Keeping up with the Joneses

свети минаиконипочистванеBath time is Meg’s favorite. And Mom particularly likes it too, because it is just occupying enough for Meg to allow Mom to shower herself while keeping a watchful eye. The only problem is that Meg wants to perpetually play with the faucet: on, off; freezing cold, scalding hot. She also loves to drink the bathwater. We’ve warned her not to, interrupted her an almost endless number of times when we’ve caught her, but alas, to no avail. Two-year olds do as they please, and if Mom and Dad try to impose different behavior, it invariably ends in tantrums. **sigh** Well, enjoy a couple shots of bath play time. I’m sure Meg will beat up on her parents for posting these when she’s older and embarassed, but for now, we unequivocally declare them to be cute.

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A quite delightful and significant feature of the state fair is the children’s petting zoo. This is no ordinary petting zoo with bunnies and sheep. As Texas must have nothing but the biggest and best, they pull out all the stops, and make sure that a much broader array of animals is presented — in their baby versions, of course, as a six foot tall version of a giraffe is much cuter, even if not as spectacular as the full-grown version. So we have, for your viewing enjoyment, in addition to a giraffe, a zebra, camels, two ostriches, donkies, a baby llama, a longhorn, Scottish highland cattle, four-horned sheep, alpacas, assorted goats, bittie piglets, and the wildest animal of all, Meg. She definitely did not want to leave, and I think we passed far more than an hour with the animals. (Check out Meg trying to kiss a miniature donkey through the fence!) If you can touch, pet, and feed such glorious creatures, what more is there?

We first noticed the ‘Little Hands on the Farm’ exhibit at Meg’s first state fair experience when she was but four months old, and have been anxious for her to be able to participate ever since. (I went so far as to pick out her outfit with this stop in mind!) Here is a play-by-play of Meg working her way through the farm:

Our first stop was to get properly outfitted for the “abenshure” with an sweet little apron. We then followed the brick-lined path to pick up a scoop of feed corn for the (faux) animals we would need to feed along the way. Meg then took an (empty) watering can and watered the (fake) peach trees before picking a peach and placing it in her little basket. We fed (stuffed) chickens in the coop and Meg grabbed an egg for her basket.

At the barn, she sprinkled a handful of corn in front of a large (plexiglass) dairy cow, and starred quizically at the udder and completely legitimate milking stool — not ready yet to practice (fake) milking skills. After picking up a carton of milk, we exited the barn and Meg chose a little pea seed from the seed station. She delighted in planting (if catapulting trowels full of dirt onto the pathway qualifies as planting) her seed and then wandered over to the adjacent garden where her seed magically transported and grew into a (polycarbonate) peapod.

Peapod secured in her basket, we mozied on down to pose for a photo op (notice Skylar seated in the tractor trailor) and Meg picked up a bag of feed and some gas for her John Deere. Daddy helped her steer the tractor through the pasture where she placed her feed before the (painted plywood) cattle. Tractor parked, she headed over to the last barn and gave her remaining handfuls of corn to the sheep. We were supposed to pick up a little ball of wool before leaving the barn, but the bin had been emptied by previous little hands. Finally, Meg placed the contents of her basket in the appropriate bins and received a (counterfeit) dollar for all her hard work.

We passed through the general store on our way out, where the kiddos could spend their dollar on the treat of their choice! Meg could have picked cookies or partially hydrogenated cheese crackers, but I was tickled that she chose trail mix (parental victory!!) as her treat.

All Texans should take their minis to work this fantastic little fake farm! It was most definately a highlight of our day, and we’re hoping that Meg learned a little somethin’ somethin’ on her journey.

There was one thing and one thing only that Meg asked to do at the state far — “Mommy! I want to ride the Paris [sic] Wheel!” We corrected her repeatedly on the proper terminology, and I’m not sure that our efforts have quite registered yet, but that’s okay, but calling it a “Paris Wheel” is pretty darn cute. So as to riding on it, we were reminded in the parking lot, at the ticket booth, and hourly. As the tallest ferris wheel in North America, the Texas Star was a landmark, a beacon if you will, constantly reminding Meg each time she saw it that it represented the pinnacle of all experiences for a toddler. And because it is six dollars per person, per ride, we didn’t exactly go running. But far be it for Dad to deny little Meg. So as the day moved on, we finally entered the Midway and wandered up to the queue. Mommy drew the short straw and got to stand in the mass of humanity with Meg, waiting for their turn to climb into a gondola. Dad sat down on a nearby bench with Skylar for some relaxing down time, and was smug in knowning that by claiming that someone had to watch the baby, he had just saved himself a half-dozen bucks (Okay, don’t ask Brandon how many times he has ridden the London Eye — it will make those six dollars seem like chump change). Meg couldn’t help staring, with her open mouth gaping. Several times, the strangers with whom the ladies were sharing the line-waiting experience asked if Meg was going to be okay, if she’d be afraid, if she’d do well with the heights. They obviously didn’t know our two year-old. Meg is, in a word, fearless. She loved it. Twice around, fascinated and thrilled, she made it evident that the money was well spent.

Avast, me harteys! Thar be tetanus shots ahead! Our toddler time bomb was ticking precariously close to meltdown, so we went off in search of a way to expediciously offload our last few fair tickets. After a bit of browsing through the ‘Kidway’ we found a boat ride suitable for Meg’s height, and let her set sail on their next avaiable cruise. The ride was a rust trap, but Meg was quite excited just the same. The pictures depict an accurate representation of her mood cycle. (Only toddlers and people with bi-polar disorders can experience such a varied range of emotions over the span of six minutes.) Notice the initial “spark of interest” look while she figures everything out, followed by the effervescent, “HEY! This ride floats us around in a circle! A CIRCLE!!” euphoric grin, quickly folllowed by the, “that was the best ride of my life and now I’m coming down off of the high” phase, ending with the, “I’ll be lucky to make it back to the car in a conscious state” look that reeks of nap deprivation. Meg is determined to exert her independence at every given opportunity, and this was a fun way for her to ride something all by herself. SO grown up!!

It’s an annual tradition. It’s a trainwreck of bizarre people, overpriced parking, curious tchotchkes, fried foods promoting near immediate cardiac arrest, and endless walking. It’s the Texas State Fair! Every fall, this slice of true middle-America is put on as a carefully choreographed production to drain the wallets of Texans old and young. And yet, we can’t turn away. And we didn’t. And yes, we had fun. From seeing ‘Big Tex’ to observing the rust-trap midway rides, to talking in the livestock shows and exhausting our two little kids, we let nothing stand in the way of our ‘abenshure’, as Meg says. This blog post may introduce the Jones family foray to the fairgrounds in 2009, but we’ll follow it up with in-depth, play-by-play action posts showcasing all the other activities that help enamor the fair in our hearts, so make sure you scroll the blog and see it all. And bonus to you — it’s free of charge.

Skylar is the sweetest little thing we could possibly imagine. And to prove it, we present these shots of her happily beaming for Mom and Dad while resting on our bed. With toys or without, she’s just as happy as can be. If you ever come home from work having had a tough day, we’ll lend her to you for a few minutes. There isn’t a better pick-me-up than a baby smiling mouth and eyes at you, just tickled that you are there.

Hundreds of times. Even in Skylar’s short time with us, we can honestly claim that we have held that bottle and fed her that much. Daytime, nighttime, meltdown time (okay, that’s not too common with Skylar)… when the alarm clock seems to read 3:13 am and that is only a best guess because your eyes are too blery to be sure, it can be a bit tough to hold that milk in place. So when a baby decides she can help out with the feeding, that’s a big deal. Now, these pictures are daytime, but we’ll take it — if nothing else, it’s a solid step in the right direction.

About two weeks into her new life, we had these shots of Skylar taken. Looking at them now, it is shocking how much she has grown and changed. They don’t stay little for long! She was perfect then, as she is now.

While she hasn’t really slept there yet, we have a beautiful antique cradle given to us by Bill and Nancy that Meg used and soon, Skylar will too. We let her stretch out and explore what her soon to be bed was like and ended up with these great pictures of Skylar resting peacefully there as a bit of a preview of what we hope will be restful evenings for both baby and parents.