Happy Halloween

I made Lailah a kitten costume this year. I think she enjoyed pretending to be a cat. =) I just wish she would have held still a little longer for me to the do the whiskers, they are a bit crooked, but its amazing that I got them on her at all.

Trip to the Dino Museum

Lailah had her first trip to the Dino Museum and was really only interested in going into the areas that were off limits. Guess she figured if she was short enough to go under the barricade the rules didn't apply. Needless to say it was a lot of "Lailah you can't go over there", "Lailah that's only to look at from here". She did have some fun though. There are definitely some interesting things in there. And of course being able to dig in the sand at the end wasn't too shabby. We stopped at the petting zoo for a quick look and then headed home...it was way past time for someone to take a nap.

 Lunch is never complete without a few dinos.

 Hey little goat, check out my sticker.

 No, sorry you can't have it.

 TKO

Another Masterpiece

When Uncle Ry said he needed some art for the walls of his new place, Lailah got busy with another masterpiece. She was pretty excited to create something for him. =)

The Cold before the Cold

The cold is seeping in, and the last bits of outside fun sans oodles of bundling has taken place. Much of it involving Lailah’s slide she got from Grandma and Grandpa H. Once she learned she wasn’t afraid to climb up and go down on her own the sky has been the limit, she’s madly in love, with a slide. And has since become quite the daredevil, thinking it a good idea to go down on her stomach and back. Good luck telling her it’s a bad idea, she’ll only antagonize you by coming up with a more daring way of going down - all whilst giving you ‘the look’. That’s her these days – bullheaded. And not a thing you can say or demonstrate will sway her. I both love and loathe that about her.  

Little Ladybug

Little Ladybug flitting about. Be careful now, watch out. Almost didn’t see you there, shouldn’t you be up in the air. Use your wings little one, take off now. Don’t tell me you forgot how. It’s much better up in the bright blue sky, take off little Ladybug, fly.

Pumpkin Patch Meltdown

Countdown to meltdown in T-Minus 10-9-8-7…You get the idea. This year’s pumpkin patch outing ended up a pumpkin patch odium. The drive there featured several red flags, Lailah was already tired, and clearly stated that she didn’t want to go – when Lailah says she doesn’t want to go, you don’t go, because if you do, you will wish you hadn’t. Red Flag number one. Red flag number two, all the streets were blocked to get where we were going. What should have taken approximately 5 minutes, took about 15. Red Flag number 3, my ornery husband of a passenger barking instead of talking to me. As I slowly feel myself drooping in my seat and wishing for a pair of earplugs, the biggest red flag of all blaring in my ears, that voice inside screaming at me to turn around and go home. I didn’t listen, and what would ensue still leaves me a tad bit scarred, and takes the cake as worst day ever in a long time.

Once we got there, and were out of the car it started off well enough. Lailah saw the pumpkins and put her ‘I wanna go home’ attitude aside and started scouring the field for her prize pumpkin. A few adorable moments of pumpkin love were had, along with a few moments of me thinking to myself ‘oh here we go’, but nothing I couldn’t handle or keep quietly to myself at least. And then, progressively things went from I can handle this she’s a kid, to oh lord the rest of this day is going to be hell on earth. And, it was. The results of which can be further found in my ‘A mother never runs away’ post. That being said, aside from the not-so-fun parts of the day, there were also fun parts, the following pictures of which will so demonstrate.

A mother never runs away

You can’t run away from being a mom - even when it means having your hair pulled and being told “I don’t like you”, or having books thrown in your face, or trying to hold on to a screaming wet noodle of a child in the bathtub to keep them from hurting themselves, or being smacked in the face by a tiny hand and told “you can’t cry” when you have lost all patience and know of nothing other to do than break down.

That was my Sunday. It started off all right, and then went to shit at the speed of Mach 10. At the end of the day I could do nothing else than think to myself, where did I go wrong, what am I not doing right, where is she learning this behavior? Certainly it must be my fault that there is such a large storm brewing in such a small teacup.

The fact of the matter is – it could have everything to do with anything. There will never be an answer to the almighty question of “why is my two year old acting like a demon?” - It could have something to do with the copious amounts of sugar she was provided even when I said no, a growth spurt, a misfiring synapses, a tooth, or it could just be that she is hell bent on sending me into to the loony bin, but I like to think not.

It was a rough day to the say the least, and touch and go today, everything makes me want to cry; seeing her made me want to cry, saying goodbye to her made me want to cry, writing this makes me want to cry, the thought of having to put on my thinking cap and work makes me want to cry, everything is making me want to run away…but alas, a mother never runs away. I’ll just hope for a better day and take whatever - come what may.