It cracked...

So Mikayla woke up from her nap this afternoon and asked me to tell "sister" (her imaginary sister) to stop messing with her flip flops. After we do this whole bit I tell Mikayla...

Me- You have a great imagination!!
MAC - No I don't...
Me - You don't?
MAC - Nope, it cracked.
Me - Your imagination cracked?
MAC- Yes, it's broken.

I love that little girl's imagination!

Worst Mommy...Ever!

So I might be the worst mommy ever...

I just let my child watch the entire "California Girls" video by Katy Perry. At first I thought it was pretty harmless. I kept wondering if Mikayla would notice the provocative moves and I would wince every now and again, but alas she is not old enough to understand most of the innuendo.

I was waiting for the comment about the singer being naked (everything covered strategically) but all Mikayla saw was the cotton candy she was laying on (and now she wants some cotton candy). Mikayla kept pointing out the other candy stuff in the video. I was a little disturbed by the whip cream cans on Katy's bikini top...especially as it sprayed everywhere... that I was getting ready to change the channel but the video finally ended!!!

And what does my daughter say...

Mom, she's got cupcakes on her boobs!!!

Me: Isn't that silly!!! (Worst Mommy of the Year....here I come!)

Volume Control

So I was reading a friends blog this morning and she made me laugh!! All to often I am telling Mikayla to "use her inside voice" or "whisper in my ear" and it all started with this encounter in March or April...at Walmart...

We had just, JUST walked into Wally World when my little mini-me noticed a rather large looking woman...

MAC "MOM! (real loud...at least to me) Why is that man in a dress?"
Me "That's not a man sweetheart"
MAC "Are you sure?"
Me "Yes, I'm sure." As I glance over to the woman who is just smiling and nodding at me....like maybe she understands what I am going through...and then...
MAC " Then why does she have a beard?"

And all I could do was turn the corner and grab the basics in order to escape!

Here's an idea...

So Michael and I have been racking our brains on how to "ween" Mikayla off of having us lay with her for one song as we put her to bed...



I'm not a fan of bribing my child (ok, yes I am...) so here's my compromise...and let me give you a little background info.



A few weeks ago Mikayla spent the day with her friend Samantha. Samantha has princess sheets...so for a few days we listened to how Samantha has princess sheets, a trampoline, a dog and a baby brother. I mean Mikayla was GREEN with envy!!!

Michael and I toss around the idea of giving her a surprise if we don't have to lay with her, the "mark it on a calendar" idea, and settled on the "give her a heads up that this will end soon". She did not like the idea that she was going to have to give up this mommy or daddy lay with her time. (I mean who would...she gets a sippy cup of water, a thousand stuffed animals, burp cloths and blankets plus someone will rub her back for almost a full four minutes!)

I tried the "if mommy doesn't lay with you for a week we can go to Toys R Us..." I got the "no...i don't think so" response.

So we have given up on this idea of changing her bedtime routine...UNTIL...

Tuesday, Michael had to go out of town for work (if you can call Las Vegas work...ok but to his credit it is up and at breakfast at 7:30 am and he doesn't get back to his room until after 10 pm...and let's face it, I'm not there so how much fun will he really have??!!). Tuesday evening Mikayla and I go to Target as I am on a mission to find a cheap slip-n-slide (BTW found one for $1.24!!!)

On the way to the toy section we pass the coordinated kids room aisle...low and behold what's at the end of the aisle?? PRINCESS SHEETS!!! Short of hyperventilating and passing out, Mikayla makes it known that we are not leaving the store with out said sheets.

Me "Let's think about it..."
MAC "Let's just get them..."
Me "Let's tell dad about them and see what he says..."
MAC " Let's just get them, please..."
Me "Let's see if you can be a good girl and we'll think about it..."
MAC "I AM a good girl and I just said please...."

Brilliant, quick thinking mom that I am, I say...

Me "If we buy the sheets mommy and daddy are not going to lay with you at bedtime..."
MAC "Ok, you don't have to lay with me, are we getting them???"
Me "So at night, we will read one book then you hug me good night and I leave..." (thinking I needed to spell it out)
MAC "Ok, are we getting them and can we put them on tonight?"
Me "Ah...Ok, but mommy is not laying with you tonight"
MAC "YEAH!!!!!!!"

So who knew...the secret to bed time happiness is princess sheets!!! Two nights and counting all is going swell!!!

I thought wrong...

I thought it would be great if I had twin babysitters come over once a week. These two girls are GREAT! They are 13 or 14 years old (bad I know that I am unsure of their age...to their benefit, I think they act like they are 15!!) honor students, creative, sweet, honest...you get the drift.

So Mikayla is totally excited to have these two girls come over tomorrow. She cleaned her play room, wanted to pick out a special outfit, and has talked non-stop about tomorrow. I thought I would be smart and start dropping hints that mommy might run an errand or two while the girls are here.

MAC: Will Daddy be here?
Me: Daddy will be at work...
MAC: Will their mommy be here?
Me: For a little while...
MAC: But I need a grown up to stay with me...YOU have to stay with me!
Me: But the girls are teenagers...they are like grown ups.
MAC: Don't leave me... (breaks into full blown sobbing and crawls into my lap)
Me: I won't leave you (because how can I?)
MAC: Don't leave me...sigh and gulp)
Me: I am staying with you, I'm staying...
MAC: Okay (big sigh)

Then we talked about maybe tomorrow if she's having a good time she might let me leave for a few minutes...Nope, nothing doin...

I thought, and I was wrong!

VACATION...

So we went to South Texas to visit my husband's grandparents...Mikayla's Great Grandparents, Nana and Papa!

They live in a retirement community...300+ brick and manufactured homes, one 9 hole par 3 course, a pool that is only used on once in the morning and once in the evening for water aerobics, 45 minutes to Padre, 25 minutes to the outlet mall (yippee) and 30 minutes to the Brownsville Zoo... the whole trip = HEAVEN!!!

Mikayla made her first trek to South Padre last year and she loved it. This year was even better! We must have picked up half of the washed up sea shells, played in the waves, fed the sea gulls (greedy buggers) and played in the waves again.

As we were leaving the beach Mikayla said:

Maybe next year we can go to the part of the beach that doesn't have salt in the water...

Don't know that we can accomplish that... *big grins*

She was a trooper both times we hit the outlet mall. Of course it helps that we park right by the Disney outlet. First trip she scored a princess towel, three princess cups, and a set of plastic figurines for the "Sleeping Beauty" movie.
Before we headed to the mall the second time, Papa let her grab a few handfuls of change ($13.40) so she could shop again... this time she paid...all in change... for two more sets of figurines (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid) plus a princess t-shirt (mom and dad had to chip in $12 but it was money well spent). Those little figurines allowed mommy and daddy a few hours of peaceful shopping with a few bribes on the coin operated rides and some skittles. Oh and now the little princess is addicted to Starbucks b/c the lady put her apple juice in a cup then put whip cream on top!!!

Our last day we went to the Brownsville Zoo. A very good little zoo if you are ever in the area. There was plenty of shade (much needed for a south Texas zoo), small enough that we were only there about 2 hours and tons of great exhibits. They had a few "free fly" areas for birds so they would just be sitting on the walkway or flying around our heads, there were camels (cool) and sea lions. The gorillas seemed to pretty personable too! Oh and at the end, Nana gave Mikayla some money to buy something from the gift shop...imagine that!

I failed to mention earlier that Nana and Papa have a golf cart! We pretty much rode in that every day. Some days it was just for the sake of driving, other days we helped daddy "fish" for golf balls, or we used it to go to the pool.

All in all it was a great trip. She was a Super Trooper on the 9 hour drive down and we managed to make it in under 8 1/2 hours on the way back (the trick was taking the toll road AROUND Austin on the way back...more mileage, less traffic!). I will say that in car dvd players with head phones ROCK, on top of me keeping a secret stash of coloring books and movies to keep the drive smooth.

JUMP

My little girl jumped off the diving board for the first time today!!! Albeit not to me (I was hiding behind the corner of the house where she is taking swimming lessons). It's amazing what she will do for other people...
I was sooooooooooo excited and proud of her!!! My baby is JUMPING into pools!!! Hopefully the swimming thing will catch on soon...