did her business rabbit-style and I changed her and got ready to go. Before I could get everyone out of the house, Annie retreated to her "quiet corner" and loaded up her britches again. So much for the last diaper. In retrospect, I should have just shaken the pellets out into the garbage and put that diaper back on her! Desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyway, I did have a few swim diapers so I just used one of those. Annie always calls them Pull Ups. So, somewhere in my demented mind, I was thinking of them as being a kid sized version of Depends and had neglected to remember that swim diapers are designed not to be absorbent so that the babies don't take on water in the pool and look like bubble butts or get drug to the bottom of the pool with a diaper that's like a lead weight. Well, she wore the Pull Up / swim diaper to WalMart.
As we walked down the bread aisle, she started scooching around and saying, "I tinkle! I tinkle." Great! I know she's ready to potty train but I'm not so I just humored her until I saw the puddle. Crap. (Not really crap - pee). It was at this point that the whole issue of swim diaper vs. Pull Ups suddenly came to mind. As the normal four star parent I am, I just kept pushing the buggy along and told Annie that we'd change her when we got to the van. I did use a Clorox wipe to wipe off the buggy so don't boycott the buggies at WalMart!
Anyway, we decided to make a trip to the lake after our WalMart run. Some friends were going, too, so I figured that I wouldn't lose my cool too much in front of LRE PTA brass! :) Seriously, I knew I'd have back up if something went wrong.
What could go wrong at a huge bathtub full of dirty water, little nipping fishes, and loads of sand with who-knows-what in it? I don't know. Nothing went wrong. The girls loved it.
However, I overlooked the fact that Annie would want a float like all of the other kids. Can you see the look on Dasha's face in the picture above? Annie wanted the blue plastic kayak that another kid had and poor Dasha just didn't know what to do. The big kids NEVER tell Annie NO for fear she'll kill them!
Annie even found some ducks that she wanted to "meet." Thank goodness, the ducks were smart enough to elude her. The girl is like a blond version of Dora the Explorer! She just needs a pet monkey to follow her around and a talking map. (If you ask Grant, I bet he'd tell you that she already has a pet monkey but her name is Dasha and not Boots. Gotta love Grant)! She just loves to explore!
Once again, Dasha felt like Annie had strayed just a bit too far and went to fetch her. Where was I? My butt was firmly planted on a blanket in the sand. There weren't many people at this area so I could see the girls for the entire length of the beach so I let them wander. It was making Dasha nervous, though.
Even after Dasha drug Annie away from the ducks and "off limits" area, Annie still kept eyeing the uncharted territory. Given more than about 10 seconds, I'm sure she would have made a run for it!
After a couple of hours at the lake, the girls were both pooped. We headed home for naps. Annie slept for three hours! I'm thinking of investing in a GA park pass so we can go to the lake everyday! While she slept, I managed to get some laundry done and other items that I prefer not to have Annie's help with. When she finally awoke from her beauty sleep, she was raring to go! We went to my parents' house to feed their menagerie while they are away and stole dinner (Yogi Bear style) while we were there! However, as I watched Annie, I realized that she was completely wired! That three hour nap was entirely too much go-go juice for her! I was never going to get her to bed! My mind raced for the best places to tire a two year old out that are free. The girls are tired of the parks in this area so we headed to Kennesaw to a new park there.
The park was beautiful and had separate parks for younger and older kids which were both gated. Annie, of course, realized that there was more territory to conquor and had a melt-down trying to get to the other side! I absolutely loved that fence! The fence was the bad guy - not me!
Dasha stayed on the swings for close to an hour and sang to herself and was in her own little world. However, she was quite happy, so I left her alone!
Annie, on the other hand, didn't stay still for a second. She mastered every slide there and even tackled the climbing spiral. After about an hour and a half, I told her it was time to go and she actually agreed. Wow! That was a first. I told her that it was time to go and she simply said, "OK. Go home and get paci and blanket and go night-night." There was another couple standing next to us that heard our conversation and they commented that they wished their kids would act like that. I didn't know if I should burst out in hysterical laughter in their faces or just nod politely like I was a rock-star parent and wait until I got to the van to pee my own pants laughing. That's the first and only time that Annie has every willingly left a park (or anywhere for that matter)!
On the way home, we went the long way around in order to stop at Sonic for a cold treat. I don't ever want to see the nutritional information on their slushies but, hey, it was a treat!
When we got ready to leave, I poured Annie's drink into her sippy cup. She is famous for poking holes through the bottom of Styrofoam cups while in route! It really didn't dawn on me that the slushie might be too thick for her to drink that way. She started having a meltdown about half way home because it wouldn't come out. Duh! So, in normal parent style, I took her cup and began to suck on it myself trying to unstop the ice. As I gnawed on the cup and shook it downward into my mouth, I looked over to see the guy in the truck next to me staring at me like I was nuts. Oh well. I thought about rolling the window down and asking him if he wanted some but I didn't feel like getting shot tonight!
As you can guess, it's now 9:30 and everyone is tucked into their beds for the night. Each night, when I tuck Annie in, I always say, "Night night sweet girl. Mama and Daddy love you." Tonight, she replied, "Annie wuv Mama and Daddy." It was so sweet. She's never really replied to my nightly drill. I don't want her to grow up. Despite the bills that I now have to cover all of the gray hairs she's put on my head, I love her curiosity. (I love it even more when I have a break from her, though)! :)
It was a fun day. Today was a "no tear" day for me. It's probably only one of a handful over the last couple of months. Tonight, I'm heading to bed early to counteract Annie's schedule from today. The girl has Energizer batteries and she's either ON or OFF! Let's hope she stays OFF until about 7:00 tomorrow morning! That would be dreamy! Poor Dasha is feeling just as pooped! She didn't indulge in a three hour nap, either, and she's physically worn out from all of the activity today. She'll probably be really tired tomorrow and I'm sure her legs will hurt from all of the activity. Anyway, it's off to bed for me after I find my bed under all of the clean laundry that I neglected to put away!
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