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proudest mommy EVER
Mar. 20th, 2011 09:54 am I took Gracie to see the Crimson Pirates last night. Big risk, I know. Loud, crowded, distractions, lots of things she's not allowed to touch. But I wanted to see a bunch of people who were going, plus the venue was close enough to our house that if it went badly and we had to leave after twenty minutes it wouldn't be a big deal. Also, I knew the wife of a member of the band was bringing their 4-year-old daughter, so I reckoned Gracie would have someone to play with.
Lemme tell you - we stayed for three hours. Close to three sets.
Gracie was WONDERFUL. Sure, I had to wrangle her back a few times. Sure, I had to be super-vigilant and didn't really get a chance to chat with anyone beyond Hi (but who does at these things, really). Sure, if I hadn't brought the iPad, the evening would've gone very differently. But still.
Gracie and Izzy hit it off right away - they shared Izzy's toys, Gracie's iPad, occasionally danced, and did a clothing swap (Izzy was wearing a princess dress which she got bored of soon after we got there, so Gracie wore it for the rest of the night). It was hugely helpful to have another mom to help wrangle the two girls, and B is awesome under any circumstances. When Gracie decided she wanted a pretzel, she asked me nicely for it, followed me up to the bar to get it, and waited rather patiently by my side while they apparently made it from scratch. I got her a soda which she nursed for the rest of the night, and when she had to go to the bathroom, she informed me, let me get her jacket on, and came directly with me to the bathroom, where she washed her hands without being told.
She did spend a lot of time playing with the iPad and not watching the show, but there were a few songs in the third set that she seemed to like (Fire Marengo and General Taylor, two of my favourites), and she sat in my lap and just watched the show. The few times I had to hiss at her to come back to where we were sitting and away from the lights or whatever, it didn't take too much in the way of hissing. I will definitely be trying her out on shows at camp this summer - the lower camp ones which are short and child friendly.
She decided when it was time to leave (it was like 11:30, thank god I had made sure she had a long nap in the afternoon after playschool), and held my hand all the way through the parking lot and back to the car. I heaped on the praise. To add even more loveliness, her new bedtime book is Neil's Crazy Hair.
BEYOND proud and happy. It's odd, but I feel like she and I have grown closer in the past few months. Even before our trip to Florida, and it's not just because we're trying new things together (and I do believe that the new things work as well as they do because they were with me, her anchor to her routine, and also we do the new things one at a time and VERY slowly), or that her increasing communication capability makes me even more able to correctly gauge what will be successful and what won't. I have gotten stricter with her the more aptitude she has shown, but it seems to be helping our relationship. Not just my daughter, my best girl (and I tell her this all the time). At night I'll say, "goodnight my Gracie" and she'll say "goodnight my Mama", and it melts my heart every time.
Lemme tell you - we stayed for three hours. Close to three sets.
Gracie was WONDERFUL. Sure, I had to wrangle her back a few times. Sure, I had to be super-vigilant and didn't really get a chance to chat with anyone beyond Hi (but who does at these things, really). Sure, if I hadn't brought the iPad, the evening would've gone very differently. But still.
Gracie and Izzy hit it off right away - they shared Izzy's toys, Gracie's iPad, occasionally danced, and did a clothing swap (Izzy was wearing a princess dress which she got bored of soon after we got there, so Gracie wore it for the rest of the night). It was hugely helpful to have another mom to help wrangle the two girls, and B is awesome under any circumstances. When Gracie decided she wanted a pretzel, she asked me nicely for it, followed me up to the bar to get it, and waited rather patiently by my side while they apparently made it from scratch. I got her a soda which she nursed for the rest of the night, and when she had to go to the bathroom, she informed me, let me get her jacket on, and came directly with me to the bathroom, where she washed her hands without being told.
She did spend a lot of time playing with the iPad and not watching the show, but there were a few songs in the third set that she seemed to like (Fire Marengo and General Taylor, two of my favourites), and she sat in my lap and just watched the show. The few times I had to hiss at her to come back to where we were sitting and away from the lights or whatever, it didn't take too much in the way of hissing. I will definitely be trying her out on shows at camp this summer - the lower camp ones which are short and child friendly.
She decided when it was time to leave (it was like 11:30, thank god I had made sure she had a long nap in the afternoon after playschool), and held my hand all the way through the parking lot and back to the car. I heaped on the praise. To add even more loveliness, her new bedtime book is Neil's Crazy Hair.
BEYOND proud and happy. It's odd, but I feel like she and I have grown closer in the past few months. Even before our trip to Florida, and it's not just because we're trying new things together (and I do believe that the new things work as well as they do because they were with me, her anchor to her routine, and also we do the new things one at a time and VERY slowly), or that her increasing communication capability makes me even more able to correctly gauge what will be successful and what won't. I have gotten stricter with her the more aptitude she has shown, but it seems to be helping our relationship. Not just my daughter, my best girl (and I tell her this all the time). At night I'll say, "goodnight my Gracie" and she'll say "goodnight my Mama", and it melts my heart every time.
