If you have already bought Bailey Megabloks for her birthday, do not read any further. If you haven't, but you've thought about it, don't. An extremely generous person from our local Freecycle Network was giving away a large container (and I do mean large) of these and ended up giving them to Bailey. So, Bailey now has in her possession enough Megabloks for at least four kids, and then some. She also has an ample supply of Duplos.
I figured I better mention it just in case!
We had a picnic with Daddy today at a park. Bailey was too excited to eat, but used the park's slanted tunnel as a slide. After over half an hour of playing, she was definitely thirsty. We brought along thirst quenchers aplenty.
Wonderscope was next on our list. I must admit, I'm warming up to the 'Scope, I really am. Of course, I still get a little nauseated each time she walks down that little padded staircase, reliving that horrible afternoon. Maybe it'll go away eventually, after enough therapy.
At the 'Scope, she found a baby. She likes babies. They're fascinating little creatures with noses and hands and they're just little. The baby had something even more intriguing: a bottle of his very own. Bailey was talking with the Baby's mother about this bottle and the sneaky rascal that she is touched the nipple twice before either of us could stop her grubby little paws, then put her finger to her mouth and said, "That's good!" I'm still slightly grossed out, and in my head I just KNOW it was breast milk. Ha. The baby's mother laughed, but I'm thinking that deep inside she was thinking, "that brat just contaminated his bottle," and tried her best to sterilize it. (Or, since he's her second child she was like, "eh, worse has happened," but I'll go back to thinking negative thoughts. Heh.
Not all children like to share. A little girl today wanted Bailey to go away. Later she tried to warm up to her, but Bailey was hesitant. Yeah, I don't blame her either. Then in the grocery store room, two boys were being mean to a room full of children, while their teenage babysitter sat on her rear in a chair playing with her cell phone. These little boys took over half a room of toys and were quite rude in telling other children they couldn't play there. There was also another little girl who said, "but Mommy, I don't want that girl near me." (Bailey was trying to help her "shop," and the little girl must be used to nuisances since she has a 12 month old sister, so I could see why she wanted a break.)
We were ready to go, so I thought, and Bailey threw herself on the tile and then ran into another room. We hadn't been in that room yet today and she just did a quick walk-through and then went back to the front. I guess she just wanted to feel accomplished. She slept shortly thereafter and I did some party-shopping in Party City and she awoke as we were checking out.
It wasn't a long nap, but we ran another errand, shared some ice cream, came home, played with the dog, and we even went swimming this evening! Bailey didn't want to leave the pool, but we made her anyway since she was shivering. We didn't take the camera to the pool this time and Bailey was trying her best to swim. She looks so adorable in her pink life jacket.
And luckily, there weren't any children there telling her they didn't want to play with her. And for now on, we'll avoid other people's breast milk.
Well, it's no secret that we live in the Midwest, small town Midwest, no less. And to be more specific, we're in Kansas: close enough to travel easily to suburbia, but too far for anyone else to visit us. Funny how that works...
It certainly feels like a small town, especially today, since our town had a parade, and what sort of parade? A cattle drive parade. How small-town-defining is that? Does your town have cattle drives classified as parades?
Bailey had a blast (not surprising). Those cows and horses? Exciting animals. And riding a horse? Even better.
Sometimes, it's difficult to tell the difference between Bailey and the cat. They share so many similarities. They both throw fits, they both can be destructive, and they both think we should feed them when they're hungry. Imagine that.
On Monday, the toilet paper mysteriously became unraveled and someone added a new window into the shower curtain liner. Since the cat has done this many times, she would naturally be the usual suspect (that is, if we didn't also have a Bailey).
We fixed the shower curtain issues with having toenails ripped out. Of course, social services would probably frown on us doing that in this situation. As for the toilet paper, well, it's happened before, it'll happen again.
Toddlers: They're the new kitten.
Bailey has a fascination with eggs. I'm not sure why this is, but she loves those darn things. Lately, she's been playing in the kitchen drawer where her sippy cup lids are kept. What do lids have to do with eggs? Well, I'll tell you.
Inside this same drawer are these little plastic collapsible cups that came with an egg kit we used the night before Easter. Bailey remembers this, and after finding one, she asked to paint eggs.
Luckily for Miss Bailey, I stocked up on egg kits after Easter since she'd enjoyed this activity so much. That part was easy to provide. However, in order to dye eggs, you need boiled eggs (although we did prove that wrong during Easter). She wasn't too fond of the concept of boiling. We threw a couple fits first, but finally, we had the eggs going. This is a much more tedious process than I ever remembered it being, because then you have to cool them down.
Even though I stalled as long as possible throughout each step, Bailey never wavered her desire to dye eggs today. Because of this, with a smock around her neck and news print covering the kitchen table, Bailey indeed had the chance to dye her four boiled eggs multiple colors until every egg was cracked and I'd had all the dye-splattering that I could handle. After this, a bath was required (yeah, she was bummed...HA) and my kitchen table was in serious need of a makeover (or just a good scrubbing, which I gave it).
Eggs aren't just for Easter anymore.
And I was. The two book limit at the library? Yeah, I thought two books were her limit? Well, we returned to the library for toddler story time today and Bailey decided to prove me wrong and create a new policy. Instead of two books, we went for no books. Her limit was zero. That's right, she didn't want any books read to her today.
And could she just walk around quietly like normal? No. No, she couldn't. She was quite loud, so we temporarily exited the room, with the hope of returning. She was even louder outside of the room and spotted the tomato. I told her to play in the "apple," we have to finish story time. After some hitting (me being hit by HER), more scolding, and her not settling down by any means, we returned to the room long enough to grab my purse, our umbrella, and to hang up Bailey's name tag. Our next goal was to leave the building.
I expected to leave the building with her kicking and screaming to play in the apple and honestly, that didn't bother me in the slightest. However, shockingly, she said, "Bye apple," and then she walked herself up the stairs. I guess she didn't want to have story time today, and since it's supposed to be fun for her and something she enjoys, if she doesn't want to be there, I'm not going to force her, especially if she has the potential to ruin it for the other children.
I hope she actually wants to be there next week.
Okay, so I failed to share photos from our day at Wonderscope on Monday. And most of you KNOW I took pictures (because I rarely ever leave that thing at home). Sometimes, I even consider taking it into stores with me. Thank goodness I don't have a camera phone.
Yesterday, Bailey and I put our aprons on and started baking in the kitchen for a bake sale we agreed to bake cookies for. I think Bailey's actual motive was to just get closer to the chocolate chunks so she could steal them.
After the first batch was finished and we moved them onto the cooling racks, we discussed that they were still hot. A few minutes later, I see the little lass in her red apron dash away, and there she was, a cookie in hand, that she somehow mysteriously reached off of the counter, from its rightful place on the cooling rack.
She was just seeing if they were edible, right?
Bailey just loves to play and it's just in time for her second birthday. My mind is constantly wandering and crazed about what I'm getting for her birthday. I know what we've bought her, but then suddenly I recognize a new interest of hers and there I go obsessing over it...
I know this surprises everyone.
Oh how easy it is to go overboard. I've been working on the party-planning quite diligently lately and I think I'm more excited than she is. Of course, I don't think she knows much about this birthday business yet...
I also finally posted another article on Bailey's site last Friday pertaining to her interests. Although, it possibly could've been summed up with: she likes anything.
I spontaneously made plans with Bailey today and to get our day started, I asked her if she wanted to go and the question, "Do you want to play with the kids?" entered the conversation. Bailey was ecstatic in answering "of course" to this question. She wasn't happy that I wanted to shower first, she only cared about getting dressed and out the door. During this process, Bailey mentioned our neighbor Quinton and I realized I had made a dastardly error in my phrasing.
How so? Well, when our neighbor Christy babysat these two girls, I would ask Bailey if she wanted to see the kids, or play with "the kids." I guess Bailey hasn't forgotten that, so today's phrasing meant the same to her as it always has. To her, it meant we were going next door. I decided, since we had something to drop off for them anyway, we'd say "hi" to Quinton briefly before heading out. Bailey had another idea. She wanted to play with Quinton's toys (not him, he was busy eating). I left their house with Bailey kicking and screaming. Putting her in the car at that point was not an option, so we went back into our home to review our agenda for the day.
Eventually, and after something to eat, we tried this over again and she was finally okay with compromising her idea of what we were doing, with mine. So what was Mommy's idea?
Bailey and I spent a large portion of today at the Wonderscope Children's Museum. If you recall, we went there for the first time in late April, and I wasn't sure I'd ever return after Bailey left limping, which persisted for approximately five days.
Well, I took a deep breath and we made the drive. She needed a nap, or so I thought, but she was wide awake the entire drive and as we got closer to our destination, we talked more and more about Wonderscope and she'd reply, "Where's the goat?" (At least it sounded like that.)
She was very excited though when we parked the car and was ever so anxious to get out of her car seat. She kept pointing out the doors as though I couldn't see them and we got inside to have her try to run from me and start the exploration. Apparently, she had fond memories of this place...unlike mine.
Without any hesitation at all, and barely letting me sign the guest book, Bailey went on her first conquest of the afternoon. We spent over forty minutes in this room, the golf ball room. It has many different tracks to put golf balls on and watch them accelerate. She loves this, and despite any persuasion to get her into the next room, I failed. But then all of a sudden, she cleaned up her mess and was off on another adventure...
I was dreading her next choice. She wanted to go back into the room that left me haunted. That was the room she fell in, the room that caused her to limp and of course, my child wanted to play in it. It's supposed to be safe for children two and younger, but I hold grudges and debate the safety, with good reason. But, I am happy to report, that today, we did not leave this room with any new injuries, except maybe a couple extra bruises (but that kid is FULL of bruises anyhow, and I swear I don't beat her). I also held her hand every time she walked down the padded staircase she down last time.
After playing along in this room for a long duration, a little boy entered, who was definitely not two (or younger). His name was Aiden and Bailey forced him to become her friend. She was his shadow and she hit every octave known to ears with her delightful (but spine tingling) squealing.
Aiden left, but Bailey continued on, but then, just like in the golf ball room, she up and decided to move on. We found a train table in the hallway, which she loved (and if I hadn't already picked out her birthday gifts, perhaps a train table would've been a fantastic idea since she plays with them every time she sees one). We found a gardening room which had lizards, a snake, a turtle and a frog, among lots of cool equipment. Also important to note, Bailey liked the darkness of the shadow room. Then there was the health room where Bailey gave a doll a physical and tried to eat the plastic food, especially the cheese. I must admit, it did look like the real thing. We boltedout of the space room since a daycare field trip was going on, and she really liked the grocery room.
And after over 2.5 hours and a poopy diaper, we exited the building, and within seconds of being fastened into her car seat, Bailey was taking a much-needed and well-deserved nap.
I think my grudge against that place is now weakened a bit...and her fondness is only strengthened.
Our Father's Day celebration started yesterday morning with getting breakfast at Sonic (super nutritious!) and taking it to a local park to eat. Bailey, naturally, was much more interested in playing, and less interested in the idea of eating. We thought that was okay, considering the circumstances(distractions, and all).
We went to the Grandparents' house for lunch and Bailey was VERY excited to her Grandpa. She's loud and proud and squeals with delight whenever given the chance. She also liked seeing her Cousin Kona, although she could've done without the concept of sharing, and did her best to not conform.
One of her favorite parts was dessert, which was ice cream cake! Yummy stuff! She wasn't happy when Daddy decided she was finished. Before he could stop her, she managed to steal a bite of Mommy's, and her little expression as he carried her away from the table was priceless.
All she has been able to talk about since yesterday is "Grandpa." I may not be able to understand a lot of it, but the word "Grandpa" is definitely in there...
(Oh and tonight she called Daddy "Baby Grandpa," then I swear she said, "I mean Daddy.")
I've been busy working on a few projects, so uploading photos hasn't been my highest priority, but since you've been oh so patient, I'll do my best to share some from the past two weeks. After all, I have been holding onto them far too long.
Thursday was library day and we were actually early. Bailey showed off for the Librarian Shannon and jumped and made up stories about monkeys and cows, and I think a dog was involved too. We discussed our new F words replacement and shared some giggles. Once story time begun, Bailey sat down nicely in my lap and was quite attentive. I was thoroughly impressed. She didn't do the hand motions with the songs, she was busy processing it instead, and then when the second book was finished, suddenly, so was Miss B.
She did this last week too, and I didn't put much thought into it until it happened the second week in a row. It's like she ultimately decided that after the second book is finished, her attention span has been maxed out. She took that as a cue to watch the fish, play musical chairs with herself, and distract another little girl (the same one she caused to join in the hissing last week).
Then it was craft time, and she did a fantastic job on her fish card for Father's Day and liked gluing the polka dots on top of one another. Once she was finished, it was time to get a sticker and she loved that part the best. However, she wanted more than one. I had to politely explain to her that she only gets one sticker each week. She hung up her name tag and was ready to go, without even a "bye-bye" mentioned. Then it was off to the "apple" house, which I still testify is a tomato.
...At least she waits for her tomato after story time. For now.
And if you do think about the books, two really is more than enough. How long can you sit still while someone reads?
Something perplexing is going on, and it doesn't involve the number one (or lack it), fortunately. Instead, F sounds have been replaced with "sh." "Flower" and "fish," two words she has spoken since she was around thirteen months now sound like "Shlowers and shrash." "Giraffe" is now "ger-ash," and every time we hear these words, we most likely give her puzzling glances.
Hey, if you were used to these words being spoken one way, and then they weren't, you'd be flabbergasted too.
There are three kinds of people in this world:
1.) Those who buy Hallmark cards religiously
2.) Those who think about it, but don't make the time, so they just don't do it, but say they thought about it.
3.) Those who would rather die than go into a Hallmark. And cards, "What? Why? What for?"
If you know this Mommy, you know which number I fall under already, so I don't even need to bring it up, but I'm going to anyway. Today, Bailey and I made our seasonal trip to Hallmark. I should dread these trips more than I do. Something in me must block out how much anxiety exists at times, otherwise, I'm not sure I'd ever return. It's like that ability they claim exists in women, which makes it possible for them to have children after their first. Luckily, it didn't work its magic during that time for me, it saved it for trips to Hallmark instead. So luckily for the rest of you, you occasionally get mail from us because of this fateful ability.
Sometimes, it works out just right that Bailey is napping during this shopping expedition. The Hallmark ladies usually make comments about her and how sweet she is and we all snicker about her snoring. Then she wakes up right towards the end, takes a couple cards out of my hands, points out the covers, we approach the cashier's counter, she scans the counter looking at the unnecessary chocolate, I tell her we're not there for that, we pay, we tell our goodbyes, we leave. Well, that is only sometimes.
Today was not a sometimes day. She was wide awake and quite uninterested in looking at cards. Who can blame her? I mean, I like reading the cards looking for the perfect one for people in our lives, but even I have to admit, that if you don't want to be there, it isn't any fun. There are breakables (which you're not supposed to touch), it's quiet, it's full ofpastels, and it's just not very stimulating. For a child, or someone who thrives off of stimulation, this is one of the worst possible stores to enter, aside from maybe the Gap or Pottery Barn.
So a few cards got redistributed into the wrong places (which I tried my best to correct), she wanted to run around, which I did my best to put to a halt, and I found myself making more of the situation than what was actually happening (big surprise). I became the parent who gets caught up in the humiliation instead of relating to her child. The ladies who work there tried to entertain her, because they saw what was happening. They saw I was letting my frustration get the better of me. I was spending more time trying to train her like a dog, and less time buying their cards.
But don't you worry, we indeed bought cards. It wasn't as severe as it felt then, and I thank my lucky stars I only have her, although she feels like seven children at times. So, for those of you that fit into category 2, think about the thousands of mothers out there who go through this and still manage to send out their cards because they love you more than their sanity, and maybe next time, you might have more time and patience than you thought you had. As for you 3s, I occasionally envy you.
One more month, and our little princess will be two. It's amazing to think about. It's absolutely surreal. And if that's not enough, she said the word, "princess" tonight and my heart melted into a puddle of goo and I have yet to completely gather myself back into solid form.
I'm not sure how she knows that word, I'm truly stumped, bewildered even; proud.
I'm not sure that that word will ever mean the same to me as it does now. She's given it a new purpose, just as she has given me a new purpose.
This morning, Bailey was helping me shake my head and she'd say, "no," then I nodded and she said, "yes." So In case you've been wondering if she can actually say the word "yes," since she always answers "of course," she does indeed.
A trip to Kauffman Stadium resulted in a new stuffed animal and a hug by the real deal for the plushy/furry-lover. They had a promotion today, handing out free mini-Sluggerrrs. The hug was from Sluggerrr himself. The only thing that could have made the day better was a hug from Grandpa, and she got that too! Wow! It WAS a super day!
Bailey climbed the steps all the way to the very top of the stadium today. How many people have done that? (Probably thousands.) Bailey was quite proud of herself.
Our adventures then lead us to Grandma and Grandpa's house where Mommy and Daddy quickly escaped from to go watch X-Men 3 while Bailey hung out with two of her most devoted fans. She fed turtles, played in the sand box, did a little swinging, scattered Grandpa's toys throughout their house, protected her stuffed Sluggerrr from Grandma (who dreamt of claiming him as her very own), threw balls inside the house, played hide and go seek behind Grandma, demonstrated her ability to say "Grandpa" as many times as she could possibly fit in, and did all the typical things that adorable little grandchildren do. Oh how she loves them so.
Wait until she finds out that she'll see them next weekend too! She's going to be ecstatic!
Daddy was playing his computer game this morning and Bailey came up to him and got really excited and announced, "IT'S A CAVE!" She just kept announcing it over and over again as Daddy's character was going through the cave.
Tell me, how in the heck does this child know what a cave is?
For people who frown upon young children watching television, I think that one is all Dora.
You may not be aware of this, so just in case, I'm making an important announcement (yes, a real one):
Bailey's birthday party will be held and celebrated on the 15th of July (which was actually her due date, and only coincidence).
Invites will be sent out soon, so if you don't get one, hahahahaha, you got your hopes up for nothing!
Finally, after too much time has passed, Bailey and I made it back to the library today, and started the toddler program. We once attended the Books for Babies program, but then we stopped, and there were many reasons for this, but none that matter anymore. Well, today, even though we were running late, we made it.
So, what exactly do toddlers do in a library? Shannon the librarian reads books, sings songs with the kids, does finger plays, and now in the toddler group, all of that is combined with sign language and a craft too.
Today's theme was bath time. Bailey barely made it through two of the stories, and definitely wasn't interested in the third. However, the second book featured a snake and that certainly had her engrossed, so much so that she had to demonstrate her ability to hiss. This must be contagious because the little girl next to Bailey also had to join in on the hissing.
For the craft, they were given a glue stick, paper, and a cut out of a tub, duck body, and a beak, and then a white crayon to draw bubbles. Bailey's didn't turn out quite like it was cookie-cutter-intended, but that could have a large part to do with her mother not telling her where the beak goes, or how to properly place the duck in the tub. It has more meaning if she does it. And she did a fabulous job, really. The duck landed in front of the tub and the beak was placed close to where it should be, but not completely centered, and it's imperfection makes it absolutely perfect, as though there's nothing imperfect (and there's not). She gave the duck some white feathers and drew him one bubble, because maybe that's all the bubble of a bath he deserved.
For some reason, she was anxious to leave, but not without telling everyone "bye-bye." On our way out she discovered an "apple," which might be a tomato instead. It's one of those playhouse things. The preschool I attended when I was younger had one. Anyway, it's inside the library and Bailey found it fair and square and she must have missed the part where you're quiet in a library because she was SO loud with her giggling. She wasn't sure she wanted to leave, but I helped escort her out.
I better hope she doesn't see that thing before library time next week...
Every now and then, I think about cutting out pieces of my child's hair.
Now quit glaring at the screen or shouting.
But there are days, when I'm about to crack. That probably doesn't surprise any of you.
Some things are just hard for a mother to admit. No one wants to be branded anything horrible and pride is sometimes all you have left at the end of the day. (And on some says, you don't even have that.) But I must be honest. There's no use hiding it.
My child has tangled hair.
There. It's been typed. I think I feel a little better.
There are wild beasts that reside in Bailey's hair. They haven't always been there, but they have moved in, and just like any Hollywood-movie house guest, they refuse to leave. Bailey no longer lets me comb her hair. I'm lucky to have it washed. And now, these little tangles have started to take over more and more regions and forcing my way in just causes the poor child pain. But those things have been driving me insane. Maybe someone out there can imagine.
Yes, yes, the detangler spray. I know all about it. I have a couple different bottles. But it only works IF your child lets you comb her hair. She sees that stuff and she KNOWS what is about to be attempted. She's so accommodating, really.
It's not that these tangles were that horribly obvious, but I knew they were there, and that's enough to know there's a problem. Otherwise, she just looked like she had some frizzy patches. Ever so stylish!
Bailey hasn't napped this week, which really isn't much different than a typical week. Well, so she then suddenly crashed on my lap, and since there wasn't a true need for her to be asleep this late in the day, and I've been looking for a moment to tame the wild beasts of curls in her mane, I decided to tempt fate. After all, if I woke her up, what do I have to lose? Okay, besides and eye or something...
So, now you see where this has headed. My child finally napped and I went the fierce, but sneaky route of detangling. I'm sure there are people who have resorted to worst tactics. A couple times, her face had an angry or distressed expression (awww) and a few times, her hands would grab her hair with protective force. I am happy to report though, that at least the main culprits have been removed from the premises. It'll still take time to make sure the rest have evacuated as well, maybe once she is awake.
They could be out looking for shelter. Guard your hair with your life, yours could be next.
She's a trickster, that little Bailey. She is. You'd think she was the child of brilliant comics. She tortures the dog with tennis balls, luring her with the idea that Kaitlin might get to play with her toys, just long enough to rip the pitiful dog's dreams away and laugh in her face. She's the best type of villain, she even has the evil laugh down.
Today, she learned another new trick. Our living room turned into a party scene with fabulous strobe effect lighting. By bedtime, although she hadn't napped and it was very late, she still wasn't tired. While in bed, like a good little girl, she convinced Daddy (more like suckered) that she needed her Mommy. Mommy came to the rescue, only to be turned into a jungle gym. The best part was noticing a whole village in bed, Elmo, her baby, and Cookie Monster, all three lined up next to Bailey. After taking as much climbing as I could and realizing that this princess had no intention of sleeping, I exited stage left. I must applaud her efforts though at manipulating the situation, thinking she could count on her Mommy for a few extra minutes of play time. Plans foiled again.
Well, it certainly didn't feel like the Apocalypse today. Bailey didn't take a nap, she stayed awake all day instead. Had she napped, I might have been concerned, but a bit of sanity is quite the trade for the world ending. Okay, I'm kidding...
Maybe.
We both had our share of disappointment though. Bailey really wanted to visit Quinton today, so we finally went next door, only to be reminded that Quinton and his mother Christy are out of town for the week. Oops. It was very difficult to explain that to her though. She didn't handle the news well, but luckily we had a plastic pool in our backyard that helped heal her wounds, even if she wasn't wearing her swimsuit yet. At least clothes dry...
Unless it's the Apocalypse.
Our adventures of today (as in Saturday) took us to the small town of Baldwin City, Kansas. The reason for this was a blue train by the name of Thomas, and if you have no idea who he is, maybe it's just better that way. But millions of children everywhere know this train well, and they wish to flock to him like paper clips to a magnet, loading their little paws and convincing their parents alike to purchase excessive amounts of overpriced merchandise with their pleading, high-pitched annoying voices.
Now this is the part I share with pride: my child is not one of those children (yet; yeah, yeah). She honestly has no idea who Thomas is, and that's okay with her. He's a blue train, and that's enough to get a smile out of her. $13 toddler-sized t-shirts and all other ridiculous merchandise would be wasted on her, because she is oblivious to his celebrity.
So, for anyone wanting to know what to expect when you too have to take your little rugrat to the commercially-overrated festivities, you will see beaucoup amounts of activities all geared for younger children, a huge tent full of junk you really don't want to buy (so you really can just skip that one), and a train with a truly adorable face.
The tickets are $16 per person (only children under two are free) if you want to ride the train. Or, you can skip that part and just take advantage of the rest of the day's activities and save yourself the dough, because it's free. They can sit in the Lego-version of Thomas and call it a train ride. But take a picture, that'd be good.
We paid, and we rode the train, and we got a nap out of Bailey for our money, so it was worth every dollar bill. But before getting on the train, Bailey passed on the opportunity for a tattoo, skipped the storytelling and boring cheesy Thomas video (how can any other child watch those, really?), only liked watching the display trains in the gift shop tent (as well as derailing one), threw a mini-tantrum when we didn't allow her in the inflatable jumping things with the hoodlums much older than she is, hit a kid because he was holding the train she wanted, got in trouble for hitting said child, stamped her frustration out using a Thomas stamper and stamp pad, colored till her heart was content, moved children aside as she dominated the Lego train and manage to get herself in anyone's photo of their own child, chased away evil spirits with a bubble wand, ditched the line to meet some guy named Sir Topham Hatt, used a hay maze as a safe haven, and ate cookies as we waited in line to board the train.
We don't regret going at all, because we did have a fabulously good time, and we were there to see just what all the fuss was about. We're not completely out of the clear though, so our smug smirking must end here: our Bailey really loves those train tables.
Tonight, we were at the T-Bones game out by the Kansas Speedway. Since they're our only real baseball team in the metro (the Royals, who?), parking was nonexistent, but after a long hike, we made it. Daddy's place of employment had a family night out at the game and we did our best to participate. Bailey made her traditional faces at Tai, went cow-spotting (their mascot is a bull), trampled over other children at the stadium playground, and assaulted the bull in the form of a relentless hug.
As we were leaving, Daddy referred to Bailey as Trouble Junior (he must be Trouble Sr.?) and Bailey repeated the word, "trouble," just as a cop was drawing near, her hand slightly out. I asked if she was calling the cop "trouble", with the cop only a couple feet away. It seemed appropriate.
On our way to find the car during another exhaustingly long hike, Bailey kept pointing out the moon and space and everything else her little wandering eyes could see. She's so entertaining.
On Tuesday night, I'd spent over an hour laying down with Bailey, attempting to get her to sleep. Then my phone rings, and although it's random with its ringing (75% of the time only vibrating), of course, it chose this time to ring. I knew who it was, it was Daddy, and just in case something was wrong, I answered it. Bailey took this moment to crawl out of bed too and run over to her basket of toys in the living room. I thought to myself, "GREAT!" Well, she must have known what she was going for. She grabbed a toy phone (actually it's a toy remote, but it passes for a phone quite easily), and Bailey started talking on it too. "Hello?" (Followed by much jibber-jabber)
I scooped her up, both of our phones in hand and laid back down with her. I hung up my phone, hers was still tucked between her hand and ear, and we just stayed there and within minutes, my little phone princess was asleep, phone still in tact.
No, I didn't take any pictures. It was too late, dark, and sleep was far too important for all of that. But it's still an incredibly adorable moment to savor and share.
