A Trip to the Library

About six months ago, I took Maia, for what turned out to be the last time for a while, to the library. She was a holy terror and I just couldn't take her there and leave with ANY dignity, so I chose to wait about six months and try again.

That time came this past Monday. This was the night! I waited until a night I could take Matthew with us so I had extra hands. He was going to watch her while I chose a few books, and then I would be with her while he had free time to look for whatever he wanted.

About 10 seconds in... I got worried. I asked Matthew to take Maia to the kids section and either let her read, or read to her, or let her play with the toys, etc. Instead, she ran of, shrieking, as if to say, HA, catch me if you can Matthew. She then threw a fit of sorts that she was wearing a coat. As she stripped it off, she said, No coat, no coat, no coat. I picked up the coat, and told her she didn't have to wear it, and that she should go look at books she would like.

She did run away from me, and Matthew followed. I assumed they were headed to the kids section. About two minutes later, I hear her, in the back of the library, screaming, No books, No books, No books. I kinda groaned to myself and tried to hurry up to find what I was looking for. Then I hear all out shrieking. I decided I'd better head to the back to hush her up. By the time I get back there, she is still running away from poor Matthew, and she is screaming, Where is my mommy? Where is my mommy? At this point, people are looking at her - certainly thinking she is separated from her Mommy. They see me headed for her, but I have no idea if they think I'm her Mommy or not. (We look so much alike, you know.)

So, she ronuds the corner calling out for Mommy and sees me - and says Mommy! So I tell her she has to quiet down and stop running. I tell her we are here to look at books and that she needs to behave. The teenagers at the nearby tables 'studying' are getting quite a kick out of this little production we have going on here. The are most amused. I'm glad somebody was...

She and Matthew headed back to the kids books and I head back to look for something I want to checkout. When I have what I want a couple minutes later, I head to the kid section. She was being pretty good, until she saw me. I told Matthew he could go do whatever, and he said he didn't want to. So, I said, OK, let's go then. Watch her while I go checkout and we'll leave. I go get in line and I start hearing the screaming and shrieking again. Of course, there are issues with my card... so I need assistance. What next?

The screaming gets worse and Matthew gets her to come to me... I ask her what is wrong and finally realize she is saying, I want a lollipop! I want a lollipop!

I explain that this isn't a bank, or a doctor's office... this is a library. You don't get lollipop's here, you get BOOKS! She wasn't buying it. She wanted a lollipop... that was that. She continued with the pleading until I announce I'm ready to roll.

Finally, I'm checked out, and we can go! Yahoo. Guess who doesn't want to leave? Yeah. Her. So, Matthew picked her up while she is calling out, as loud as possible I think, I no go! I no go! I no go! I'm sure people thought we were kidnapping her.

It was fun. Really. It was. I plan to do it again in October after she turns 4. We'll see if it's as much fun then as this experience was! Let's hope NOT.

Also - Maia fits in to our family well. She is definitely my child. No one can question this - ever! She wants to control the situation. No matter what it is it seems. I said in the last post that she picked up on Matthew's "Three more minutes". Well, yesterday, she was in the swing (Matthew was once again pushing her while I was cleaning out my car on the first nice weather in MONTHS!) He said, One more minute Maia. When that minute was up, she said, One more minute? (Her voice goes up in inflection at the end, to octaves I just can't reach.) So he said, ok, ONE more minute. When that one was over, she said it again. He said, No Maia, that WAS your one more minute. Now you've had two one more minutes. She said, I want 10 one more minutes, OK Matthew? (With the inflection going high again the end.) Too funny! I shouldn't laugh at as much as I do, but the girl is trying so hard to get it her way!

At bedtime even though she is totally ready for bed, and doesn't mind sleeping at all, she always has to ask one last time, Maia go night night, later? I now just say, No, Maia go night night now. And that's that. She goes right to bed, but she always has to ask that one last time, just in case I say YES!

One last story. When I asked her what she did in Sunday School she said, "We sang Jesus." (Jesus loves me) I have no idea if they really did - she says that every time, and it's a song we sing every night, so she might just say that?? But, then I said, "Oh that's great! You sang Jesus loves me! What else did you sing?" She thought for a minute and said "Wonder Pets!" Matthew and I had a good belly laugh over that one! Although I'm not sure whether or not they sang Jesus Loves Me this week in Sunday school, I AM certain they did NOT sing the theme to the Wonder Pets... Maybe she sang a solo??

Christmas Pictures - in March...

Rainy Saturday - Spring?

Reasons it must be spring now, despite the cool, dreary day.

1. We didn't get two feet of snow today. We got two inches of rain.

2. The time changes tonight - more nighttime hours! Yeah!

3. I did some spring cleaning today - including putting my heavy/winter sweaters away. (Of course, it is still March in Washington, so I had to keep some of the lighter cotton ones out.)

4. Maia and Matthew went outside to play. Maia came in COVERED in mud. A month ago, if she played in the yard, she was buried in snow.

Matthew was supposed to go camping this weekend with the Scouts but it got cancelled due to the rain.

Maia is growing up so much! I can understand 99.9% of what she says now. It's so much easier that way! She is doing well with potty training. Not 99.9%, but doing well. That will make life easier too! Right now the hardest part is being out and about and being able to take her somewhere. One, we don't always get there fast enough - but more importantly, she won't sit on a 'big' potty without a converter seat (for little kid heineys). So, that is hard! I don't always want to put her in a pullup when we go out - but what else am I supposed to do if she won't go potty at a store, for example? She calls her Underwear/panties/underpants = Wear wear. I want to wear my wear wear Mommy.

There are some things I don't let her do/eat. No popcorn. No gum. I tell her when she gets bigger, she can have popcorn. We recently added gum to that list. Sometimes, out of the blue, she just says, "When I get bigger, I have Popcorn. Gum." She must think about it all the time - she says it a lot!

She is really in to books these days! Such a change from when I met her. Her attention span is so improved and she can read and read and read.

She loves to play outside. She loves to play in water, in the sink. She is terrified of FUZZ. So, when she takes a bath, and little sock fuzz (or whatever) is floating in the water, she just goes berzerk! Bathtime isn't always fun anymore - that's for sure. I just thought of an idea though, since the other day when I washed her hair (and the bubbles went in the water) - she then forgot about the fuzz. SO, we're going to have bubble baths going forward so that we forget about the fuzz before the bath even starts!

Whenever she wants to put on make-up (Because she sees mine or sees me putting it on), or do her hair, or wear a dress, she says she wants to be a Princess. She always want to be a Princess!

She sings all the time now. She'll just break out in a song and after a few bars, I'll recognize it. She is QUITE proud when I name the song- the grin on her face is priceless. Very proud of herself for singing something I understand. When I start to 'sing', Maia says, "No Mommy, I sing by myself (or I sing self.)"

Maia likes to play hide and seek. One time she played when we didn't even realize it. It took us a while to find her - she was hiding in her dark room, in the dark closet - waiting for us to find her! Makes me laugh!

The other night I asked Matthew to do something. He replied, three more minutes. Wouldn't you know, a few minutes later, I asked Maia to do something. You want to take ONE guess at her reply? Yup, three more minutes Mommy. I do it in three minutes.