The Andrews - Life in Kanab

"I have Braxton"


Yesterday Addy made a new friend. Her name is Cedar and she is turning four next month. We met her and her Mom at the library and they invited us over to their house. On the way over Addy kept asking "What was her name Mom?" and I would say "Cedar" and she would say "I am so excited to go to Cedars house!". We literally had this same conversation at least 6 times. It was pretty cute.

Cedar asked Addy if she had any brothers or sisters {Cedar has two older brothers}. Addy said "I have Braxton". Braxton is Addy's neighbor friend. He is 5 and can come over all the time and they play like brother and sister. The benefit for me is I can send him home when they start to bicker.

Addy had her first "Satan" episode in front of Daddy the other night. In her defense I let her have too much sugar and didn't make her eat enough good food. It was her Dad's birthday so we had cake and ice cream and then during the bath the meltdown began. Ironically, I had just mentioned to Daron that most of my friends had started a time out for their little ones. His response was "I can't see why we would ever have to give Addy a time out" and then something about her being perfect ;) Not that I blame him. Most of the time he can turn a grumpy situation into a funny situation. He has an amazing knack for getting her to do what we need her to do. He also makes voices and persona's for all of her plastic animals - the anteater for example calls her "kid" and talks like a mobster. But I digress.
Somehow she got stuck on "I want bubbles" as we pulled her out of her bubble bath after she had been in there an hour, the water cold and her skin pruned up. 45 minutes of yelling "I want bubbles" while crying, pulling Daddy by his shirt to the bathroom, making Mommy look at her as I tried to ignore her. We tried every trick in our book and nothing worked. She didn't even know what she wanted or how to calm herself down. When I felt myself losing my temper Daron took over and vice versa. I don't think either one of us would have been surprised if her head spun all the way around and smoke came out of her ears. Finally Daron and I were exhausted and defeated and we just flopped down in our bed. She crawled up on the bed still crying, still saying "I want bubbles" and kicking or hitting to get our attention. We ignored and protected our vulnerable parts :) Eventually, she tired herself out and Daron started reading a kids book. We acted like we didn't want her to read with us so of course she wanted to read with us. A few little whimpers throughout the book but it worked. Daron left Addy and I to fall asleep and I am sure he went outside and smoked a pack of cigarettes.

The next morning Addy and I were sitting in the living room and out of the blue she said "I want bubbles" I froze. I think I have post traumatic stress syndrome...