I'm so exhausted and exasperated anytime I have to take the two "bitties" out of the house, that I forget we do have fun together. Harriet is fine once we start the car, but cries the whole time we're getting ready and into the car. The more you prod Grace along, the slower she moves, so my nerves are usually shot before we even leave to go anywhere, and I'm definitely fried by the time we get home and into the house. Like I said though, we do have fun in-between.
On Friday, we decided to go to Drumlin Farm. The weather didn't look too bad at our house, so we decided to chance it. However, half way through our drive, it started POURING rain. I could have dealt with a drizzle, but this was "get you soaking wet in 2 seconds" rain. We pulled into the parking lot of the farm to find families leaving in droves. Drenched kids and strollers were packing up as fast as possible. Soon, the lot was deserted and I started wondering what the heck I was thinking. Then, I decided to just wait it out for a minute since it looked like one of those quick summer storms, so Grace and I sang "rain, rain, go away, come again another day" for about 10 minutes. Sure enough, the rain let up.
We got out of the car and we had the whole farm completely to ourselves. It was great! (note to self - the wagon is not fun to take to Drumlin Farm - take the stroller next time!) Our favorite thing to do at the end is to stop at the little gift shop on our way out. They have fantastic things for your house, garden, yard, and for kids. Grace always finds a true treasure there. That day, it was a really nice little book about the "Little Red Hen" to add to her summer reading list. She's signed up at the Stow library for the "summer listening club" and needs to listen to 50 (DIFFERENT!) books by the end of August. She's already got about 17 down, so we'll be just fine. She does like to repeat stories though and we have to remind her to read new ones each night so that they count.
On Monday, Harriet turned 2 months old. She now weighs in at 13 pounds 8 ounces and is 23.5 inches long. She is in the 97th percentile for weight and the 90th for height. Her doctor said she is "a darling, yummy baby." I whole-heartedly agree. I fall in love with her more every day.
On Tuesday night, I was planning to take Grace to Erikson's Dairy for a mommy/daughter ice-cream cone. We both badly need to spend time together sans Harriet. I wanted to leave Harriet behind with David, but I forgot that he was going to a church meeting. So, just before 8pm (Erikson's rush hour), I strapped both kids in the car and headed over to the ice cream stand (rounding to the library first to take back our videos and exchange them for new ones.) Harriet was having her night-time fussiness and hadn't eaten in a while, so I had planned to get one cone as quickly as possible, throw them back in the car, and bring it home to eat it. Grace had another plan. She wanted the full Erikson's experience. So, we pulled up, parked 20 feet from the window, got out and started waiting in line. All of their windows were open and each had a HUGE line. After a good 20 minutes in line behind people getting a sample of this, and two of that, and oh- wait, we need one of the doggie ice creams, we finally got to the window. (Erikson's will give your dogs a free scoop of ice cream on a doggie biscuit if you bring them to the window with you!) Grace ordered a "vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips in a cone." I only had enough cash for one cone, and she was disappointed that I didn't get one for myself. So much for everything being "all about Grace" - she does worry about other people contrary to what she displays during the day. Then, I tried to hurry her back to the car and get her strapped in - nope, she wanted to tail-gate it and eat her ice-cream cone in the dirt parking lot like everyone else. So, I took a deep breath, got Harriet out of her carseat so I could bounce her, and put Grace on the tailgate of my pathfinder. I WISH I had a camera to take a picture of that angelic face with sweaty hair and dirty clothes sitting in the back of my dirty car in the Erikson's Dairy parking lot with an ice cream ring all the way around her face and a smile big enough to fill the ring. She, who has not been good about sharing lately, let me help her eat her cone and made sure I got my turn having a lick.
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