Touch a Truck

I am always on the lookout for new things to do and try with the kiddos. My calender has had this day marked off for weeks! Today our town had an event for kids called touch a truck. It was a two hour event (10-12) in which trucks of every shape and size are available for kids to explore. Sounds like a blast right? Well that's what I thought too.

So the big day finally arrives and I am up at 7am sharp. I hadn't done much the night before to prepare for today. Let's be honest, after working 12 1/2 hours, running a few miles and then showering.....I don't want to do much more then pass out. So needless to say, I had a bunch to accomplish prior to getting everyone out the door in time for touch a truck. I'll define "a bunch of stuff": put the car seats and stroller in my car, pack a bag full of necessities for two little kids, get the kids diapered/fed/dressed, etc etc.

Ever have a morning where you feel like you never stopped moving, but you're not sure what you did with your time? Here was my disaster, as well as I can remember it.

Up at 7, feeding Evan and Taylor dashes away somewhere else in the house.

7:20ish: Attempt to simultaneously make coffee, let dog out, then let cat out and find Taylor breakfast while carrying around Evan.

7:30 Taylor now has a banana and cheerios. Toss Evan in his swing. Race outside while letting the dog in, to keep our cat from getting mauled by our neighbors cat. Our cat took some effort to catch. He was oblivious the fact that he was being stalked by another cat and was prancing around after an insect. I accidentally chased him in the path of this other cat.....which resulted in some hissing, raised fur and acrobatics on the part of my cat. That was a fun creature to carry across the yard and into the house.

7:40 The dog has now eaten Taylor's breakfast. Taylor is miserably screaming about this and it seems like Evan is hungry again.

7:50 Gave Taylor more food, realized that I had previously used the only clean bottle in the house, washed a bunch of bottles, and made Evan more formula. Dog is now sulking and her head is in an empty food bowl. My untouched coffee is getting cold.

8:10 Evan has now finished 7 more ounces of formula. Taylor is entertaining herself somewhere. Although it is oddly quiet for her. Off to change Evan's clothes and diaper.

8:12 Evan is done with a new diaper and out of his soiled clothes. NO clean sleepers, long sleeve onsies or burp clothes to be found in his dresser.

8:15 Toss Evan in crib, run downstairs for laundry

8:17 Evan is now dressed. Taylor arrives at my leg with a message "mommy I did a really really really big poop"

8:30 Taylor is now clean and diapered again. Hmm. Maybe I can have coffee now.

NOPE

8:40 I decided to attempt to get dressed. Put Evan on my bed and entertain him with the ceiling fan. (Love babies). Every time I walk away he screams. Apparently he likes company while watching the ceiling fan.

9:00 I think I was actually dressed at this point. But it did take about 20 minutes to run and find clean clothes, tossed a load of laundry in the machine, and all while amusing Evan. Taylor appears demanding that we paint her nails orange and pink before she is seen in public.

9:05 Taylor's nails are now painted and I'm trying to explain to her that "little Man" doesn't need his nails painted too. In an effort to examine his nails she smudges hers. Melt down ensues.

9:10 Taylor has her nails repainted and is sitting in front of the floor fan to dry them. I was actually able to brush my teeth and toss hair into a ponytail. Dog is ringing her bell to let me know she wants to go back outside.

9:15 Let dog outside again. Find new clothes for Taylor...she had washable nail polish all over the outfit she was wearing. And little man wants more food?

9:30 Taylor has been changed and is watching videos of herself on my cell phone. Evan is playing in her bed. Dog is now inside. I refresh my computer screen....and see I have some emails that require immediate attention. So I deal with my email while Evan plays on my lap.

9:50 Put Evan in his crib so he can watch his mobile. Find Taylor on my kitchen counter trying to help herself to cookies....put her on the floor. And attempt to start packing stuff for the kids.

10:00 Taylor enters the kitchen screaming hysterically after I had heard a small thud from our bedroom. She's wildly pointing at her nose. I observe the cookie lodged in her cheek, thankful that she's not choking, try and figure out what's wrong. There was a piece of snot hanging out of her nose and this is what was upsetting her so much. Remove the offending booger. Watch child finish her cookie. Give up on packing.

10:20 Car seats are in the car. I have actually packed stuff in a bag. Evan is napping (he only power naps for 20 or 30 min in the mornings). We can still make it to touch a truck! Send Taylor out on the deck to collect her shoes.

10:30 Taylor spends 10 min trying to get her shoes on herself and succeeds! Comes running into the house and falls on her face. Stands up and falls down again. The bottom of her shoes were caked with dried mud, which is now being spread all over the floors I mopped the day before at an alarming rate.

10:40 Attempt damage control with the floors. Provide an ice penguin to the child for her boo-boos. And Evan wakes up.

10:45 Realize that Evan has peed everywhere but in his diaper. Somehow he has managed to soil his sheets, his clothes.....everything but the diaper. Commence more cleaning and changing.

11:05 Finally have both kids clean and dressed. Take a swig of very cold coffee on our way out the door. We are off to Touch a Truck.

11:18 Pull into the parking lot. Have to park in the gravel lot because the paved lot is being used for the trucks. Anyone want to guess.....Evan is asleep. What do you think happens when you push a stroller over gravel with a sleeping baby in it. Yeah, they don't stay sleeping for long.

By this point I kinda felt like I had a little black rain cloud over my head. But I was determined to have fun with my kids!! Taylor was riding around on my hip and I was pushing Evan's stroller with the other hand. The first truck up was a firetruck. Taylor and I talked all about how it was big, red, carried water, etc. Then I asked her: "do you want to sit in the truck" Her response was a less then favorable "no, I don't like the firetruck". Huh. This became her mantra. We walked around the rest of the trucks. I think my toddler humored me by allowing me to talk to her about each of the trucks. But inevitably at the end of each discussion she would proceed to tell me that she didn't like the truck.

"I don't like the ambulance mommy"

"I don't like the dump truck"

"I don't like the oil truck"

"I don't like....the snowplow, the tree trimmer, the back-hoe, the tow truck, the moving truck, the lawn mowers, etc etc"

We visited almost every truck there and she disliked every last one of them.

So now I'm feeling totally defeated. When all of a sudden a small miracle occurs. Taylor starts bouncing up and down on my hip with renewed enthusiasm.

"Mommy Mommy"

"What baby?"

"It's a Popsicle truck. I like the Popsicle truck"

I'll translate. At the far end of the parking lot was a beat up ice cream truck selling ice cream to kids and families using the playground. So do we go over to look at this truck? Of course. Obviously this truck was not part of the event. You couldn't sit in the truck, beep the horn, or have a nice conversation with the guy that drives it. In fact the ice cream guy looked totally bored and cranky. But to my daughter, he was a freakn rock star. And this truck gave her a Popsicle.....so it was the best truck ever as far as Taylor was concerned.

I sit Taylor down by a shaded tree at the edge of a field and pop a bottle in Evan's mouth. That lasted only a few seconds. My daughter has the heart and soul of a runner. She spied a small herd of 4 year old running laps and races. It didn't take long before she was running around with the herd, hair flying, Popsicle in hand, wearing purple canvas shoes a size to big. It was absolutely amazing to watch this kid. The older kids finally tired out, but there was Taylor simply running back and forth through a field. Finally the Popsicle was finished and so was the running. My toddler tromped back to me, happy, a little tired and impossibly sticky from head to toe. "mommy, lets go home" Okay baby, no problem. We headed back to the car after a dismal attempt to clean her with my limited supply of baby wipes.

We had to cross another field to get back to our car and in doing so I was reminded of one of the many reasons I loved her and parenthood. Taylor took off in the field chasing a butterfly, shrieking with laughter and bright with curiosity. She chased this butterfly all the way across the field that eventually turned into a baseball diamond. Taylor bee lined for the pitchers mound. In that moment the rest of the world disappeared for me. I totally relaxed, and embraced watching the perfection and simplicity childhood in action. It also occurred to me that my child had never seen or played on a baseball field before.

(Strange. Baseball was such a huge part of my life. Every night for the better part of my childhood my brother, father and I would throw the baseball around for hours. Greg and I played on the same little league teams for years. hmm anyway)

She jumped up and down, spun around and threw her arms wide in the air. The smile on her face was simply magnificent. The picture in front of me was beautiful, the bright warm sun, the pale blue sky and my toddler happily hopping up and down on a baseball field. I did try and capture the moment on my cell phone. But I opened it, clicked on camera, then the message "low battery" flashed across my screen and the phone died. Seriously, you can't make this up.

And of course Taylor finally realized that she was in fact standing on a mound of dirt. What toddler could resist dropping down to play in it. By the end, my child was covered in Popsicle residue and sand. She then runs to the baseball bench, sits down and motions for me to sit with her. She points to the road in the distance and says "mommy, let's watch for trucks" So we watched the busy road for trucks.

Finally on our way home:

Taylor: Mommy I have something to tell you

Me: What baby?

Taylor: I have bare feet (sure enough she had taken her shoes off)

Me: You sure do baby, I say as I reach back to rub her very dirty/sandy pedicured feet with the bright orange and pink nail polish on them

Taylor: Mommy I have something to tell you

Me: What baby?

Taylor: I had fun today

Totally Awesome. And totally worth it.