Being Pecked to Death by Ducks... March 08, 2008

Someone once said living in a house with toddlers is like being pecked to death by little ducks.  After spending a few days this weekend babysitting my 5 year old nephew and 3 year old niece, I can kind of relate.  One of the many kids in my house, including my own 2 year old, is always needing something, fighting with someone, asking me something, tugging on something or other of mine...and even in the middle of the night I'm not off duty.  Just ask the guy who almost mugged me at Walmart last night at 3am.

Why was I at Walmart last night at 3am?  Well, because the only thing that would help one of my little ducks sleep last night was a humidifier, the one I had was too noisy, and after three sleepless nights in a row, you will do anything if it promises you a night of hopefully uninterrupted sleep - including going to Walmart at 3am in your jammies and almost getting mugged.  Ok.  I did not almost get mugged, but I thought I did.  On the way out to my car, holding onto the enormous box of my new and improved humidifier, a guy who I thought looked suspicious stopped and approached me.  I wasn't about to stick around to find out why he needed me to talk to him at 3 am so I went back inside to find the security person on duty so they could walk me to my car.  Maybe it's just that I've been robbed at gunpoint once before in my life and I didn't want to try it again, but going back inside seemed like the right thing to do.  Well, it turned out that the "mugger" was the security guy and all he wanted was to make sure I had a receipt to go with the enormous box containing my new humidifier.  I guess they get a lot of sleepy moms in their pjs shoplifting humidifiers in the middle of the night.  Anyway...these are the kind of things you do because you love little ducks.  Hopefully tonight will be a better night for my sleeping needs.

Today has been all about airplanes.  We took the kids to the Airforce Museum, which they loved.  They especially liked the kid's exhibit where they could put on fighter pilot helmets and sit in the cockpits of simulators and pretend they were flying.  We let them each pick out a little airplane from the gift shop to take home and now they are all "flying" around the house with them.  In the van on the way home we were telling Mason (5) that if he wanted to he could be a pilot when he grew up.  He thought that was great and said he was going to have a lot of jobs when he grew up: "airplane pilot, firefighter, and dinosaur bone digger-upper".  That's when Kim (3) announced that she had lofty ambitions for her career when she grew up; "I'm going to work at the mall!" she said proudly.  When we questioned her about where in the mall she wanted to work she said, "Chick-Fil-A.  I saw Laura's Chick-Fil-A t-shirt the other day."  That's right.  I used to work at Chick-Fil-A as a teenager, and what's worse is that all of my four sisters did at one point in time.  And she's right,  I'm so glamorous that I wear my old work t-shirt to bed every now and then.  (I'm sure she saw it one of those times in the middle of the night when I was up taking care of her...)  Well, I'm glad I could inspire you Kimmie!  I'm sure you and Chick-Fil-A will have many happy years together.