I think @mcjenveigh was encouraged by the Life of Bean series feedback, she sent me a whopper tonight:
I'm writing this down while its still fresh, or otherwise by the time you get home from tennis, I'll have forgotten the details.
So I usually hit the proverbial wall in terms of entertaining bean by about 4:30 pm each day, and then I just lie on the floor and let her beat on me with her bath toys until you get home. But since I knew you were playing tennis after work, I decided I should probably plan ahead in terms of additional options for keeping her majesty happy and productive. Here's how that went down:
{But first, a sidenote about the CRAZED GREEN-EYED MONSTER you call 'the cat': Some good news and bad news:The bad news first: Around 4 or so, she managed to undo your temporary barricade on the auto kitty feeder and pulled out about 20 kibble, ahead of the regularly scheduled dispensing time. I put the remnants of the destroyed protective mechanism you built on the breakfast nook table. The last bit of plastic from the original guard she broke also came off in this latest scuffle. The good news is, the replacement guard the auto cat feeder people sent arrived in the mail today.}
Now back to bean. I knew I wanted to take her downtown, maybe pick up some dinner because getting her out of the house not only wears her out, but generally makes her happy. Before we left, we went to inspect the cat auto feeder to make sure it was clear of debris, and all of a sudden bean leaned down on all fours and put her face in the bowl and started making chomping noises, followed by a series of meows, and then, because she apparently is one who believes in embodying the entire character of that whom one is mocking, she cupped her hand like a paw, and began tapping the auto feeder's kibble tower to try and release the food. I_am_not_making_this_up. I took that as a cue to leave and so we headed downtown.
We parked 2 blocks from Draegers. When I took her out of the carseat, Bean immediately started hooting and hollering(sp?) like horshack from welcome back kotter (eww ewww eww, mistuh kottah, mistuh kotter!) only without the mistuh kotter part and so I asked her to show me what she was excited about. She pointed towards draegers and we walked the 2 blocks until she led me (with pointed finger) to the frog shaped cookies behind the counter at the bakery section. I asked her if she wanted the frog and she said: YEAH!. There was a kid in front of us, also getting a frog cookie. She looked at his selection and then pointed to the smiley face cookie and requested that instead. I tell you this, because it makes me proud that she already has her own style and is not afraid to veer from the pack.
Next we browsed the wine section where she pointed out her favorite labels to me (she's big on those with animals - frog's leap, rabbit ridge, etc.). Then we headed upstairs to the housewares section. They have about 100 different soaps and candles and we had to stop and smell every single one, including those without any fragrance. At that point she spotted the section with children's things - most intrigued by the selection of about 10 different stuffed animals. Her favorites were a giant panda and shark. We had to touch each one's nose about 30 times. At the end of this strange ritual, she gave me the biggest, unprompted hug in the world, which unbeknownst to me, was witnessed by an older man on his way to the men's room from the Bar at the Restaurant down the hall. He said: Wow, she is like an angel isn't she? And I smiled. And then he came back (and oddly enough he smelled a little like Negronis with a hint of lime) and looked at her again, and said, I just wanted to make sure she was a girl after I said that. I was ok with this, since most people just assume she is a boy for I don't know what reason. We said goodbye to him, and to the giant panda and shark and then on our way out, bean insisted we stop to smell every single bucket of flowers, including the artificial ones.
We headed down the street and I noticed a tour bus of people parked in the lot apparently getting their gourmet shopping on while the exchange rate is still decent. (this applies to the story later). We walked past the pizza joint and bean stopped at the window and waived to every single patron and employee. Only the employees noticed her, but they all waved back, which made Bean very very happy. We headed to the japanese takeout place, got a teryaki bowl, and bean said her variation of "thank you" upon our exit and then made our way back to the car. As we walked by the parking lot, the tourbus was exiting and bean waved to the entire bus. I think she got a few waves in return, but by this time it was dark and I couldn't really see very well. As expected, she was having too much fun and cried and kicked and screamed when I put her in the car seat. I noticed that she stopped crying once I shut the door and then resumed when I got into the car. I can only chalk that up to her understanding of the principles of energy efficiency.
After the short ride home, I went to retrieve her from the car and I asked her if she was still mad at me. She said: "YEAH!" but I felt okay with that answer, only because she doesn't know how to say "no" yet. But once inside she proceeded to stomp her feet for 30 seconds as if to close out the episode of anger with a physical manifiestation of an exclamation point. And then she was back to her old bean self.
We ate dinner without incident and I discovered that an unexpected perk of having this particular kid is that she will eat my broccoli! Then after I applauded her for eating the veggies I can't stand (without revealing my disdain for them), we went upstairs to get her bath ready. For kicks, I started shouting out commands to see what she would do. "Go find your rubber duck". "Go get your frog". "Pick out your pajamas". "Grab a fresh diaper". "Take out the trash". She completed all but the last without faultering, and we went into the bathroom and began to draw the bath. She wandered away from me and I looked up to find her walking in circles as the toilet paper she had grabbed began to envelop her like a mummy. It was too funny to stop and I knew that ultimately the roll would run out. It finally did and she gracefully stepped out of her paper toga and proceeded to wipe the floor with all of the toilet paper. And since the floor is not exactly sparkly, I didn't stop her. Eventually the tp started breaking apart, which she seemed to view as a welcome challenge. She picked up every last piece and put them in the trash, again unprompted. OH HOW I LOVE THIS KID.
The rest of the night went on as usual -- playtime, milk, 1/2 a yo gabba gabba episode, books, a little bit of bedtime protest, then sleep. Oh, except she definitely missed you. Everytime a daddy came up in the books we read, she looked around. Now I sleep.
I'm writing this down while its still fresh, or otherwise by the time you get home from tennis, I'll have forgotten the details.
So I usually hit the proverbial wall in terms of entertaining bean by about 4:30 pm each day, and then I just lie on the floor and let her beat on me with her bath toys until you get home. But since I knew you were playing tennis after work, I decided I should probably plan ahead in terms of additional options for keeping her majesty happy and productive. Here's how that went down:
{But first, a sidenote about the CRAZED GREEN-EYED MONSTER you call 'the cat': Some good news and bad news:The bad news first: Around 4 or so, she managed to undo your temporary barricade on the auto kitty feeder and pulled out about 20 kibble, ahead of the regularly scheduled dispensing time. I put the remnants of the destroyed protective mechanism you built on the breakfast nook table. The last bit of plastic from the original guard she broke also came off in this latest scuffle. The good news is, the replacement guard the auto cat feeder people sent arrived in the mail today.}
Now back to bean. I knew I wanted to take her downtown, maybe pick up some dinner because getting her out of the house not only wears her out, but generally makes her happy. Before we left, we went to inspect the cat auto feeder to make sure it was clear of debris, and all of a sudden bean leaned down on all fours and put her face in the bowl and started making chomping noises, followed by a series of meows, and then, because she apparently is one who believes in embodying the entire character of that whom one is mocking, she cupped her hand like a paw, and began tapping the auto feeder's kibble tower to try and release the food. I_am_not_making_this_up. I took that as a cue to leave and so we headed downtown.
We parked 2 blocks from Draegers. When I took her out of the carseat, Bean immediately started hooting and hollering(sp?) like horshack from welcome back kotter (eww ewww eww, mistuh kottah, mistuh kotter!) only without the mistuh kotter part and so I asked her to show me what she was excited about. She pointed towards draegers and we walked the 2 blocks until she led me (with pointed finger) to the frog shaped cookies behind the counter at the bakery section. I asked her if she wanted the frog and she said: YEAH!. There was a kid in front of us, also getting a frog cookie. She looked at his selection and then pointed to the smiley face cookie and requested that instead. I tell you this, because it makes me proud that she already has her own style and is not afraid to veer from the pack.
Next we browsed the wine section where she pointed out her favorite labels to me (she's big on those with animals - frog's leap, rabbit ridge, etc.). Then we headed upstairs to the housewares section. They have about 100 different soaps and candles and we had to stop and smell every single one, including those without any fragrance. At that point she spotted the section with children's things - most intrigued by the selection of about 10 different stuffed animals. Her favorites were a giant panda and shark. We had to touch each one's nose about 30 times. At the end of this strange ritual, she gave me the biggest, unprompted hug in the world, which unbeknownst to me, was witnessed by an older man on his way to the men's room from the Bar at the Restaurant down the hall. He said: Wow, she is like an angel isn't she? And I smiled. And then he came back (and oddly enough he smelled a little like Negronis with a hint of lime) and looked at her again, and said, I just wanted to make sure she was a girl after I said that. I was ok with this, since most people just assume she is a boy for I don't know what reason. We said goodbye to him, and to the giant panda and shark and then on our way out, bean insisted we stop to smell every single bucket of flowers, including the artificial ones.
We headed down the street and I noticed a tour bus of people parked in the lot apparently getting their gourmet shopping on while the exchange rate is still decent. (this applies to the story later). We walked past the pizza joint and bean stopped at the window and waived to every single patron and employee. Only the employees noticed her, but they all waved back, which made Bean very very happy. We headed to the japanese takeout place, got a teryaki bowl, and bean said her variation of "thank you" upon our exit and then made our way back to the car. As we walked by the parking lot, the tourbus was exiting and bean waved to the entire bus. I think she got a few waves in return, but by this time it was dark and I couldn't really see very well. As expected, she was having too much fun and cried and kicked and screamed when I put her in the car seat. I noticed that she stopped crying once I shut the door and then resumed when I got into the car. I can only chalk that up to her understanding of the principles of energy efficiency.
After the short ride home, I went to retrieve her from the car and I asked her if she was still mad at me. She said: "YEAH!" but I felt okay with that answer, only because she doesn't know how to say "no" yet. But once inside she proceeded to stomp her feet for 30 seconds as if to close out the episode of anger with a physical manifiestation of an exclamation point. And then she was back to her old bean self.
We ate dinner without incident and I discovered that an unexpected perk of having this particular kid is that she will eat my broccoli! Then after I applauded her for eating the veggies I can't stand (without revealing my disdain for them), we went upstairs to get her bath ready. For kicks, I started shouting out commands to see what she would do. "Go find your rubber duck". "Go get your frog". "Pick out your pajamas". "Grab a fresh diaper". "Take out the trash". She completed all but the last without faultering, and we went into the bathroom and began to draw the bath. She wandered away from me and I looked up to find her walking in circles as the toilet paper she had grabbed began to envelop her like a mummy. It was too funny to stop and I knew that ultimately the roll would run out. It finally did and she gracefully stepped out of her paper toga and proceeded to wipe the floor with all of the toilet paper. And since the floor is not exactly sparkly, I didn't stop her. Eventually the tp started breaking apart, which she seemed to view as a welcome challenge. She picked up every last piece and put them in the trash, again unprompted. OH HOW I LOVE THIS KID.
The rest of the night went on as usual -- playtime, milk, 1/2 a yo gabba gabba episode, books, a little bit of bedtime protest, then sleep. Oh, except she definitely missed you. Everytime a daddy came up in the books we read, she looked around. Now I sleep.
Aw...this is the best "episode yet". I love that Mr. Negronis Smiler made an cameo appearance.
Posted by Skrocki on February 20, 2009 at 07:36 AM PST #