Hitting a new low.

On Wednesdays the park closes at 8:00 p.m., because they have family night. It is so weird that they close at 6:00 every other day, taking in consideration that temperatures here are in the hundreds well into the evening. Even though we still had overcast weather we allowed SS to remain that extra time yesterday. What the heck, the kid has a wet suit and her parents are well padded with extra fat. By 7:00 p.m. SS was clearly cold, wetsuit and all. She would sit and wrap herself in her towel for a few minutes, then back into the water. P and I decided to try the slides for the first time this summer. P went first, while SS and I waited for him to wipe out, that is SS's pay off. Since she still looked cold, I took a turn, hoping to keep her out of the water a while longer.

When I reached SS and P, a visibly shivering SS stuttered out her congratulations for a fine wipe out. I asked SS if she wanted to go home to take a nice warm shower, something we had been offering for almost an hour. To our shock SS said yes, and P and I sprung into action. We have our leaving the park routine well honed by now, but yesterday we went at it at mach speed, grateful for the opportunity to leave the park in an inconspicuous manner, rather than dragging an irate SS out. What parents will do for the chance to leave a public place with some shred of dignity.

P and I drive home (that long 1-2 minute drive) with our suits on. But we are admittedly anal about making SS comfortable. This will certainly bite us in the butt when our child becomes an
adult unable to delay gratification. We always dry her up and change her clothing, even though she goes straight into the shower at home. We know that it is silly, but its our way of somehow trying to impossibly balance out those fifteen months when she did not have two neurotic creatures to fuss over her.

P, mindful of SS's penchant for engaging in a woman's prerogative and changing her mind was desperate to get the hell out of dodge. As I had SS dried and naked he said, "leave her like that, we are just going to shower anyway." Ah, dude, that is what always happens. Yet my brain was excited about the idea of leaving in peace, so I did not disagree when P wrapped SS in her towel and we made our speedy exit. I did not even bother to point out that if she urinated on her carseat what a pain it was going to be to hand wash the cover. I lept like a lemming and kept my mouth shut (a rarity). That is our shameful new parenting low, we are not even bothering to dress our child. Were are so deeply ashamed of our behavior that we did the same again today. But it will be our last time, really, we promise.

This morning I woke up SS at the crack of dawn, 8:00 a.m., because I needed to go to DMV. I did not exactly wake her up, I just made noise around her room and the inevitable occurred. I really needed to go, it is the only reason I risked my life by awakening the morning beast that is SS. She was cranky, sleepy, whinny and clingy, but she did an awesome job during our thankfully short thirty minute wait.


Here is our amazing daughter once again effortlessly slipping into the role of a well behaved child. She did give me hell once we left the office and I am surprised P did not turn right back around and went to work at lunch. She was seriously in pay back mode.


Being cranky burns a lot of energy, SS wolfed four postickers for lunch and half a hot dog. P thought that despite the crankiness, SS should be rewarded for her good behavior at DMV. After dinner we headed over to BR for ice cream. SS was tired from all her water play, and it might not have been the best idea to load her with sugar. We are not very good at learning from our mistakes.


Life is good, it only takes a chocolate cone to make her this happy. After realizing that we plied her with sugar and caffeine, we quickly made up an excuse for our oversight. SS is becoming very rigid about wiping her mouth and hands. The smallest particle of food is a "mess" and the rough wiping begins. It is not about being neat like some people have observed, our daughter has no clue what picking up her toys means. By the end of a meal SS's skin is red, from so much wiping. We foolishly declined to wipe her mouth after every bite when she was eating her ice cream. We want SS to enjoy childhood, it goes by so fast. Part of being a child is getting messy. We are also concerned that there may be some sensory issues involved. Sand and grass are usually the most common triggers, and SS does well with both. However, her increasing obsession with mouth and hand wiping is really a concern.

Not happy about her chocolate mouth, but we think it looks (in P's word) dedorable.

She is so underwhelmed by the sight of chocolate.



P is an Angels fan and there is an annoying lack of child size Angels merchandise available. I hate walking into Wally Mart an seeing cute kiddie clothes for every other team but P's. If you want to get on P's good side, an Angels hat for SS would make him very happy.


The mess was a drop of chocolate. If she ate faster that would not happen.


SS being her calmed self at the store.