Never a Dull Moment

This weekend was a rare weekend when we didn't have any planned obligations/parties to attend, or plans with friends/family. We made the most of it by going to the Pacific Science Center on Saturday. Abigail is obsessed with Dinosaurs. She watches her favorite cartoon, "Dinosaur Train" almost daily. Every time we drive to swimming lessons she informs me that a dinosaur is chasing mommy's car. Or she'll tell me, "Mommy, there's a dinosaur riding in your car." I decided the kid could use some education on the actual SIZE of dinosaurs. I mean, really Abigail? No way could a dinosaur fit in mommy's car. DUH! So when I found out that the Science Center has a permanent dinosaur exhibit, and I happened to have a coupon for buy 1 get 1 free admission (and kids under 3 are free) I was like SOLD! Family outing!!

Side note - this was the first major family outing in public since potty training. We took Abigail in her regular panties and brought backup clothes. I'm proud to say that she had NO accidents & went in the public restroom no problem :)

Abigail was beside herself excited to go see dinosaurs. We went right when the museum opened, around 10am. I think if we'd shown up any later Abigail may have had a nervous breakdown. Then, we walked into the museum & BAM! This guy was looking down at us. Poor Abigail! I was right, she had NO idea how huge dinosaurs were in real life. And the museum dinosaurs were even scaled down to half size. The poor thing - terror flashed across her face, her knees buckled & she held on tight to my legs. After much coaxing and reassuring she regained the ability to stand, eventually walk, and after a lot of pep talk she finally came out from behind my legs. Funny thing is, once she decided it was ok, we had to circle back to the dinosaur exhibit a total of 3 times & by the end of our visit, she was telling other kids that they were "MY dinosaurs!" :)

We made it past "Buddy's daddy". Buddy is the baby T-Rex on her "Dinosaur Train" cartoon. She decided this must be his dad. We came to the animated Raptors, which again she was a bit trepidatious about, but got over it quickly. I was a bit in shock because it was a graphic scene they had laid out. These dinos were scary looking and eating a dead dinosaur carcass. Brandon had his wits about him & explained that these were "meat eaters" to Abigail.

When we rounded the corner of the exhibit to see the herbivores, my jaw hit the floor when Abigail yelled out, "Triceratops!!" How does my kid know dinosaur names? Like proper names of that specific species? She's only 2.5 years old! That kid never ceases to surprise me!


Anyway, Triceratops is her favorite dinosaur. We spent a lot of time staring him down.

All in all it was quite the successful family outing.

Sunday I had plans to spend time with a friend, so Brandon took the opportunity to have some quality dad-daughter time with Abby. He took her shoe shopping (for him), where she proceeded to try on no less than 8 pairs of men's shoes ranging from a size 12-14. Then, they went to Chipotle (their favorite restaurant!) for quesadillas and black beans, and then she got to eat an icecream sundae from Dairy Queen!

When I got home, she was VERY hyper. She "helped" me bring groceries inside, and then accidentally let the cat out. But don't worry! She had the situation handled! Abigail ran outside and yelled, "No, no, Romie! You DON'T go outside! Get in here RIGHT NOW!" When Romie didn't listen, Abigail came back inside and grabbed the essentials...a can of cat food, a fork, and ladybug rain boots. Of course, those items were essential, but when in the midst of a crisis (crisis = cat outside) one cannot be bothered to take time to put pants on. And I did what any responsible mother would do, when their child runs out into the cold rainy outdoors pant less, I ran after her with my camera phone in-hand!

This is Abigail calling/yelling/looking for Romie:

Aaaand she found her, handing out wet cat food & a fork in a manner that made Romie even more fearful instead of coaxing her to come inside (Romie was crouched down under the big bush):

Romie wasn't even considering coming inside for Abigail, who didn't understand that screaming at a cat's face isn't going to get her to come to you, even if you do have food in your hand. Luckily, Abigail suddenly realized she had to pee and ran inside.

While Abby peed, I braved the thorny bush and got the cat inside and wiped the dirt off her paws. Abigail is pretty self-sufficient in the bathroom now, so I wasn't too concerned. She had things handled. Next thing I know she comes running in the living room looking like this:

She had gotten into my makeup bag and figured out how to open the mascara. I'm actually pretty impressed with her artistic makeup job. She was even more impressed than I was and had to do some singing & dancing on top of the toilet lid in front of the mirror. I couldn't get her to look at me for a picture because she couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror. That kid is not lacking self confidence. She thinks she is hilarious! And...let's face it, she's right! :)

And what did Brooklyn do all weekend? Well basically just ate, pooped, slept, cried, and LAUGHED! She is such a happy baby most of the time (as long as she's not hungry or poopy or tired). And she already gives us the cutest little giggles :) She's fat, so I think fat = happy when it comes to being a baby. She's almost 4 months old! I can't wait for her well-check to see how much she's grown!