Our Kids

The girls that is:) This was the first weekend of our time alone with mom or dad. Honestly I don’t think we handled it too well but we learned a lot. We did not properly prepare the girls or ourselves for the day and we pushed the limit of our kids. Jason and I fared the worst and maybe Landis because her naps got all wonky.

After a morning of soccer and playtime, Lela and I headed out to see Natalie MacMaster at the Phoenix Symphony. It was HOT, I parked in the wrong garage (which cost me an extra $7 and got me peeved) and we hoofed it over to the Herberger Center where the Phoenix Symphony plays. Once we got inside I was overwhelmed with the amount of children, it seemed to get hotter as we stepped inside and it was a madhouse. We checked out where all the events were going on and headed up to the instrument petting area where we got in line for the clarinet which is what Lela wanted to see most.

We stood in the line for an eternity (literally) as we watched the violin line zip through and even the flute line. The kids actually got to play the instruments so it took for freaking ever. Parents behind us started to get antsy and as parents do grumpy, they were crowding up on me trying to get their kids to play the instruments, it was getting hotter and after standing in line for an HOUR the lights dimmed for us to go in. It was Lela’s turn so I had been standing there sucking her reed and we finally got up to the instrument and Lela got serious stage fright. So after all that I learned a valuable lesson, I should have known she would not play it and never stood in that line, she did not care and I had gotten all ratcheted up for nothing. Thank goodness I was only steaming on the inside and not the outside like other parents.

I had to scoop Lela up and run downstairs as fast as I could to get to our seats on the main floor. We had great seats. The symphony started just as we sat down. Lela covered her ears because she doesn’t like things to be loud but after a few bars of music she uncovered them and started to tap her foot. She really enjoyed it with the fiddle player came out. I really enjoyed it too. About half way through she wanted to go. We made it 3/4 of the way through and then I decided we would just go, no need to make her stay if she was done. So we happily left the hall and headed back to the car.

In my mind I was saying, “you know I should have just taken her to get bagels” and other such things. I mean it was fun but a lot of work for me and it was damn hot out. As these thoughts ran through my head, my beautiful, perfect, unique, almost 4 year old looked up at me and said, “Thanks mommy, that was fun, I really enjoyed it.” All of the sudden the beauty of the day was clear and I was so touched by her spontaneous thank you.

We texted Jason that we were leaving and headed to meet him and the rest of the fam. When Lela saw Piper they ran up to each other and hugged, it was a very sweet moment. It quickly went downhill from there with overstimulated Lela and hot and tired Piper but in the end it was all worth it.