Snapshots of Life

We’ve had quite the busy week, and it’s not looking like it’s going to stop anytime soon.  Magoo starts school in two weeks, and we seem to have (inadvertently) made the most of the last two weeks by filling our days with fun.

I took the girls to a local farm today.  They have a carousal, hayride, and a little train ride.  I think the train was the part they both enjoyed the most.

When I took the Goose earlier this summer, she enjoyed it, but nothing like today.  She couldn’t get enough of it.

I have a new (bad) habit of bribing Magoo into taking naps.  I like to think that she is learning about earning rewards.  Really though, I just need her to sleep.  Since she shares a room with the Goose, if she doesn’t sleep, neither of them sleeps.  Anyway, my new bribe reward is that she can ride her bike when she wakes up if she stays in bed and sleeps.  This is working wonderfully.  At the beginning of the summer, her legs weren’t quite long enough to allow her to pedal easily.  Now though, she can ride all the way to and from the park which totals almost a mile.

Every day I get sad thinking of how fast my girls are growing, but then I look at Magoo on her bike, and I’m reminded that each closed door opens up a new one.  As they slowly leave behind the remnants of infant-hood, they gain new abilities and experiences.  They journey becomes different, but it’s no less exciting.

Of course, since she is Magoo, the hardest part of riding a bike is that she has to keep stopping to comment on her fancy shadow or ring the little bell on her bike.

She kept getting really excited because she said I was like her teacher teaching her how to ride a bike.  This seemed novel to her.  Like it was the only time I have ever taught her anything in her four years.

Maybe it’s because I’m her mom, but she just looks so little on that huge bike.

The Goose got a bit jealous that she couldn’t ride the bike.


Sadly, she’s much too tiny for even our smallest big wheel, but she still decided to try on the helmet.  I think she thinks it makes her look cool.

I must say, I don’t know what I wouldn’t give to live inside Magoo’s head for even an hour.  It has to be so much more fun in there than it is in the old run of the mill brain.  To her, everything sparkles.  She was helping me clean my bedroom today.  (Which obviously meant that it took me twice as long.)  She kept saying that I was like the evil stepmother in Cinderella because I was telling her what to do with cleaning.  She thought it was a compliment.  Me — I don’t like being called anything that is prefaced with the word, evil.

She had fun though.  She kept telling me that her cleaning was making our house into a “sparkling wonderland” that our new baby will love.  Maybe she’s nesting too.

She spent a ton of time cleaning that mirror.  Unfortunately she used just a wet towel, so I’m sure I won’t be able to see through the smudges tomorrow.  Oh well, the mirror is on its last legs as it is.  It’s quite the eye sore.  In fact, I can’t believe I’m sharing a picture of it with you all.

And finally, I’ll end with this picture that is an end result of our back to school shopping.  I’m not sure how much time you all spend looking at children’s clothes, but something happens when you move from the toddler section to the 4+ section — everything becomes sequined and (what I consider) largely inappropriate.  I saw an overabundance of short (Britney Spears-esque) plaid skirts with sequined shirts and neckties.  Made for four year olds!  And I won’t even get started on the skin tight sequined dresses.  I left very disturbed.

What I saw as inappropriate though, Magoo saw as fancy.  I thought I had a few years until we would be arguing about appropriate clothes.  I guess not.  In the end, I gave into this outfit because it is pajamas and will never be worn out of the house.  I have no idea how it is comfortable to sleep in, but my little girl goes to bed feeling like a sparkly princess in it.  And I guess that was worth the ridiculous $20 I spent on this pair of pajamas.  One day I’ll use this picture to blackmail her.

Yes — those pants are fully sequined — every single square inch of them.  Elton John would be impressed.