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.

Whew...

Zip. Zilch. Zero.
Today I got nothin'...

I am completely spent of energy--my kids have sucked it all out of me.
Tantrums, whining, crying, tantrums, pleading, TANTRUMS!!

The only thing I can think of to be thankful for is that it's almost over. Luckily my kids have short memories because today is one to wipe off the books.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Roger that...over and out.

And...You're OUT!

Libraries and toddlers...oh boy.

If there is a list of banned books, then somewhere there must exist a list of kids banned from the library. I'm pretty sure my daughter is on it.

Now, don't get me wrong...books are great for kids and I have read to my kids daily from a very early age. My favorite time of the evening happens to be when we are all snuggled up and being whisked off to some magical place via the storybook du jour.

Getting the books from the library is a completely different story. Especially when Sienna is involved.

We make a weekly trip to our local library and usually this means I take both kids by myself. My son loves these outings and at the age of 4 is able to handle the rules: quiet voices, walking feet, gentle fingers. We repeat these simple phrases the entire way there in the car...it is our "mantra"...which apparently only works so far for my son. Sienna obediently says the words with us but I know that her brain is thinking other thoughts. Devilish two and half year old thoughts. All I can say is...poor library...poor mommy...and here we go. A recent visit went something like this:

I made a point to be there at 10:00 am on the dot because this was when the library opened. I also figured that at that time there would be less people to grace with our presence. Our mission was to enter quietly and head straight to the kids' section to quickly select our books and then get out as soon as possible. Of course it would've been great to sit down and snuggle up in a nook to peruse books with my kids, but Sienna, of course, had other ideas.

First of all, telling a two year old to be quiet in a library is like telling her to not breathe. She has only one noise level to operate on: loud. Then there are the aisles that must just scream "RUN RUN RUN" to her and so she does. Add that to the fact that all of those lovely books lined up on the shelves happen to look oh so tempting to touch. Note: my daughter has proven capable of emptying an entire row of books in less than 10 seconds flat. By this time, I was starting to get the "looks" from the librarians which seemed to say, "Woman, why can't you control your child?"

Yeah, I know. Control her...yes, what a brilliant concept.

Hah.

With my arms laden in books I finally made my way to the checkout counter with Devin following right behind me and Sienna...well at least I knew she was still in the library because I could hear her from across the way loudly telling someone her name. I dropped the books on the counter, told Devin to stay put and went to go retrieve my daughter before she could dismantle anything else. She of course did NOT like this plan and decided that instead it would be the perfect time to throw one of her tantrums...she hadn't had one in for at least 45 minutes, so what better place to toss one in? I carefully carried her thrashing body to the front to try to complete the transaction only to find out from the kind librarian checking us out that we had a late fee of $1.50 (of course we did!) She took one look at the flailing child in my arms and quietly said, "I'll just let it slide this one time..." while she hastily handed us our books.

Whew.

After strapping both kids into their seats I then settled myself into my own spot and tried to calm my brain. I was embarrassed, I was frustrated, I was NEVER GOING BACK. Sienna and libraries just didn't mix. And that's when I heard it, her sweet little voice saying in a very normal way: "That was fun! Can we go again Mommy? I wike the wibrary!"

Good grief.

So today I really wasn't sure what to be thankful for...but then it hit me. I am thankful for my daughter's short memory...because I want her to view the library as a fun place and to want to go back. I just know that developmentally she is not quite ready unless it is a one on one experience where I can provide more adequate supervision. She needs that guidance to be able to learn how to exist in a library.

Until then, she has been 86'd...and hopefully the librarians have a short memory as well.