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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Wait a Month (or Two or Three)

Most parents of toddlers have had at least one outing of complete misery for all involved. A day that was planned and supposed to be fun that just went completely off the rails.

For us, that day was a few months ago. We got up bright and early and decided to take the babies to a local fair.  Things came up, and for one reason or another, we didn't leave the house until about 12:30 p.m., aka prime naptime.  But, I thought, we could delay their nap, just this one day.  They'll have so much fun at the fair, they won't even notice.

Wrong.

The first 15 minutes were fine. Then, tiredness set in and, with it, unruly behavior.  They stopped holding our hands, tried to grab things on display cases, and didn't even want icecream. As we tried to make our way to the exit, sensing a big breakdown, Natalina sat down in the middle of the walkway.  That was it.  She just sat. And when we tried to move her, she yelled loudly and rolled away, which would have been okay, except for we were on fairgrounds filled with dirt and hay.  Lovely.

We finally dragged them home, swearing up and down that we would never go to a fair again. What a failed experiment that was.

Fast forward two and a half months to this weekend.  Again, we decided to try a fair.  Again, we didn't leave until after 12 p.m. My husband and I braced ourselves, expecting the worst.

Instead, we were rewarded for our risk. The babies were perfect angels. They held our hands, went from booth to booth, danced, sang, played with various toys and ate lunch on a stoop with no trouble at all.

Babies and toddlers develop so quickly that a few months, which seems like no time at all to us, is like a lifetime for them.

So, if you've attempted a trip, or an activity, and it went down in flames, don't give up on it entirely.  Just wait a month, or two, or three.  You may be pleasantly surprised at how very different life will be by then.



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