Lost and Found

Lost my child in Kohl's. 


Lost my purse at In N Out. 


Both were safely returned. 


Mommy would like a vacation.  Perhaps on the beach somewhere. 


Alone. 

In the Target Parking Lot

I think my child is maturing a little too quickly.  She thinks she is already two.  We still have a few months to go.  Don't grow up too fast.

Baby and I went shopping at Target not too long ago.  We like shopping.  She rides in the cart and points at things.  I make sure she is strapped in or she lunges for things.  This shopping experience was typical.  We got what we needed, paid for it, and headed to the car.


I go to put Baby in her carseat and she starts to scream.  I quickly pull her out because I have no idea why she is screaming.  I check her over and make sure she is not harmed.  She stops screaming when I pull her out.


I go to put her back in and she starts screaming again and arching her back (this is a very effective tactic for not letting Mommy strap you in).  I pull her out again, certain that something in her carseat is poking or hurting her.  I check her over, check it over, and can find no reason for the screaming.


I go to put her back in and once again she starts screaming at the top of her little lungs and arching her back.  I am pretty sure nothing is wrong and try to push her in her seat.  She starts squirming, pushing her feet on the chair and fighting me with all her might, all the while screaming, screaming, screaming.


Worried that someone is going to accuse me of kidnapping my own child and forcing her into my car, I crawl into the backseat of my little compact and close the door.  My child's screams are intensified on the inside of the car, but at lease the entire parking lot can't hear her anymore.  I hope.


I wasn't aware, but apparently Baby has been practicing with Houdini in the art of escape tactics.  I try to push her down into her seat and she consistently wiggles out of my grasp.  At one point, I just put her down on the floor in front of the backseat because my back was hurting trying to get her to stay still so I could strap her down.  She then proceeded to climb up onto the center console in between the two front seats, look back at me, and grin a nice toothy grin accompanied by a mocking eye.


This was war.


I grabbed her and shoved her into her seat as quickly and skillfully as I could.  Her screaming, me trying to be forceful but not hurt her.  In the end, I succeeded (Mommy- 1, Baby- 0), but boy did she let me know she was not happy the whole ride home (Note: turning up music does not help.  As the volume increases, so does she).


After we arrived home I took her out and did notice a scratch on her arm where I had grabbed her to try and force her into her carseat.

I told Husband about her incident and told him I thought she was starting the tantrum stage.  Husband told me she'd never reacted that way for him before.  


I tried to stay home and coerce Husband into taking her places the next few times we went places.  It was slightly validating when she did the same thing for him the next morning when he had to take her to daycare.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year's Thanksgiving was great, especially when compared to last year.

Last year was a nightmare.  My clingy baby wouldn't let anyone else hold her, I set off the smoke alarm, and was not happy with Husband who was totally clueless.  Don't worry,  I made sure we were on the same page this year.

This year we had less people over, but I don't think that really made a difference.  What made the difference was that Baby has matured into a little person with a very unique, silly personality.  She loves to entertain people and show off her toys.  She wants to read with you, play puzzles with you, and bring you to different places in the house (remember her taking me by the hand? She does this to everyone now).

She is also into eating what everyone else is eating.  This Thanksgiving I had chips and salsa out before dinner.  The chips were the lime flavored ones.  The salsa was only mild.  Baby saw everyone munching on those and wanted one.  We gave her one and she was hooked.  Apparently lime flavor is a favorite of hers.  She saw people dipping and wanted in on that as well.  We let her "dip, dip" into the salsa with her chips.

We also had a veggie tray with carrots, olives, and pickles.  Baby decided she had to try all of that as well.  However, she wasn't too thrilled with those and went back to her lime flavored tortilla chips and her "dip, dip."

When it was time to sit down for dinner (only an hour late this year.  I'm getting better),  Baby did not want any part of her feast.  I guess she had too many lime chips.  Instead of sitting, we let her run around the living room and play (one of the reasons I love having holidays at our house.  It's already Baby proofed so Baby can wander while the adults sit).

In summary, my Thanksgiving feast consisted of Turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, corn, rolls, salad, green bean casserole, ham, etc.

Baby's Thanksgiving feast consisted of lime-flavored tortilla chips and "dip-dip."  

Halloween

We had the hardest time figuring out a costume for Baby this year. 

Wait, that's a lie. 

I had the hardest time finding a costume for Baby.  I wanted to be super creative and adorable all at once.  However, I didn't have the time, the resources, and I was also lacking the creativity bug.  Thus, when Husband called me from the store one day and told me he found Baby a cute little Cinderella dress, I said to go for it. 

Now all we needed were the shoes, tights, and tiara. 

Accessories are so difficult.  Husband found a matching tiara and ordered it online.  I grabbed a pair of tights at Target (after I spent about ten minutes comparing sizes) and a pair of cute little white shoes (after I spent about twenty minutes making Baby try different pairs multiple times.  I finally settle on a pair that were a little too big, but she will grow into them and they didn't fall off when she walked). 

We hung her dress up in her room and referred to it as her "Princess Dress." She tried it on a few times and wandered around the house in it.  We were very excited to take her out trick or treating around the neighborhood. 

The day before Halloween, Baby's tiara still hadn't come in the mail.  Luckily Target had tiaras in the dollar aisle.  (The Disney tiara eventually arrived two days after Halloween).   

Halloween finally arrived.  I rushed out of work to go pick up Baby and Husband got off early.  We came home and started getting ready to go out.  Husband was a guide from the Jungle Cruise Disney ride, and I was a black cat (one of these days we'll actually do a group costume where the whole family fits together.  If that creativity bug bites, that is). 

Husband started to get Baby dressed in her Princess Dress and she freaked out when he tried to put her tights on (which I forgot to mention were waaaay too big when I finally opened them and had to go back to the store for a smaller size).  We decided to forego the tights.  It was a pretty warm night anyway. 

Then he tried to put her dress on. 

She started screaming at the top of her lungs, fighting with him, kicking, pushing, tears streaming down her little, angry face.  He brought her out to me; she was tearing at the dress with all her might, actually starting to rip it.  We thought maybe we'd better take it off and calm her down. 

We tried to reason with her to put on her Princess Dress.  She wasn't seeing any reason. 

We tried to bribe her with the temptation of going outside.  Still no luck. 

We tried to tempt her with her favorite activity, going for a walk.  She still refused. 

Husband was starting to get discouraged.  After all the anticipation and excitement, we might not be able to go trick or treating because our child didn't want to wear her Princess Dress. 

Finally we pulled out the big guns.  We bribed her with candy.  Here's how it went. 

Me:  Baby, do you want some candy?

Baby:  Yeah!

Me:  Then you have to wear your Princess Dress.

Baby:  No!

Me:  If you want some candy, you have to wear your Princess Dress. 

We held up our bowl of candy. 

Me:  Do you want a piece?  You have to wear your Princess Dress.  Will you wear your Princess Dress? 

Baby, while rummaging through the candy bowl: Yeah. 

She picked out a tootsie pop while we put her dress on. 

Me:  Now you have to wear your Princess Dress.  You can't take it off. 

Baby, holding out the Tootsie Pop to me:  OooP  (that means open). 

*Side Note:  How in the world does my child know that Tootsie Pops need to be opened?? 

In all of our Halloween pictures, Baby is walking around in her Princess Dress, clutching her Tootsie Pop.