Circus

Today was the day the world was to end precisely at 6 p.m. So what better place to spend the last day on earth than at the Circus for the first time. A few weeks ago Daddy came home from the shop with a receipt for $1300 in repairs and a free kids ticket to the Cole Bros. Circus. I think this was a way of making it up to mommy as she would love to live in an alternate universe of the Circus. Ever since I was born she has dreamed of the day when she could share the circus with me. When my mother told me were going to the circus I had no clue what that meant but I was excited because she was excited. The trip to the big top was only about 10 miles away but for some reason my mother got lost on the way; navigation is not her strong suit. A 10 minute drive turned into a half hour where I proceeded to tell her numerous times that we were almost there. She replied in response that we were driving to the Amazon.

We pull on to Route 1, and there it was across the way, yellow and red stripes so big and glamorous that I could barely contain myself. I still had no idea what that big tent held but was ready to find out. As the tent drew closer, pulling into the first spot in the parking lot, we jumped out and ran hoping there were still tickets available. Standing in line we were surrounded by lots of people and clowns. If you know my mother, she is not a fan of clowns, but she did okay. Finally, we approach the ticket window, hand up the cash and coupon and opt for the cheap seats, hoping they were good. With a tear in my momma's eye, we head towards the big tent. At this point, I'm not sure who is more excited, me or my momma that she finally gets to share this experience with me.

Inside the tent the first thing we come upon are horses and camel rides. Next is the big steel cage for the cats and up above is the high flying trapeze. And then we continue to walk and walk and walk to the cheap seats folks! It's truly amazing they still had the cheap seats available as most of the tent was filled with the better seats, the ones we should have gone with. So there we were, standing at the bottom, trying to figure out what's the best of the worst. We go for the 5th row about 4 seats in, sit down and learn that what appeared to be "okay" was only a partial view. Oh well, we had a great view of the steel cage.

As we sat waiting for the show to get underway, they began wheeling in the big cats. After about 2 minutes my attention was gone and eyes fixed upon every gadget every kid around me had, whether it be sparkly, lights up or blinks, I thought they were all cool. Finally the show begins and the cats jump out of their cages. I could drone on and on about what came next but I'll save you the boredom and sum up the first act, it was okay but I probably would have paid more attention if we got the better seats.

Intermission comes and my mommy thinks we should hold down the fort. Why? No one else is. In fact, I want to ride an elephant. Then she whips out the fruit snacks and I'm all about holding down the fort. Finally, intermission is over and what do you know, most of the people are gone, no more security blocking the good seat entry, and we're off! We run across the row and plop ourselves down in the first row of the good seats. And my oh my were they grand.

The view from the good seats is all it takes to perk me up. I'm literally sitting right next to the elephants, all three of them. I can see their wrinkles and shutter when they walk. I love the elephants. But what's next, something even better, the motorcycles. They are loud, and crazy and fun! Two enter the big steel ball and spin around and around. But what's better than two motorcycles, a third motorcycle. It crawls into the ball of steel and off they go, all three at the same time. My eyes were sparkling with amazement. As the motorcycles slow and muffle their engines, in rolls the cannon. Who knew there was a guy crazy enough to crawl into a cannon and blast himself away. My momma told me to cover my ears as she feared the worst, a big boom and freaked out Thad. I guess she didn't want this to ruin my experience and put a damper on what had become such an awesome time. I cover my ears and next thing you know, B-O-O-M! He flies out of the cannon and falls fast to the earth being caught by nets. There I sat, no fear, sheer amazement.

When asked what my favorite part of the day was, the motorcycles and cannon. If my eyes and face don't say it all, I loved the circus!

These are a Few of my Favorite Things...

In case you were wondering what I am absolutely in love with at the present moment, here's a hint:

Favorite Movie: Monsters, Inc.
Favorite Character: Curious George
Favorite Food: Pasta (red or white sauce) and Tacos
Favorite Vegetable: Peas, and Carrots with ranch
Favorite Fruit: Watermelon
Favorite Dessert: Ice Cream
Favorite Snacks: Fruit Snacks and Peanuts
Favorite Sandwich: Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly
Favorite School Activity: Counting (I can count to 30) and Puzzles
Favorite Breakfast: Egg Sandwich
Favorite Candy: Jelly Beans and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Favorite Toys: School Bus, Mickey Train and pliers
Favorite Outside Toy: Scooter and Sand Box
Favorite Book: anything Curious George
Favorite Cartoon: Curious George
Favorite Dip: Ranch
Favorite Drink: 2% Milk
Favorite Blanket: the "Blue One"
Favorite Song: You are My Sunshine
Favorite Animal/Pet: Kacie
Favorite Phrase: I want that and "Yup!"

Good Life

This song title is so appropriate for this blog entry because it completely wraps up my weekend and how I feel about my life right now. I truly do live the good life and feel so blessed to do so. I have awesome parents, attend an amazing school, and party with the best of friends. Although every weekend with my parentals is an adventure, this weekend being nothing out of the ordinary, but something special and to be remembered. I kicked off my weekend a little early with "good" Friday and Elmo Live. Unlike last year where I went screaming, kicking and yelling the "good" Lord's name to a far away place (the back of the theater), this year I enjoyed every drip drop of goodness that Elmo had to offer me from the bleacher seats. Sitting high atop in the balcony at the State Theater with my buddies, Emily, Josh and Sam, my eyes were fixed on the stage as the little red monster danced and sang with all the other Sesame Street characters. To the liking of my parent's bank account, I made it through another year without a $10 Elmo balloon or any other propaganda to fill my toy room with.

If you're wondering what this year's birthday party is going to be, don't worry, my mother's OCD tendencies have kicked into high gear and party planning mode is in full swing. We bounced our way over to Bounce U to test out the facilities and whether they would provide a good outfit for the big T-H-R-E-E!

Just when I thought the weekend couldn't be topped, I woke up on Saturday knowing full well that the day was going to be just as fun as Friday, if not better. This was the day I had been waiting for...we were going on a train ride with Emily. We had it planned for quite sometime that we would all meet at the train station to get on the Easter Bunny train. We agreed that we would leave around 12:30 to make it to the train station by 3:00 as the train departs promptly at 3:30. Once we got there, Emily was no where in sight. After a few phone conversations, and a conversation that went something like this: "What town are you in? We're in Stroudsberg, PA. What town are you in? We're in Phillipsburg, NJ." It was ultimately determined that Emily's mom doesn't follow instructions too well! Needless to say, we were two hours apart and boarding different trains. After all the laughs, we compared train rides; Emily wins by a long shot. Next year we will be heading to Phillipsburg for sure!

The weekend was wrapped up with an early morning egg hunt throughout my house. That Easter Bunny left me a big mess to clean up but no umbrella to be found. This was my first year for having a trail and I didn't quite get the concept of follow the path. Why follow the path when you can just skip to the good stuff, like big presents. My trail ended in a new playhouse that I can plant flowers in, grill and talk on the phone at the same time, all the while hammering my fence into place. The afternoon was spent spying on the Easter Bunny hiding eggs and gathering the goodies left behind at the Platko's.

Another Easter is in the books, and I have to say, it's gotta be the good life, good life!

These Are the Days

As I grow bigger, so do my traits, thoughts and intentions. My thoughts are ones of independence in that I am really trying to do lots of things on my own. Yet, I’m still willing to let someone feed me. For some reason I just don’t see the need to put food in my own mouth when I know that if I don’t eat someone will come along and help me out. Someday they’ll figure it all out, but for now, this works. Oh and you must be wondering how that potty training is going. Yeah…about that, it’s non-existent, my parents have resigned to the fact that I will 1) either be in a diaper for the rest of my life; or 2) will eventually succumb to society pressures and teach myself. Don’t get me wrong, my mother is filled with snide remarks, all the while I push back.

Something that I just find amusing as anything is when asked a question, I simply respond with HUH in a high pitched voice and smile. Thinking this was amusing my mother now responds back with HUH. We get into a HUH battles to see who can say it more. Oh and am I particular? Yeah, you could say that. I have to have things a certain way, or you have to do something a certain way, or I get upset. The type A personality is shining through more and more, so much so it makes my mother question where that B personality of my father’s ran off to. When I want something, I want it now. When I can’t have something, I’m going to tell you in a most definite voice that I don’t approve of your timing as you’re a slacker in my eyes. As I grow, my patience for nuances in life shrinks. But then I snap right back to the happy go lucky kid that I've come to be known as.

Toast!

Do sandwiches or bread for that matter taste better without the crust? If you ask me, it sure does! Somewhere between the womb and now I have discovered the neat trait of forgetting to eat my crust. Not sure where I learned this, but I have decided I like it. So much so that my dad has actually chimed in on my new craze and cuts the crust off for me. He claims, and is right, that I’ll eat the whole sandwich if the crust is removed. My mom hasn’t bought into. Just wait, she’ll board the train once she gets sick of listening to the whistle blow.

I’m Like Forget You

Lately I have been going through a phase of being defiant. I guess you could say its all part of growing up. My newest pose is crossing my arms across my chest, in that I’m hugging myself, and then saying NO! This pose began the other night when it was just mommy and me hanging out. I was playing with my phone that Aunt Lori gave me that rings and when you answer, it says hello. After answering, I would set the phone down, walk away, turn my back to the phone, and then give myself a big hug, all the while waiting for it to ring. When it would ring, I would turn around and walk briskly over to it and pick it up. This went on for a good 20 minutes all the while my mother watched, taped me, and laughed herself silly. Now you can too:

I Don't Know Why, But I Do

How does that saying go: kids say the darnedest things! I’m not quite to that place yet where my parents say something and I respond, or I ask a question or say a statement. But I have my fair share of cuteness coming out of my mouth and it only gets better by the day.

When sharing a conversation with my mommy one day, she told me something funny and I responded “that’s funny.” Now this doesn’t seem much, but it told my mother that I am beginning to understand feelings. I also tell them when I’m happy or I’m sad. And I love to talk about what made me cry or who upset me during the day. Just the other day, Elijah “stole” my book at school and when I got home the story went something like this: “I cried today because Elijah took my book.” “Really” my mother said. “Yeah!” These feelings are pairing well with the development of my attitude. It’s not a full blown girl attitude but I do have some sass to me. For instance, one day when driving to school, I told me mother something wherein she did not understand me (this is not uncommon). Finally when she caught on to what I was saying, I replied to her “I told you.” It’s as if I speak a foreign language half the time to these people! I’m sure my followers understand how frustration can get the best of me. When neither of my parents understands me, I just repeat myself until I am understood, and even if it takes until I’m whining.

I’m also beginning to understand smells. This surfaces best when I walk in the door and my mommy has made it home to start making dinner. I immediately walk in the door and ask “what’s that smell?” On those occasions where I know the smell, I usually respond to my own question to show my smarts. For instance, the other day I walked in, asked the question, and then immediately responded, “it smells like chicken. I don’t like chicken.” Yes, it’s true I have my mother’s genes and I do NOT like chicken. My mother tries to play the game, “oh chicken is so good” but come on, seriously woman you hate chicken as much as I do. So now she’s teaching me all the tricks in her bag on how to cover up the nasty taste of chicken. Did you know chicken smothered in ranch is actually pretty good. Well anything smothered in ranch is good, including pork, steak, carrots, etc. I tend to think of myself as the Bubba Gump of Ranch (hence the song title from the movie above). It’s to be decided if I’ll be as picky about my ranch as my mother is (Hidden Valley)…only time will tell!

I often find myself in the car. This provides a great amount of time to speak what’s on my mind. The latest of which is traffic signals. I was getting frustrated by the fact that we couldn’t go…this may have stemmed from my mother’s road rage when I am in the car…but we’re not blaming her entirely as I do like to be on the move constantly. So my parents decided to teach me the ways of the roadway to help me understand why we couldn’t “GO!” I now know all about the stoplight, in that Red means stop, green means go, and yellow means “Faster!” My grandparents keep correcting me and telling me it means caution but we all know that not true! And when sitting at stoplights, or in general driving, my parents like to sing to me for entertainment. Well there is only one person in this car that can sing according to me and that’s my mother. I profoundly tell my father “stop singing, mommy singing.” This brings me to school. Not that long ago my mother told me that there is a bug that lives on my body called the “tickle bug.” The tickle bug always seemed to find a way to surface in the middle of my breakfast. He lives in my armpits, my belly, the middle of my back and crawls up the back of my back. Eventually my mommy pops him into her mouth eats him and spits him out whereupon he lands right back on me and we start over where he somehow surfaces again. Lately the tickle bug comes out whenever and is lucky if I don’t pretend to throw him out the window. But somehow, he always ends up coming back, lucky for me.

Finally, at bedtime I have a routine but it’s more of a ritual. After brushing the gunk out of my teeth and taking my medicine, a decongestant to prevent ear infections, I climb into my parents’ bed to read Curious George and Little Critter, my two favorites. Occasionally we’ll read a third book, Snuggle Puppy, or whatever strikes my fancy that night. Thereafter we head to my bed that “has a gate on it” and climb in. Even though it’s a big boy bed, I let my mommy lay beside me and we chat about the specifics of my day. This usually includes what I cried about or what I saw or what I did or what my favorite thing was that I did that day; pretty much anything that pops into my head at that moment. Afterwards, we sing Silent Night and then she proceeds to ask me “how much do I love you?” and I respond “to the moon and back.” Then she asks me “who’s my favorite?” I say “mommy’s favorite.” Daddy then enters the room to tuck me in and bid me ado, as mommy leaves saying “Sleep tight, see you in the morning.” Magically, I have been sleeping from 8 to 6:30 a.m., which if you’re a loyal follower, this is break through!