How We Spent Our Spring Break

There are some moments which just fully capture your child's spirit and developmental stage perfectly. I had several during my spring break trip to Utah with the girls.

Moment One: The Flight
I had more than dreaded flying alone with three kids, one of whom would have to sit on my lap the entire time.

My first solo flight with Mia and Maggie for Thanksgiving 2007 ended with Maggie biting my arms, screaming and trying to claw my eyes out for the final thirty minutes because I had to have her buckle her seat belt and remain seated during the landing. Which was the same time that Mia could no longer hold it, couldn't leave her seat, and wet her pants. Good Times!

In planning my most recent flight, I had forgotten three things: 1- Elsie Jane is an angel, 2- Mia and Maggie are expert fliers now, and 3- When everyone has their OWN DVD player everyone can be happy. It was truly a piece of cake!

Moment Two: The Stitches
The highlight of Mia's trip to Utah, and the most reported anecdote since our return, was getting stitches.

Mia is always combating some malady. A "broken" leg that requires wrapping with an ace bandage and the use of a makeshift crutch or an injured arm that after having been scratched can no longer lift anything or fasten buttons or zippers. So, when I examined the gash in her forehead (from a piece of wood her cousin had dropped on her off the rickety ladder in the old shed behind my parents' house) and said it looked like it needed stitches, I thought I detected a bit of a grin.

After a bad experience in the local ER previously and Mia's complete panic attacks over her kindergarten shots and having her eyes dilated, I determined to take this case straight to Primary Children's Hospital where I knew they would at least tolerate well the potential hysteria of my six year old.

However, while the doctors and nurses were fabulous at working with her, my concerns about Mia were entirely unfounded.

During the THREE hours we spent in the waiting room, during which I watched no less than five children vomit on the floor, Mia grew increasingly excited about her injury and the "surgery" she was going to need to have.

As she waited, Mia determined that she "no longer needed to feel jealous of Maggie for breaking her collar bone at Thanksgiving" because now she had a much worse injury. As she quantified it, "Mine had lots of blood, you know?"

Half-way through the wait, growing a little restless, Mia suddenly recalled that there may have been a nail in the board that hit her on the head. Which certainly made her injury much more severe. "Mom, I think you should tell them about the nail," she encouraged me, when I told her it was taking so long because they had to see those with the most serious conditions first. "The nail mom, it was really bad. I think they better do my surgery now."

At one point I overheard a conversation that in substance and enthusiasm belonged at Disneyland, not the ER.

The little girl who had been sitting next to us in absolute agony because her tonsils had been removed several days before and were now infected had just returned from a big dose of morphine in the triage room. Feeling much more chipper, she showed Mia (who was also, but without the drugs, basking in her time at Primary Children's) the stuffed rabbit she had been given at the hospital.

Mia responded by showing her the bunny she had received:
-It is mint, which is one of my favorite colors.
- I like mint too. I have lots of other beanie babies and two American Girl dolls at home.
-I have beanie babies and American Girl dolls too. They are my favorites.
-Mine too.
-I have a Mia doll.
-Me too.
-My doll has ice skates to wear.
-Me too. My doll has a blue dress.
-Me too.
-I like to take my doll places with me.
-Me too. I am six and a half.
-Me too. I go to kindergarten.
-Me too....

It concluded with an invitation for Mia to come to the girl's home in Park City sometime and bring her dolls.

Finally, she was seen.

Mia loved watching Care Bears and wearing special sunglasses during the procedure. Apparently, the common practice with such injuries in kids is to sedate or restrain them for the stitches, but Mia required neither. She was excited to have it done, didn't move a muscle, and I think actually enjoyed the shot to make her forehead "nimb."

Moment Three: Calling on a Higher Power
At present, any negative emotion that Maggie may experience is expressed as anger. She has a lot of anger, especially when she is over-tired or hungry. She can go into and out of intense moments of anger very quickly.

Thursday afternoon I offered Maggie a piece of pizza for lunch.

She proceeded to literally throw it back at me and scream.

So, I warmed up pizza for Mia, my mom, and me, and we sat down at the table to eat it. As we did so I asked Maggie if she would like me to make her a quesadilla when we were finished. Suddenly, to her absolute horror, she looked over and saw that everyone else was sitting down to lunch, but there was no plate for her.

Maggie assumed her angry stance. She placed her hands on her hips. She lowered her eyes so that she was glaring out of them directly at me. She tightened her jaw, pursed her lips, and sputtering with rage began to chastise me.

"It not...not nice you eat...eat without me. Jesus...Jesus...Jesus Christ not like you do that. You not...eat."

At this point as she choked on her emotions, she pointed her finger at us and began again, "I hate you (me), and you (my mom), and you (Mia), and you (Elsie Jane), and Daddy!"

Now, I began to try to offer a humble explanation. But, I was quickly cut off.

"You no...no talk to me. Dis is about ME! Dis about MY ANGER!"

And, so it was.



In addition to these moments we enjoyed visiting family, playing with cousins, and numerous Easter egg hunts. Here are the pictures from a few of those moments.

Feeding the horses with Uncle Mike

Easter Sunday at the Macdonalds (When will I learn to take the pictures of my girls before church? Then, maybe I would get one picture on a special occasion with Maggie not in the pajamas!)




Easter Egg Hunt at the Merchants




Thanksgiving Point with Cousins