On Saturday, we had a special girls' day out to see the Disney Princesses on Ice. It was a great show! It was me, Bailey, my mom and my mema. I know they really enjoyed being able to watch Bailey's eyes light up with excitement. We had amazing seats...second row!
Bailey's favorite princess is Ariel. I'm not even sure what started the obsession for her. She had never even seen the movie before she became obsessed with Ariel. She has an Ariel bathtime toy that my mom got her for Christmas, and I guess that's where it all stemmed from. She was a little disappointed that Flounder wasn't there, but other than that, she had a blast!
She has talked about the princesses a lot since the show, and I think Cinderella is close to now taking 1st place in her heart.
When we got home that evening we continued the princess theme, and for our family movie night we watched The Princess and the Frog. This has to be one of the best little kid movies I've seen in a while. Nick and I both really enjoyed it, and of course, so did our little princess!
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything on here! Since I was scolded, by someone who shall remain nameless...cough *aunt Brooke* cough, I figured it was time to get back on here.
Last weekend I took Bailey out to my dad's house to visit for a while. Now, for those of you that don't know my dad, he is an animal lover. Seriously, I think he would have one of every animal if he could. His love is farming, even though he also works at a factory. He lives on 5 acres in Scott County but has a 30 something acre farm out in Stamping Ground.
Bailey and I picked up a pizza to take over there to have some lunch with him and my step-mom. They couldn't believe how she was digging into her pizza! She may be little, but she loves her food!
My dad asked her if she would like to have a baby bunny. She nonchalently said "yeah" and went back to eating her pizza. I knew she really had no idea what that meant because she had never seen a real live bunny. After we finished eating lunch my dad went out into the garage and came back with two baby bunnies. They were soooo cute! And I couldn't get over how calm they were. They never once squirmed or anything while we were holding them. Bailey loved them. And the best part about the bunnies? They stay at Pepaw's house :)
We asked her what she wanted to name them, and her first response was "Bunny". After I explained to her that they each needed a different name so we could tell them apart, she pointed at them one at a time and said "This one and that one." Well, I guess those are different names! We decided we would wait a few more weeks until we can determine the sex of the bunnies and we'll try this naming thing all over again.
Once we put the bunnies back in their home we made a trip out to the farm to see the "baby cows". I think my dad said he had about 40 cows, and best I can remember, nearly 16 of them were babies. Bailey loved looking at them and mooing at them. We also had our first sight of Bob. Bob is a miniature pony that my dad bought last year for Bailey and my nephew to share. Bob was pretty darn cute, even though he had his winter fur and was a little shaggy looking. He didn't really want anything to do with us since we didn't bring any food for him, but I can't blame him. That's a pony after my own heart! I can't wait until it warms up and he can let her try to ride Bob...that should be interesting.
What, you haven't heard? Yes, I will be excepting this year's mother of the year award any day now. I mean, really, I am most deserving of this title. Why, you ask? I could list several reasons, but we'll go with the most recent.
Remember this post? Well, apparently I didn't learn my lesson. Only this time, I don't have the excuse of: Bailey was driving me crazy and I couldn't wait to put her to bed! Nope, last night Bailey was about as good as gold. She hasn't been feeling well, thanks to crazy Kentucky weather and her already bad allergies, so we spent the evening cuddling in my bed and watching a movie. We went to brush her teeth and use the bathroom before bed. Then we picked out a book, got her all cozy in bed and I read to her. Lots of hugs and kisses later, I was off to tackle the disaster that was our bedroom and bathroom.
Wait, you think I missed a step? Oh yeah, PUT A PULL-UP ON!!! Really, how does one forget this crucial step...twice?! Except, at least last time she alerted me to the fact shortly after. This time? Not at all. I went into her room this morning and she just said, "Mommy, I've gots pee all over me." I still didn't think anything about it right away. There are still some times where she'll pee out of her pull-up. So as I'm taking her pj pants off, I see the culprit...the Dora panties. Actually, the culprit was the nitwit mother who forgot to take the panties off and replace them with the pull-up.
I had a whole post planned this morning. I was going to share cute photos of Bailey playing at the park this weekend.
Photos of how she got herself ready the other morning while I was getting dressed.
And a close up of the "wipstick" she put on.
But then, this morning happened. This morning was like one I had never experienced before. Bailey has thrown tantrums before, but they usually never lasted that long. But today, she was in rare form.
It all started over a pair of shoes. Yes, that's right, a pair of shoes. Bailey wanted to wear her black dress shoes with her jeans. Trying to get her to see my side, I tried to convince her that her tennis shoes would match better. When I obviously couldn't get her to see that black dress shoes didn't exactly go with jeans and a long sleeved tee, I was about to give in to her wardrobe request, until she unleashed the beast. The next thing I know she is screaming at me to put her black shoes on. I almost didn't know what to do. Bailey has NEVER talked to Nick or I like that before. I tried telling her that big girls don't talk like that, and that we ask for things that we want, we never demand. That only made the screaming worse. After several attempts to get her to calm down I decided it would be best if I left the room. I gathered up all of our things to head out the door and she was still in her room screaming about her shoes.
I went back into her room and tried to talk to her again. She wasn't having any of it. The next thing I know she is jerking her shoes (I had already put her tennis shoes on her) off and reaching for the black ones. I told her no ma'am, not if you're going to act like this. When you're ready to be a big girl and ask to wear your shoes like a big girl, then you can, but not one minute sooner.
This time she followed me out of her room screaming at me to "put them on" her. I went to put her coat on and she jerked her hand out of mine and told me not to touch her. At that, we went to time out, where she continued to scream that she wanted her black shoes on.
I explained to her that we never talk to mommy like that. Usually, she would stay in time out until she had calmed down, but by this point I was already running late to work, so I had to load her up in the car while she was still screaming at me. With no shoes on, I had to carry her tennis shoes out to the car with us. Once I loaded her into her car seat, I gave her another chance. I told her if she would calm down, stop crying, and ask nicely for her black shoes, that I would go in and get them. She said no, so I got in the car. She screamed the whole way to my mom's house and was still screaming when I left.
I tried to stay and talk to her there and calm her down, but she wasn't about to stop. I knew it would be better if I just left. It absolutely broke my heart to leave her that upset, over something so stupid, but I knew it was for the best.
Sure, I could have avoided all of this by just giving in, but I really want her to understand that she has to ask for things. If I had put the black shoes on her this morning after the way she acted, she would think that all she has to do is scream and cry and get what she wants. Well, that's not the way the world works, and that's not the way it works at our house.
I called my mom a little bit ago to check on her and she said she did finally calm down. After she stopped crying she went up to my mom, with her little fists clenched and said "I was really mad at my mommy." My mom said she tried not to laugh and said, "I know you were mad, but we can't always get what we want, and especially not when you act like that." And again Bailey just said, "But I was really mad at my mommy." I laughed, and cried a little bit, when mom told me that. Not really sure why I cried, I think it was a mixture of things. For one, it was the first time that she has really been mad at me. For another, I know it's just one of many times I will make her mad during the years to come.
The one good thing that came out of all of this, is that I realized today that patience can be learned. Never once during her tantrum did I raise my voice at her. I stayed calm the whole time and talked in a normal tone. This is something I would not have been able to do even a few months ago. Thank Heavens for small favors I guess. And here's to hoping I won't see another tantrum like this for a while!
ailey is so ready to go to the beach this summer, and bless her heart, she doesn't really even know what the beach is!! At least once every day she tells me she wants to go to the beach, and I always answer the same way...we will, we just have to wait a little bit. She's even told us that she needs a new "babin soup" (bathing suit) for the beach! Here was our conversation last night about all the fun things we'll do at the beach this summer.
Commercials. Whether you love them or hate them, it's hard to avoid them. Advertising and marketing is such a huge part of our society, and they start trying to catch us at an early age. Over the past few weeks, every time a commercial comes on Bailey shouts out " I want that mommy!" It really doesn't even matter what that is. From cereal, to barbies, to weird dolls that pee and poop (I'm sorry, those just gross me out!) to commercials that are selling pet food (she wanted the dog), it's easy to see that my child is being influenced by these commercials.
While I could go on and on about this topic alone, my real reason for writing this post is a little different. See, one of the items above is an item that I hoped I would never have to buy for my child. I'm sure there will be several of you that don't understand this, but it's how I feel.
I HATE BARBIES!! There, I said it, I feel better now. I'm not really sure why I hate them, but I really, really do. As a child I think I maybe had a total of about 4 barbies and never once owned a Ken doll. I think the only accessory I ever had was the barbie stretch limo...which was by far cooler than barbie herself. I had baby dolls, but was never hugely into them either. I preferred playing dress up, or coloring, or playing restaurant...which involved making "salads" out of weeds in our yard. I guess I was never, and am still not, an overly "girly" girl. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a tomboy either. I lay somewhere in the middle...I think.
So you can imagine how horrified I was when Bailey kept repeatedly saying she "wanted that" every time a barbie commercial came on. Of course, we don't go buy her things simply because she says she wants them, but I'm hoping this barbie fascination is strictly tied to marketing. Does that make me a bad mother? Not wanting my child to play with a certain toy just because I can't stand it? I mean, if she really wanted a barbie, I would never stop her from having one...I'm just not going to promote it.
Do you have something that you hope your child never wants to play with? If not, maybe just lie and tell me you do...to make me feel better!
