All People Serve a Purpose

Wherever there is a gathering of people, there's law enforcement. It's as certain as the sun rising in the morning and Mila waking up at 4:30 am because she will positively not survive another moment without a drink of water. There's another thing that is becoming certain - Mila will approach and talk to the law enforcement assigned to stand guard at gatherings of people.

The first time it happened was a few weeks ago. We were downtown for a Pirates game and Mila just couldn't mind her own business while we waited for the little white man to light up and tell us to cross the street. She started a conversation with the police officer also standing on the corner, but I suppose "conversation" is a bit strong of a word. It was a one-sided conversation.

The next time it happened, we were at the mall. Mila took off running while I was trying to walk this way because that way there was a police officer. She had things to say to him.

It happened again this weekend. When we were at the little fair waiting in line for funnel cake, Mila chatted up a police officer. Once again she had all sorts of things to say.

Well, one thing. She had one thing to say. "Can I have candy, please?"

It's the same thing she has asked every police officer she has seen for a month now. She boldly approaches members of law enforcement and politely asks them to hand over some candy. It's the most confusing thing ever, except that it's not. At all.

Mila's exposure to emergency response personnel, from police officers to firemen and all of the things in between, comes via her sister. Her sister has a habit of being in every little towny parade there is. All of them. That means Mila sees every towny parade there is. You know what the point of a parade is if you're a preschooler?

Candy.

Candy is the point.

So basically what I'm saying is that for now, Mila thinks law enforcement exists to throw candy out the car window to her. When they don't, she politely begs. So ... how long until she finds out the hard way that the police officers of the world don't actually exist to keep her high on sugar?

Celebrating the 4th on the 3rd and Stuff

One of the oddest things about parenting a tween is that they are completely capable of existing without you. It's not just that they go to school and know people you don't know; it's that they can go places without you and completely exist outside of your world.

It's both good and bad. I mean, they don't need you any more. That's a bit of a punch to the gut. And yet, they don't need you any more. YAHOOOOOOO! YOU DID SOMETHING RIGHT!

Basically, what I'm saying is that Alexis ditched us for the holiday. She went to see fireworks and swimming and all sorts of stuff, all independent on Independence Day and stuff. She had a blast, of course, because that's what happens when you choose your friends wisely. 

Mila, on the other hand, just barely exists without me. She can make it through a day of daycare without me and has her own friends, but she's totally stuck with me on holidays. Without Alexis around, that means I had to entertain the little sister and stuff. I gave the kid all of the choices in the world, and she decided fireworks were on the agenda.

That's the very long story that explains a very short fact -- I took her to a little fair where I knew there would be fireworks at some point. We trotted off to a park and made ourselves comfortable on a blanket.

She was so excited.

So very excited.

And then Mila hated every second of the fireworks. She clenched her eyes shut, covered her ears, and was maaaaaaad. It made no sense - she has loved fireworks every other time she's seen them. The noise didn't bother her even when she was a tiny little baby. This time, though, this time she was so angry because the fireworks were so loud.

In theory we could have bailed on the whole thing, but *I* like fireworks. The thing that sucks about being too small to exist on your own is that you don't get a vote in some situations. And thus we stayed. Mila sat huddled up into an angry little ball while I enjoyed flaming balls of fire flying through the sky.

When the fireworks were over, I decided to try to make things up to the Tiny Human. There aren't many things that can't be fixed with funnel cake, so funnel cake happened. There were strawberries and whipped cream involved and everything.

And Mila was soooooo happy. We battled over who would get to eat the strawberries. Mila licked all of the whipped cream from the whole thing. Generally, it was a good time. As we were eating, we talked about the fireworks. Mila complained about how loud they were, but then ...

But then ...

Then she decided she was mad she hadn't looked at the fireworks. She was legit angry that I didn't *force* her to open her eyes. She asked for the fireworks to start over, using her manners and everything. “Can we have more fireworks, pwease? I will open my eyebrows this time.”

Don't anybody tell her that we don't open our eyebrows. I would like to keep that little Mila-ism for a while, please and thank you.

Have a Great 4th!