A Little Fun...

There is just something special about getting away.

This past weekend was the beginning of a new tradition in our family: the annual Moulton/Himes camping trip. Even though we were not a complete group (one of my brothers and his family were unable to join us) it was a great start and one that will be hard to live up to for sure. It took some discussion, but we finally decided for our first adventure that we'd head to Seward, Alaska for an extended weekend of fishing, eating and of course massive sleep deprivation.

It was amazing.

The best part about the weekend was of course the kids. They were everywhere all at once and into everything and it was just perfect. Marshmallows for dinner? No problem. Boycotting naps? No biggie. Lack of showers and baths? Divine in the eyes of any child. They rallied nonstop from the minute they opened their eyes til the second they collapsed into their sleeping bags and it was almost exhausting just watching them.

Of course it was also exhausting for them as well and the trip was not without a few snags. One of them involved my sweet Sienna and hit at about 8:30 pm on the last night of our stay. Let me set the stage here quite clearly: Sienna had averaged about 7 hours of sleep each night when she normally gets at least 10 and had had minimal naps. Add this to the fact that she had lived on cookies and junk food all weekend and you have all the ingredients for an absolutely spectacular meltdown. Oh yes...it was about to really go down and so I decided that instead of watching her disintegrate before my eyes we would be proactive and get her to bed. Now, this was easier said than done and ended up requiring some bribing, pleading, begging and minor yelling on my part (hey--you can't always remain calm right??) before I finally got her into her pj's and ready to head towards the tent. As we were gathering our stuff she tells me she wants some milk before bed.

Sienna: "Mommy, I need some milk."
Mommy: "Okay, Sienna, you can have a little bit of milk so you can sleep."
Sienna: "Noooo Mommy! I want a wot of milk!! No wittle milk! Big milk!!"
Mommy: "Sienna, you can have a little milk so that you can sleep without having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or you can have no milk. You choose.
Sienna: "I choose big milk!
*note--this is where my father decided to be helpful and join in as Sienna was growing increasingly agitated and Grandpas can just not allow this to happen to their granddaughters...
Grandpa: "Sienna, how about you have a... half cup of milk?"
Sienna (not knowing anything about capacity, thought that this was a great suggestion): "Yeah! A hav cup! I want a hav cup of milk!"
Grandpa (who now was going to have a little fun with this): "Sienna, well how about a quarter cup of milk?"
Sienna (clapping with glee): "Yes yes! I want a cord cup of milk!"
Grandpa: "Oh Sienna, I know...how about a tablespoon of milk?"
Sienna: "YES YES YES! I want a tabawpoon of milk! A tabawpoon is the best! I wuv you Ba-Pa!!!"

Oh boy.

In the end, but not before at least one more major crying fit, Sienna did get her cup of warm milk and I found my thing to be thankful for: my father. His humor and patience helped to circumvent a potentially difficult situation...for at least 7 minutes. It is interactions just like this that solidify the heartwarming bond that lives between grandfathers and granddaughters. It's also extremely fun for me to watch my dad with my daughter as he melts like butter under the gaze of her chocolate brown eyes. Today though, he got to have a little fun with her and we were able to share a laugh as well. He's a great dad.

Now, we will just have to work a bit on her awareness of capacity. Or maybe not...this could work to my advantage in the future.

And God knows with her...I'll need any help I can get.