A Day Just for Momma and Lily

Yesterday, Lily and I had the rare chance to go hang out together without having Jade in tow. My in-laws were in town and since it was cold and wet, Lily and I headed out alone. First, we headed to dance and tumbling where she had pictures made in her recital costume...yes, that means you'll probably be seeing yet another recital post! Then we met Lily's playgroup over at the mall for story time with Mrs. Claus. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, we went over to see Santa. I was really interested to see how Lily would react to him because she has been telling us ever since she could speak that SHE DOES NOT LIKE SANTA. We can't figure out why...we've never forced her onto his lap for pictures or anything. Just the night before she had told us that she wanted Santa to mail her presents because she didn't want him coming to our house! The thought process of a 3 year old amazes me! So, I decided to tell Santa that as we were standing there...Lily a good 5 feet in the distance. He told her that the mailman doesn't work on Christmas! She didn't seem too excited about that. Still no progress on liking Santa I guess.

Once all her little friends arrived we went over to hear Mrs. Claus read a couple of stories. Then Mrs. Claus let the kids pick out some Christmas songs to sing...although she didn't really know the words to any of them...it was sad, they must have really scraped the bottom of the barrel on this lady. She would just sing la, la, la when she didn't know the words. We heard a lot of la, la, la's! After that, we headed over to the mall play area with Melissa and Emma. I met a lady there who had triplet 3 year old boys! I learned that they had just been trying for their second and ended up with triplets....wow, going from 1 to 4....conversations like that scare me! Anyway, after playing a bit, Lily and I headed to Panera Bread for a mother-daughter lunch, rode the escalators a few times (couldn't have done that with Jade!), and redeemed the free cookie coupon that Mrs. Claus had given us.

It was the perfect day...sounds like it, right?!? Well, these are the parts I left out, so I'll let you decide!! Lily wouldn't sit still during story time...and when she wasn't swinging her raincoat around hitting others, she was totally harassing baby Campbell! So sorry, Sarah! Then when Mrs. Claus stood up to sing, Lily was tired of me being on her, so she stood up, walked over and climbed up into Mrs. Claus' chair! That was after peeking under Mrs. Claus' apron a few times on the way there! I had to drag her out of the play area and had trouble keeping her from climbing under the table at Panera Bread...where she managed to squeeze bright blue Gogurt all over her shirt! On top of that when we went back into the cold rain, my car wouldn't start!!

I just hate it when I envision these perfect outings and they don't go so perfectly! Jerry constantly tells me I have too high of expectations. He's right, too. Life with a 3 year old is loud, messy, chaotic and unpredictable. Thank God it is also fun, rewarding, and full of lots of hugs and kisses!

If you look carefully, you'll see Lily sitting in the big red chair. Yep, that's my girl!

So, I guess it was a perfect day after all...just in its own imperfect way!