Mommy's Little Helper

As Abby gets older I often find my self thinking: This age is my favorite! Sure, there are times when I miss the baby that she was, but those feelings are fleeting. Today, once again, I thought about how much I love Abby at this age. I love the personality that keeps shining through. I love listening to her play with her Barbies and laughing at the conversations she makes them have. I love the fact that she is becoming more independent, and more helpful.

This morning I woke up and was feeling a bit like the weather - blah! Thursdays are the days when Abby will usually go out to child care for a bit, but she wanted to stay home, and I was even feeling too lazy to take her in. The problem was, we were in desperate need of some groceries. Abby had been super all morning, playing while I was finishing up an assignment, so I thought she might just be cooperative while we went to the store. She was thrilled that she would get to ride in those car/cart things, and since we were going to a big store I reminded her that the ones there actually had a TV she could watch while we shopped. She was all set, even wearing one of her favorite dresses for the outing.

The whole way there she talked about the blue car we she wanted to ride in, so when we walked in and didn't see them I ventured to ask where they might be hiding. As the employee told us that they didn't have them anymore I watched Abby's little face crumble. She didn't cry, but she looked so heart broken. I tried to lift her spirits and told her that we would have a blast anyway - that she could be my very special helper and push the cart. She finally agreed and off we went. She was super, as I kept reminding her that her hands were glued to the cart, and that she needed to wait for me to grab the stuff for the cart - not take off without me. There was one point where she seemed to think that another lady's cart looked better than ours, because she tried to take off with her cart. She was so good that the sucker that I am promised her a new friend to take home.

Yee-Haw!

It was while we were leaving the store that an older gentleman stopped us and as he looked through the change he'd gotten out of his pocket, he asked if he could treat Abby to a ride on the pony. At first I was confused, but then I realized that he wanted to pay for Abby to ride the mechanical pony by the check-out. I put the question to Abby and she let out a loud, "Yeah!" As the gentleman handed over two pennies he told me that we'd just made his day. With a smile he was off to do his grocery shopping and we were off to ride the pony. Abby was all for it, until it started moving. She got scared quickly and wanted off. That's when we gave her new doll a go - "Avery" enjoyed it immensely.

The difference between this trip and others that we've taken was huge. She was so good, and I was so proud of how much of a help she was to me. Yep, I am loving this age!

Tonight Jason asked Abby to write her name
while she was drawing. She did a pretty quick
(and sloppy) job, so Jason told her that she'd
better start practicing, because summer was almost
over. Her response? "Not yet, Dada!" Right you are
Abby, right you are!

This look screams: I'm up to something!

Then again....maybe not.