Countdown to the move - Day 17

I am too tired to blog at the end of the day so these daily posts are trending 24 hours late! ha.

Yesterday was Tuesday, Day 17. We didn't have to accomplish anything so we spent the day in Aurora at my parents' house. We packed up as soon as we all woke up and got dressed, and I decided to bring a few bags of groceries that would go bad this week so that it wouldn't spoil here at the house while we're gone and also so that my mom doesn't have to feed all of us 3 meals a day!

We made breakfast once we got to Mima's house, and although I made myself a full french press of coffee, I couldn't get past my exhaustion. My parents entertained the kids in the basement while Maddie napped and I took a nap on the couch. It is amazing what an hour of rest can do!

We fed the kids fruit and pretzels to hold them over and headed over to the mall. We checked out a few stores on our way to the fountain, where the kids were excited to throw their pennies into the water. They'd been fighting all morning over the ziplock bag of pennies. Why is it so hard for me to remember to bring 2 of everything? (Bags of pennies.) Also, why must they fight over everything if one has something the other does not? :)

I think we spent a good 1/2 hour doing this.

Then my mom offered to take a picture of me with the kids.

A great outtake - Ellie in the background literally crawling into the fountain. She was only trying to get her pennies back out so that she could throw them again, and I knew she wouldn't actually go all the way in. Also, the water is about 2 inches deep in case you can't tell. Zero chance of falling in and getting into trouble as far as going underwater is concerned.

We do a lot of settling when it comes to pictures with all 3 kids. This is the best we could get.

Maddie was cracking up and loving this little ride Mima gave her.

(Eeks, sorry about the background. This is a family blog!)

We had lunch at Panera after all the excitement at the fountain. While we were standing in line getting ready to order, Robbie climbed into a booth and Ellie wandered back to the entrance of Panera that is still on the inside of the mall. She had passed by a toy kiosk in the hall on our way in, and fell in love with a battery operated doggie that yipped and jumped around. She was trying to see it again, but when I called to her and asked her to come to me, she glanced back at me and kept walking away, towards the toy kiosk. I walked closer to her and the kiosk came into sight, as well as the man working at it. He was smiling right at Ellie from 50 or so feet away.

I looked him right in the face, and then back down to Ellie and said "Ellie, come back to me right now."

And do you know what the guy did?

HE CONTINUED TO SMILE AT ELLIE AND MOTION HER TOWARDS HIM, AWAY FROM ME AND THE RESTAURANT.

(*What would you do?)

The toy kiosk, after the fact.

Well I picked Ellie right up and rejoined my mom in line and we ordered our lunch. As we were paying, I told her that the man at the kiosk tried to lure Ellie away from me even as he saw me trying to get her to come back, and my mom was livid. So was the woman behind the counter as she heard me telling my mom what had happened, saying "That is just wrong! I'm mad, and I'm not even a mother." So we decided that I should address it directly rather than let it go. I got everyone situated with their lunch and while my mom sat with the kids, I marched over to the toy kiosk and did my best to be appropriate but firm with the man selling toys. My heart was beating hard and fast it was a mother bear moment if I've ever had one. I don't think I've ever had to confront someone about an issue involving my kids like this, and I felt fiercely protective.

I said something to the effect of "I didn't appreciate you trying to lure my 2 year old daughter out of the restaurant away from me. You could clearly see that I was trying to get her to come back to me, and it is completely inappropriate to lure a child away from their parents. Don't ever do that again, to anyone!" I wasn't yelling but I think my tone of voice shocked him at first.

He smiled and apologized, and I bit my tongue and walked away (he didn't seem especially remorseful). Ellie was never in danger, but what he did was upsetting.

We returned to Mima's and Maddie napped in her pack and play while Ellie napped on a blow up mattress on the floor. It was a success and I hope that when we move, Maddie will be the only child in a crib in the new house. I think Ellie and Robbie will transition to twin beds but we'll see. I don't want to overwhelm them with too much change at once. And I'm not sure we've decided whether we'll put them in the same bedroom or separate them... so many things to think about that I have been ignoring!

Our afternoon was low key - the kids had a snack, played, ate dinner, took a bubble bath and got into their pj's before we headed home. They all went to bed later than usual, but I was sort of stalling turning out the light until Rob came home around 8pm so that they could see him. Robbie went right to sleep once we tucked them all in, but Ellie laid awake until 9pm. Rob and I stayed up and talked for a while, and then ate dinner at an hour no one should be eating anything, and headed to bed.

I was so tired from the day, that as I thought through my plan for the next day (Wednesday), the thought of how much I'd have to prepare and pack to get us through another day outside of our house started to overwhelm me. Robbie would need to go to preschool, the girls would be tired from their late night and a nap schedule that's been a little off, and I felt like given how tired I am as well, it would be a recipe for disaster. So I called my mom and cancelled our plans of coming out to her house after preschool and we made other arrangements for the next day that gave us a little more of a margin and felt a lot simpler.

Although it had its moments and challenges, another great day full of happy memories.