This weekend I took Abby and Becky to the fair. It was my roommate Lola, Abby, Becky, and then my parents. I know that my mom needed a little bit of a break because of Abby throwing her tantrums now, so I came up with the idea that they could take the bike and Lola and I would take the girls on the park & ride. My mom hasn’t gotten a bike ride all summer and I thought it would be nice, although I got myself into a little more than I bargained for. I showed up at ma’s house and Abby, like always, gave me the best hello anyone can receive without actually being that child’s parent. She runs up calling my name and jumps into my arms where she cuddles her head into the nook between your neck and your shoulder, like only a little child can do. Then she leans back a bit and puts her hands on both my cheeks and gives me kiss, followed by the cutest little giggle. Then I usually get told that she wants to do something like go to the zoo, or the park, or the fair. Sunday she settled for the bus, although I don’t really think she knew what she was getting into! Mom, over prepared like always, had the baby bag set to go with what she knew we’d need at the fair, then did the normal parenting thing making sure that we had enough money for the bus. All this was happening while Abby was running around trying to find her shoes and trying to make sure that Becky was ready to go on the bus. She’s gotten to that point where she gets so excited you almost think that she forgets what she’s excited about, until she reminds you that she’s smarter than she appears. So we all turn our attention to getting the babies ready mainly because they were demanding that it was time to start getting ready to go.

So I grab the baby bag, Abby, my soda, and the keys while Lola grabbed her purse and Becky and we headed toward my parents van. We get the girls all buckled up in their seatbelts with whatever given toy is around for them, and we go to get in the front seat, where upon trying to enter the key I realized that my mom had given us the key to the wrong car. Now I find myself running into the house, not even caring about closing the doors, frantically searching around for keys that I would have no idea where they are. I somehow found them, and ran back to the car hoping that neither of the girls had started throwing a tantrum because I know they don’t know Lola all that well yet. But when I walked in the car they both just stared at me, peaceful as can be, followed by Abby very quietly saying “bus.” I responded telling her that yes, we’re going to the bus now and she was happy then. The car ride to the bus stop was generally quiet. A little chit chat between Lola and I, and a little of me being a retarded big sister singing silly songs into the backseat at the red lights. I’d say I feel retarded about it, but they laughed so if my sisters accept that I’m a little nuts than I guess it’s alright. We get to the bus stop get all of us and all the stuff out of the car when Abby got confused for the first time. There was no bus. Trying to explain to a two year old that we need to wait, the bus will be right there, is not an easy task. It seems to register until she gets bored again and then she just wants to know where the bus. Becky, who is usually just a content little girl, just walked around the bus stop laughing at what seemed like absolutely nothing. Until I went looking through the baby bag and she saw the Teddy Grahams. So she got a little pre-bus snack while we were sitting, which Abby refused to eat any of them, she just wanted the bus. Of course when the bus actually showed up Abby was afraid of it, especially when the bus driver started talking to her. She doesn’t seem to like men with facial hair, which is ironic because most older men with facial hair love children, especially little ones with wild hair and big brown eyes. Becky usually at least humors most people with a little giggle, but not Abby. We ended up being very lucky, there was no one else on the bus but the four of us and the driver, so Abby received a little time to adjust to her surroundings. As the bus made all the normal noises of getting ready to take off, I was starting to think that we made a mistake because Abby was obviously starting to question this decision. But once the bus took off, Abby loved it! She was saying that it was fun and bumpy and all sorts of other cute little phrases and noises. She was having a riot until we stopped at another scheduled stop to pick up more people.

As the other people, not many of them luckily, started to get on Abby went through her second confusion. She did not like the idea of strangers joining her adventure and as she started to realize that they weren’t going to go away, she decided she was done with the bus which she made known by saying all done. So we started singing the wheels on the bus song which humored Becky more than it did Abby (Becky has started doing all the little hand movements with that song-so cute), so I went through the second time of trying to reason with her again. I explained that now we had all the people so we could go to the fair. She looked at me like I was crazy, but accepted the answer anyway. Once the bus started moving again and Abby realized that these people weren’t going to come anywhere near her she started having fun again. She laughed and started saying all the same things that she had said prior to the interruption. As we were getting off the bus and walking past the driver she must’ve gotten a newfound courage because she looked at the bus driver and said “That was fun. Thank you.” This of course, makes your heart melt. I don’t know how children can make the simplest of things seem like one of the best times in your life. It was just a bus ride, but I’ll never forget it.