1m2aSandbox

Remember Maddie and Cora’s romp
through the muddy waters last week?


Yeah, so do they.

The girls are in this phase of enjoying
scaring the pants of themselves. Call it Hiding From the Giant, or
Run from the Bear, or any other derivative – the main
“plot” revolves around making a great hiding place,
then staying there and trying to stay quiet while concealing
squeals of anxiety for whatever might be lurking outside. We make
tents around couches, and caves under dining room tables, but
nothing compares to hiding in Mommy and Daddy’s bed.

Yesterday will probably go down in Maddie
and Cora’s books as one of the Best. Days. Ever. And the
whole thing was actually an accident – the kind with
absolutely no planning on my part, as well as a complete lack of
knowledge that this was the sort of day it would end up to be.


The whole thing started with a play date that fell through
last-minute. We’d been doing well all week, having fun play
dates and catching up with friends, and I was on a roll and
reluctant to tell my daughter one of her best friends had just
canceled. So while Maddie was in her gymnastics lesson, I called
Elise, a good friend of Maddie’s who never seems to be
available when we are. As luck would have it, though, Elise was off
to a park to play with a few friends and happily invited us
along.

Cora is slightly more than obsessed with
Sesame Street characters, most specifically Cookie Monster and Big
Bird. She screams like a groupie when she spots Cookie Monster on,
say, a diaper or band aid or spiral notebook, and she’s
always asking for the “Big Bird Song” (his version of
the alphabet song) on the Sesame Street cd.


This would be expected, I know, if Cora actually watched
television. But my child has never even seen an episode of Sesame
Street – the only time she’s seen the characters
“move” was in the live show we went to last year. So
her entire knowledge of Sesame Street comes from the unavoidable
encounters – tooth brushes, books, diapers, and the like
– and from her big sister’s toys.

I’ve noticed that the girls go
through different clothing phases, and I’m assuming
it’s not isolated to just my kids. I expect some clothing
choosiness to go with developmental growth; as kids get more
independent, they want more say over their outfits or favorite
colors or whatever. But I have to say, my kids develop some weird
“tics” about their fashions, which leave me scrambling
and uncertain every time I go on a buying spree.

We’ve had a fair amount of rain in
Texas over the past several months, but it’s been mostly the
thunderstorm variety, with lots of high winds and dangerous
lightning. Maddie and Cora both have adorable rain coats and boots
and have begged for the chance to go out and splash in the rain,
but I’ve had to hold them back in the interest of safety.


Until yesterday.

For various reasons, I was crabby almost
all day yesterday. I hit one of those zones (the bad kind) where I
started off with a little bit of a bad mood, and every teeny thing
simply added to it until the day was over and I had a huge chip on
my shoulder. Unfortunately for my kids, the crabbiness almost
always has something to do with them, and I can’t figure out
how to deal with that.