Safety Fairs, Cuddling and Subsequent Bursitis

Lily is the consummate little smart girl. She reads people quickly and she knows where and how to work her way into any situation with a smile. She's also the master of delaying bedtimes! First, she comes into our group bedroom and is adorable and gets her Daddy to cuddle with her a bit. Then, she'll wait a bit and ask me if I can come cuddle her. Like I would ever say no to that.

But, to cuddle Lily means cuddling in her 'training bed.' To call it a 'bed' is an insult to beds everywhere. It's actually a crib without the legs or the prison-like bars. No, really. It is a crib. It has a crib mattress and that mattress uses size crib sheets.

Now, imagine a 3 year old in a crib. That doesn't sound very comfortable right? Now, put a grown adult woman in the crib with the 3 year old. Can you hear the sound of my spine protesting and considering going on strike? My knees are around my ears and to 'cuddle' Lily means to be contorted in a way that basically the youngest of the Cirque du Soleil gymnasts could only dream of doing.

The pretzel'ing is all worth it though because Lily is the sweetest cuddle bug. She throws her arms around my neck, snuggles in, and then says hilarious things like "I have eyes. You have eyes. All people have eyes. We all have eyes, and penises and vaginas." Yes, yes we do Lily. Then, as she starts to get drowsy, she starts with the tiny baby kisses. A kiss on the forehead. A kiss on the chin. And then, a drowsy, "I love you Mommy." I tell her I love her back and she says, "This is the best! This is the BEST! I love you and you love me and we love each others." *yes, she said each others.

Finally, after she falls alseep, I use my cat like reflexes to slowly sneak out of bed without waking our dear little princess - who, if the last two months are any indication, will be up at about midnight to say she can't find her blanket (it's in her bed), that she's cold (ditto the blanket), that she's hungry (she should have eaten more at dinner) or some remnant of a dream she's been having (Dolphins).

We're soaking up all this cuddle bug time with our baby Girl because we know that the time goes by fast and we want to bottle up those happy emotions and connections while she's still wanting to. I did manage to give myself a lovely case of bursitis in my elbow thanks to those contortionist like movements but it was totally worth it. 

We went to a safety fair right near our house (so much fun!) and the kids got to see the inside of helicopter, meet firemen and, climb in and out of a model house (fun times for all).

The kids also got to see the inside of an ambulance. Hopefully that was their first and last time =)

It was so fun getting all the cousins together. Alise and Lily play particularly well together and it's fun to see Lily's clothes on Alise (red shiny shoes; polka dot pants) and remember her good memories in those clothes.