12:25 p.m. - May 13, 2006
The Museum Trip!
I definitely could be a referee!
Wait, scratch that.
I definitely could be a diplomat working at mediating difficult negotiations between less than friendly countries.
Yes, the trip to the Children�s Museum was yesterday, and I survived and thrived.
However, I did have to step in between some children at times. Of course, my Katie was involved. Ah, well.
I drove a girl named Kate, who is the daughter of people I�ve known since high school, to the museum. We had a five or six vehicle caravan to take the 20+ student class to the museum. Some parents drove the children on their own since they had to leave early to get back to work, or wanted to bring their other children to the museum. Still, though, it was a master stroke of coordination to get them all there, at roughly the same time.
So Katie and Kate were in the back seat, of course, in their respective booster seats.
Katie had one of her newer stuffed bunnies in the car. Of course, that became the subject of intense negotiations.
My diplomatic skill was brought into the fray many times. Often I had to get one party to agree to some concessions before the bunny was handed over, and it was hard fought at times.
Kate, even though she is 4, and looks angelic, does have a death glare she can shoot you.
The museum has this ginormous glass sculpture in the main area of the building. It�s �glass fireworks� or something like that, and it�s incredible. The teacher wanted to be sure that the children saw that sculpture.
Well, they saw it, but only on the way to someplace fun.
Katie, of course, was off like a shot wherever she wanted to go. Run away, Katie. Run, run away.
Kate, in contrast, stuck close to me at all times. Even when she was running toward something, she lagged behind a bit.
They visited the DinoSphere and the Magic Schoolbus, and I noticed that Katie is definitely the alpha. She always wants to go first and is the ringleader and says where they should go.
Kate was definitely more patient and waited, but did not yield her ground when Katie became impatient.
I have not seen this out of Katie, and normally the reports are that she�s patient and respectful, so perhaps this just manifested itself since I was there. (The impatience, not the alpha � I have heard that before.)
The big deal was going to the big old carousel after lunch. It was there that I noticed Katie being a ringleader of sorts.
Magically, Kate, Delaney, and Nicole all gathered over to Katie, and Tayla did too after a while. They started wrestling, hugging and slapping each other playfully in line for the carousel. It was a sight to see, how she really interacted with her friends.
If Justice were nearby, she�d have been in there too. Katie really likes Justice. I think it�s because Justice�s dad is Native American, and she and Katie share some commonalities.
After the carousel ride, the kids went to play in this playhouse that had a pretend ice cream store, and Kate and Katie were waiting on me, making me pretend sodas and sandwiches.
Then Katie ran off into a mirror maze, and this is where I got a bit spooked. She crawled right under something (it is a maze that has places where the kids can crawl under) and Kate and I didn�t know where she went.
I was nervous, and when I found her, I told Katie not to run off like that again.
Again, she did it, and when I found her a second time Kate went right up to her and reprimanded her. Not me, Kate.
She didn�t do it again the rest of the time we were in the museum.
Soon, it was time to go, and we all herded the kids back to the cars.
Once again, the ownership of the bunny was in question. But a new twist appeared. We had some snacks that some parents brought � a Kudos bar and a Butterfinger. Now Kate had already given her Kudos bar to Katie, because she didn�t like it. So this was the leftover Kudos.
I offered the Butterfinger to Kate. Katie objected.
�Katie, Kate doesn�t like the Kudos.�
�Well, I wanted to share the Butterfinger.�
�We are sharing, Katie. You are each having a snack.�
�Oh.�
We drove home, and Kate�s dad was there to greet her. They waved to each other, and I know that any death glare given to Katie by Kate was short lived, and Monday they�ll be friends forever.
I was a whooped puppy after that trip. I only had two of the kids under my watch but at times I did have more of the group under my hand when potty breaks were happening. I really don�t know how the teachers do it.
The dance class picture was cancelled as the costumes are not in, so Katie and I spent a quiet afternoon and evening before she went to bed.
The rest of the night was semi-peaceful. I got a call from Lap about some good news that she just had. A friend was thinking about coming over to watch some movies that I had TiVoed, but that didn�t happen as the sirens of laundry and sleep called this person. So I hunkered down to watch some hockey and baseball and preview some mixes.
Of course, I fell asleep, and I awoke to my cell phone bleating its ring tone.
It was a friend, who wanted to vent. She did for a while, but I was groggy, and tired, and at times I guess inattentive because I was shaking the cobwebs out my head.
Then, in the middle of the conversation, I remembered that I needed to give Butch his medication, and I hadn�t seen Butch in a while. So I had to hang up abruptly and go find that cat.
He was in Katie�s room, and I had to sneak in and grab him without waking up Katie. For a 12 pound half-Siamese cat, that took some doing, but I did. I even was successful about administering the medicine.
Then I called back my friend. She wasn�t happy. I don�t really blame her; I did kind of flake out.
I called her back this morning to apologize again. She mentioned something to me and it resonated. I�m so worn out with just one, what about Liz with two.
Yeah, that�s true. Sure, it helps that Katie�s in preschool, and that I come home most days, but for about four hours Liz has to be with both of them.
That takes a Herculean effort, for sure.
So tomorrow is Mother�s Day. I�m going to pick her up at the airport, and we�ll come home and have some chicken parm (Liz made it already, I have to go get it from the freezer downstairs) and linger and laugh. Oh, and Katie and I are going to make her brownies as a surprise.
Under these circumstances, I realized that Liz is just doing an incredible job. I know I have to pull more of my weight, and I�m going to do the best I can.
Heck, I�ll even try to master the pony tail!
