Seriously, this kid was over-the-moon thrilled to travel to a tiny southern town and see “her Peter.”
The night
before we left, we headed up to Joe’s sister’s high school choir concert.
Before we left, I made chicken nuggets (Threw in the oven? What’s the appropriate
verbiage for this level of non-cooking?) for Madeline, a rare buy because I
wanted something easy to cook from the freezer when we got back. She ate just
one and didn’t want any more. Red flag number one.
Madeline
loved the concert. It was show choir so she enjoyed the singing, dancing and
costumes but she really fell in love with her $5 light-up pink cowgirl hat.
She had fun during the concert but as soon as it was over, Madeline wanted me to hold her and take her outside. Red
flag number two. Madeline always loves being around people and for her to want
to step away from the crowd? That was threat level orange.
Her skin was
hot to the touch so we hurried home and put her to bed. Her fever was around
100 degrees so I didn’t give her Tylenol to let her body deal with it. She
slept well and we hit the road on Friday morning around 6:30 a.m.
I know
there’s this newfangled mode of transportation called “airplanes” but I love me a
good road trip. I’m one of those fun moms who believe kids don’t need DVD
players, think kids should look out the windows and want my kids who entertain
themselves. (Aren’t you glad I’m not your mom?)
Before you
think I’m mean, I didn’t just leave Madeline with two sticks and mint-flavored floss in the
backseat. I bought Highlights (Remember those? They’re still awesome.), a new princess
coloring book, “The House at Pooh Corner” to read aloud, a new journal, several
books on CD and other toys.
Our trip down
went pretty smoothly. Caleb turned out to be a champion traveler and Madeline
was happily entertained with her bag of goodies and talking. Oh how that little
girl loves to talk. She still cracks Joe and I up all the time.
One time I
fed Caleb in the car while Joe and Madeline checked out a local variety store
just off the highway in southern Tennessee. After they came back, I asked Joe if they had anything
interesting.
Joe: “No. It
was like everything bad at a Dollar General.”
Madeline:
“And it stank too.”
This girl
calls it like she smells it.
The only times she got upset were when she woke up from naps.
Wouldn't you cry too with a neck crick similar to the Cruciatus curse?
We checked
into the hotel just outside of Birmingham by 1:30 p.m. Madeline walked in
wearing her cowgirl hat, pajamas and flip flops and carrying Peter Bear and
Jasmine in Pocahontas’ clothes. (The only way to travel is modestly.)
Yes, my daughter is adorable and no, you cannot have her.
Madeline
still had a low fever but was in a good mood, wanting to swim and see Peter.
All four of us took a long, blissful nap.
We woke up,
took showers and drove around Birmingham. Joe pointed out an awesome pimped-out
pink and purple Cadillac with spinners. Madeline yelled out, “It’s got great
wheels!”
Yes. Yes it
does, baby.
I tweeted
Boomama for dinner suggestions for some good Southern food. She sent back five
tweets, listing her favorite places specific to our location. She is my hero
and if you don’t read her, you need to. She has blessed my life with this dip alone. But even more, I read Boomama and Big Mama’s posts
every night during Caleb’s 3 a.m. feeding and I’m eternally grateful they get
me through that hard, sleepy feeding.
Sadly,
Madeline started to feel worse so we settled for some Sonic (wah wah) and headed back to
the hotel. I was bummed to not have a true Southern dinner experience and
instead watch Lindsay Lohan’s “Freaky Friday” in the hotel room. Oh, if only I
had known then that uneaten fried chicken was not going to be the worst part of the trip.
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