A Day with Taylor and Joshua

Spend the day with a 2 year-old and you'll be reminded of the sweet, simple, and pure innocence of childhood! This past Monday, I had the pleasure of helping my mom babysit Taylor. Boy is she a handful! Where the heck does she get all the energy from when she hardly eats?

Her dad dropped her off at my house in the morning and she was a little scared at first, so my mom took her down to the basement to find some toys to play with. She excitedly took a few balls upstairs and ran around the house calling out "Dada?" (who had left when she was downstairs). She then tried to open the door, exclaiming "It stuck." When I wouldn't open it for her, she had a frightened look on her face that her parents had just abandoned her and screamed out "Mama!" I quickly took one of her balls and threw it and that was all it took to distract her and make her happy again. It's amazing how short of an attention span kids have and how easily amused they are!

My mom had to run to the grocery store, so we took her with us. She wanted to take all the balls with her, so my mom took out a little Victoria's Secret bag for her to put them in to carry. In the car, she yelled out everything she saw. I can't remember the last time I've seen her, but her vocabulary has expanded so much since then! When we got to the store, she exclaimed "A train! A train! Choo choo!" pointing at the shopping cart with the kiddie car attached to the front. So we put her in the little car and she went around the store saying "Choo choo," "Beep beep," and pointing at everything else she saw in sight.

Choo! Choo!

Dia Oi and Melissa were at my house when we got back. She walked up to Dia Oi with her fist out and went "Bump! Bump!" Dia Oi was confused, so I had to teach her how to fist bump. I thought this was the funniest sight ever! Dia Oi fist bumping Taylor! Hahahaha. And she kept asking Dia Oi to do it too!

We then took her to the mall while my mom went over to pick up March and Joshua to meet up with us. We had a Chick-fil-A lunch and while sitting at the table waiting for my mom, March, and Joshua to get there, Taylor exclaimed "Ball! Ball!," pointing her little finger and trying to get up and run to where she was pointing. I looked over in that direction and didn't see any balls before realizing that she was pointing at a lady holding a Victoria's Secret bag. Hahahaha. What a smart little girl! I did not want to see either of their reactions if Taylor actually did run up to the lady and try to take her "balls" and was relieved when the lady passed and Taylor gave up her efforts...that is, until another lady passed by holding a Victoria's Secret bag. Again, she pointed and screamed "Ball! Ball!" and tried to get up.

My mom, March, and Joshua arrived and Taylor excitedly yelled, "A baby!" and showered Joshua with kisses. It was so cute because she kept trying to fist-bump and high-five Joshua and was disappointed when he didn't do anything (Melissa and I have made a mental note to teach him to fist-bump when he's older). We took Taylor to the playplace for a little bit while they ate. It was amusing to watch her climb all over the slides, especially since she was the littlest one in there! The rest of the time at the mall was spent pushing Joshua around and chasing Taylor! Taylor acted very big sister-ly towards Joshua, holding onto the stroller and making sure he was ok in there, even giving him her blankie.

Taylor looking after Joshua, who's as big as her!

Taylor and her mismatched socks!

We finally called it an afternoon and took them back home, where Taylor proceeded to not nap and instead ran all over the house, hiding from my mom and yelling out "Boo!" whenever my mom found her.

What an amusing and exhausting day!

Joshua

Count Your Blessings

Nashville was hit with devastating floods. Oklahoma with tornadoes. Arizona with dust storms. All the places that we passed through on our cross-country road trip. Our 5-day drive through these cities/states consisted of sunshine, absolutely no rain, and no traffic save for 30 min through Tennessee because of road work. I don't think we could have gotten any luckier... My heart goes out to those who are suffering from Mother Nature's wrath.

Also, I think I am the only person who can actually say getting laid off turned out good for me. Although I've been working full time for the past year and a half, I am in a casual position with no benefits. They've been trying to get me on a full time position and was finally able to push the grant through by telling the sponsor they were letting me go unless the funds came through to support me in the new position. With the department low on funds, all of the laboratory workers were laid off and I am the only one that has a position lined up after our last day because it requires a Bachelor's degree, which the others don't have. In addition to that, my hours were cut back in May to 3 days/week. Although it sucks to have my pay get cut, I am very much welcoming the much-needed break from the normal work routine before finally officially starting on full time in June.