I'm traveling back all the way to last Wednesday. We will call this PT time and PBR time. Pre-tornado time and post-binky removal time. The week before this past week was a wee bit different than normal. I had begun training at work to learn our new paperless documentation system. Talk about a change of pace. Bye bye paper....hello handheld devices and foreign terms. I greatly missed my day off that week with my girl but couldn't swing it with all of the training sessions shoved into the beginning of the week. Hallie had a big week as well being that it was her first full week without a binky. She has done exceptionally well and it appears that she may have completely forgotten that her binky ever existed. Ask me how thrilled I am.....go ahead and ask!! I'll shout it from the rooftops! This is big success....for the both of us. I figured I'd cave and give her the binky just to avoid feeling like a big meany. But I just needed to have a little more faith in the girl. She did great. One question I've got to mention though....I wonder....where on earth did the 20,001 binkies that we had in our house go????? Binky heaven must be pretty full. So how did she spend her time that week???
Testing out momma's old rocking chair. She's discovered that Dora the Explorer is even more enjoyable to watch from a chair that moves along with her....
Being an ornery little thing. She's come up with some of the funniest new expressions and phrases....
Enjoying the beautiful weather outdoors. Going outside in the nude seemed to be the trend....
Tending to her babydoll. She insisted that babydoll have a diaper just like she did....
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Stroller rides galore. She's free as a bird.....
Buffalo/elephant races at the park with Aunt Ky.....
I survived training week at work with my brain still functioning (barely) and went into the weekend with a full tank of energy and some fun on the horizon. Despite the "life threatening" weather warnings lat Saturday I went ahead and made the trip to Enid to host my sister's bachelorette party. That night everything went haywire. The party was grand.....but what happened back home in Woodward was far from it. An F3 tornado ripped through the west side of town demolishing businesses and home, killing six people and leaving many with nothing but the clothes on their backs. This week has been heartbreaking, overwhelming and draining.....and we weren't even directly affected by the storm. Seeing the devastation and all of the people that need help....we spent the week helping out with cleanup, making meals, donations and attending a benefit concert in town. I found myself bursting out in tears several times during the week when I'd stop and think about how blessed my family was during the storm. I was busy snuggling my little lady last week and extra thankful for her pretty blue eyes and that smile.
I was able to spend a terrific Tuesday with her at home. Well actually we spent very little time at home. We had things to do and places to go. Most importantly, the park. She had a ball chasing the ducks and quacking at them. Her quack is pretty legit....it might have something to do with Riley's ringtone on his phone. It's this awful squawking sound that she has become an expert at.
She chose her accessories for our morning at the park. Train conductor hat stayed on but the glasses didn't last too long.
The weather couldn't have been prettier. It was a shame that we had to go but it was almost naptime and this momma had a list of things to get done. On this list were the following activities: sit, watch mindless tv and last but not least blog. Good thing I managed to squeeze in that afternoon of rest and rejuvenation because the rest of the week was quite a blur. Just flying by the seat of our pants making it from Wednesday to Friday. When you add a very cranky and impatient child to the mix our lives tend to be a little on the chaotic side. We've had several moments this week and weekend when the terrible twos seemed to be making an early appearance. One of those moments happened to be at the benefit concert here in Woodward. Larry Gatlin traveled her to put on a show to raise money for those affected by the tornado. We met Papa, Katie and Carmen there and ran into my friend Amy and her husband JR. We all ate dinner and couldn't resist the dilly bars they were passing out to everyone at the concert. This is where things went south though. Dummy me for thinking that I could actually sit and enjoy a delicious ice cream treat without a meltdown from Hallie. She wanted her own dilly bar. Duh. Well that wasn't going to happen. Mainly because after sharing a bite with me she was dripping with chocolate. Carmen and Uncle Riley did enjoy their treat though while I was chased to the trashcan by a screaming and begging child who embarrassed the life out of me. I'm still not laughing about it. And don't think I ever will.
Pre-meltdown
We ended up leaving the concert before it even began. Let's just say that a certain little girl was not in her parent's good graces by the time we got to the car. I think we were all off our game this week and everything all added together created one big mess. My wisdom teeth have decided to make an appearance and have left me with little to no patience and a constant tension headache from the nonstop mouth pain. It seems that workdays were getting longer and longer throughout the week which did not help the Hallie behavior situation. Paula gave great reports about the little toot's behavior during the day and the whining would begin immediately after I picked her up. I guess I don't have to say anymore than that. It was a trying week. But as usual, for every cranky fit and tantrum there was an equally sweet moment to keep us sane.....
"I promise I'll be good"
"See! Only smiles from this girl!"
I'm very ready to put this particular blog post to bed. Hallie, if you are reading this right now, I want you know that you bring well more joyous moments to our lives that you do frustrating moments. But with that being said, I'm going to share some famous words with you that my mother always said to me: "I hope you have to child just like yourself someday." Well mom, it looks like you got your wish. ;)
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