Cheer(ful)

Mila can argue about anything. Anything at all. I wouldn't say she's a future lawyer, per se, but she's definitely going to be the president of the debate club at some point in time. The thing is that she's just too smart for her own good. She can problem solve any situation and turn it into a situation that benefits her.

It's her super power.

Along the way, she often manages to say things that make you go, "Huuuuh?" Having a much older big sister is probably part of it, but mostly it's a mystery as to how Mila so perfectly uses words that don't seem reasonable for a 5-year old to use.

"Clearly" was one of them. There was a time when Mila kept saying things like, "Clearly it's time for dinner."

"Literally" was another one. That one was DEFINITELY her sister's fault because Alexis says it all of the time. Mila uses "Literally" in perfect context. She might even know exactly what it means. "This is literally the best cinnamon roll ever," for example.

It was the best cinnamon roll ever, for the record. There were no lies in her statement.

So, Mila has officially started cheer. I KNOW. I really needed one kid to not like dance and cheer and all of those things, but I didn't get my way. If you suspect that Alexis is gloating about this whole thing, you are very correct. Mila is gloating, too, because she's super excited. She spent the entire practice bouncing and being happy, which basically made me glare at the coach because COME ON. MAKE THEM MISERABLE. I feel like a coach for 5-year old cheerleaders should make practice super hard and frustrating so they want to quit. Alas, this coach makes it fun.

So unfair.

In the car on the way home, we were talking about how fun it is and I was teasing Mila that it didn't look like she had any fun. She is juuuuust starting to be mature enough to know when people are joking, so it's super fun. This time, however, she didn't quite catch on. I only know that because she ended the conversation with a very effective one-line.

"Mom, obviously you weren't focusing on me because I was delightful."

She wasn't wrong.

Good Days

WHERE IS MY SNOW? I DEMAND SNOW!

Ahem.

I think maybe there were a couple of cold days in January, but really winter has, thus far, been a joke. I don't choose to live in Florida, y'all. I expect seasons. And yet, I spent February 2nd outdoors, without a heavy coat, walking around downtown Pittsburgh with my kindergartener.

That shouldn't be a thing. I would have preferred to take Mila sledding over taking her for milkshakes because FEBRUARY.

I have a theory that balance is required. If we have a mild January, April is going to be stupid. I happen to not care if January is stupid because I'm mentally prepared for that. I can't be mentally prepared for a cold and snowy April.

Still, if it's going to be warm and sunny in February, I'm going to spend some time outdoors with the girls. One of them was too busy dancing to be useful this past weekend, but Mila is a super good sport about, well, everything. And, thus, I drug her along with me to downtown Pittsburgh for a few hours before we had to grab her big sister.

I had big plans for those few hours. I planned to walk to the Point and get milkshakes at Milkshake Factory. SUCH BIG PLANS. The thing about Mila, though, is she really did think those were big plans. She was shaking in her shoes she was so excited.

We grabbed our milkshakes.

We walked through Market Square.

We stopped to watch people ice skating.

We wandered to the Point.

All the while, Mila kept finding new things to be excited about. There were beautiful leaves and funny clouds and WOOOOK AT THAT! I'm pretty sure she yelled at me to look at the next best thing at least 234,926 times. She mentioned that it was the "Best day ever!!!!" over and over and I think maybe she was telling the truth, or at least her version of the truth.

Mila is good for the soul. It's a fact.

Fish Riding a Bicycle through Central Park

The best way to top off a whirlwind day trip to the UK is to attend a dance conference, right? Especially if you didn't sleep while you were in the UK. That's exactly when you want to have to have your kid downtown by 7:00 am all weekend.

Uuuuugh.

I fully admit I am currently powered by caffeine and spite.

The thing about dance conferences is that they are attended by dance moms. If ever there was a group of people who will look at your bedhead and pajamas and judge you harshly, it's them. Therefore, whenever Alexis has to be at one, I have to actually shower and get dressed before I take her. Someday she will let me do a drive-by drop-off, but for now she insists I escort her in, so fully dressed it is.

Fully dressed and inside.

I don't belong at a dance conference. I'm like a fish riding a bicycle through Central Park. Totally whackadoo.

But since Alexis made me get dressed at OH MY GOOD GRIEF o'clock and walk into a dance conference, I hung out for a minute. Just one because DANCE MOMS, OMG.

I don't understand.

They are a breed unlike any other. They are dedicated and devoted and they have a lot of time on their hands. I realize that can't possibly be true of all of them, but it's definitely true of the crew I listened to on Saturday. It was near the end of the day and I was waiting for Alexis to get out of her last class. There were four of them. Perfectly coifed, because dance moms always are, and plotting.

They were PLOTTING.

A photo that they would take and post to "The Insta" so that their dance studio would repost it.

I'M NOT KIDDING. They really were talking through the elements they would need to stage the perfect photo. There was a bottle of wine, wine glasses, jackets with the studio's name on them, and a very particular "spontaneous" pose with the stage in the background. I lasted through about two minutes of the plotting before I had to walk away.

I checked later. They posted the photo and their studio reposted it.So while they may have too much time on their hands, they may also be social media marketing geniuses. Just maybe.