"Leporiphobia"

"An abnormal, persistent fear of rabbits generally and, for some, the Easter Bunny specifically."

My poor little Leporiphobic! Of course, since this traumatic (for both of us) event, Kendall has asked no less than 100 times if we can "take bunnies home?" Really???

Here is last year's picture with the bunnies, taken milliseconds prior to last year's meltdown. (This year's meltdown began before we even got to the table.)

And here is her very first bunny picture. Also lovingly known as her "Uncle Fester Portrait" around here. :)

Trip to Northpark for Annual Bunny Picture

This past week, Kendall and arrived at Northpark Mall bright and early for her 3rd Annual Easter picture with live bunnies! This time she was SO excited about seeing the bunnies and even woke up talking about them. Last year, we managed to get one picture of her looking shell shocked, but not crying, before the meltdown occurred. But it never occurred to me last year that it was the bunnies who made her cry. She was in a mega mommy phase this time last year, and really, who on earth is afraid of cute little furry bunnies?? Well, apparently MY child is. I'm not sure why the potential for a bunny phobia hadn't crossed my mind given the child's continued goat phobia. But the photo session was nothing short of a disaster. That picture will come in a later post.

In the meantime, here are some pictures I took while we were in the mall both before and after the bunny trauma. We did managed to have a lovely morning at the mall (blocking out the photo session) ... and, of course, the Disney Store!

During this trip, Kendall was a bit more interested in the princess section than in previous trips. Sigh. I'm not a true hater of Disney princesses (like some people I know), but they seriously irk me (the fact that they HAVE to be beautiful ... and HAVE to have a prince to complete their lives, etc, etc.). However, I will not take any active steps to squelch any interest she shows in them because, like her father, I believe Kendall has a rather strong inner desire to counter the vast majority of my plans for her. So perhaps I'll pretend to LOVE Disney princesses and that will be enough to divert her attention elsewhere. :)

And we also had our traditional "fill the arms with as many stuffed toys as possible" tour of the store. At one point she was carrying well over $250 worth of merchandise.



We also walked around the entire mall after the photo session was over. This was because I had errands to run and had forgotten her stroller (and the stroller rental was exactly 1/2 way around the mall from where we parked so that was pointless as well). It was a nice (slooooow) walk around the mall. And Kendall received LOTS of compliments on her dress, after which she either twirled in her dress or lifted it over her head.

This mannequin distressed my shoe-centric child greatly. She kept pointing to her feet saying "NEEDS SHOOOOOZ!"
Then she staged a sit (lie?) in when we attempted to leave the barefoot mannequin.
But the allure of sparkly shoes across the mall helped my cause.
And the allure of the sparkly stuff in the Louis Vuitton store does not bode well for my financial future.
It was painfully apparent that Kendall enjoyed the high-end section of the mall significantly more than the kid section of the mall. Guess she really is my kid ... then again, nowadays I clearly prefer the kid section. Go figure.

Little Things I Want to Remember - 3

1. I put Kendall in a corner for a time out the other day and then heard her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Didn't think much of it until I went to get her out of the corner and there was a SPIDER in her corner! My horror at having left my child in a corner for 2 minutes with a spider was alleviated somewhat by the fact that she was singing to it.

2. She spent the better part of one day this past weekend talking/singing about "finding Baby Moses," apparently a song they were singing at school. The she opened up the downstairs toilet and announced loudly, "FOUND BABY MOSES IN RIVER NILE!" As her teacher said, water is water, right?

3. She has started saying "Ott Yet!" any time she is not quite ready to do something (like leave for school, eat supper, take a bath, take a nap, etc.)

4. As she was brushing her teeth, she sang (to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat) "Brush Brush Brush your teeth, so they don't fall out ....")

5. And the absolute BEST ONE YET, she leaned into me during one of the few seconds she wasn't running around like a crazy child this evening and said "Wuv you, Mommy." I became a veritable puddle. And it definitely helped me get through the rest of the evening when she continued to hit me, laugh, and then take herself to the corner ... probably looking for her spider friend.

Impromptu Family Picnic

This past Sunday was a wonderful day! First and foremost, my sweet husband let me sleep in until almost 11AM!!! I must've been really tired because I can't remember the last time I was able to sleep that long ... definitely before Kendall's existence (externally and internally)! Then he suggested a picnic at the Arboretum. Ummm, no need to ask me twice! Because I was so well rested, I was able to get myself dressed, Kendall dressed, sandwiches made, and lunch packed for all of us in record time and we were sitting under this beautiful tree (please ignore the construction fence in the background) having our lunch within an hour!

A fabulous time was had by all ....

.... although a certain soaked someone clearly did NOT want to go home for naptime!

Had I not had to go to the grocery store and Sam's Club that afternoon, the day would've been perfect. Ah well ... I'll take what I can get!

First Haircut

After months of soul searching, I finally came to the conclusion that having a few baby hairs cut off of my child's head would not kill me. Or her. But I didn't for a second delude myself into believing that it would be easy for either of us. I researched a bunch of places that "specialize" in kids' hair cuts - the ones that stick the kid in a car shaped chair and have big screen tv's all over the place showing any and all popular children's programs. But I was hearing more and more horror stories about kids having a blast at those places, but walking out with nothing short of butchered haircuts. Not gonna happen to my little girl. If I had a boy, my decision might have been different ... then again, probably not. I made Kendall an appointment at my fancy Aveda hair salon (Avalon) in trendy uptown Dallas.

Because Kendall flips out when I merely ask her if I can put pig tails in her hair ... and I literally have to chase her around her playroom every morning with a wet brush in a futile attempt to tame the beast that grows on her head every night, I prepared diligently for this occasion. I arrived with an arsenal of diversionary tactics (stickers, coloring objects, ALL gazillion of her hi-hi's, chex mix, raisins, Bo Bear, more stickers, and 4 lollipops). Turns out all we needed was a mirror in front of her ... which is, thankfully, standard in most salons. She did have a lollipop, but was quickly frustrated with the hair that occasionally stuck itself to her treat. I honestly think she'd have been ok just staring at herself and enjoying being pampered. It was like she was BORN to be sitting in a fancy spa being beautified. Definitely my kid. Then again, her father has his hair "done" every other week like clockwork so perhaps this trait is not all my fault!

And here's another bump in the road for my campaign for mother of the year - I completely forgot to save a lock of hair from her first haircut! BAD MOMMY!!!

It's Arboretum Time Again!!

I love Spring! Unfortunately for me, springtime in Dallas doesn't last long. A few days here and there, then, before you know it, we're back into the 100 degree days. I hate summer. So while "Spring" lasts, we have to take full advantage of a true Dallas gem, the Arboretum. The fact that the Arboretum is less than 2 miles from our house and within walking distance from Nana's house makes it even better! It is truly gorgeous out there right now while "Dallas Blooms 2011" is going on. Here are some pictures from our first trip this Spring. Unfortunately, my photographic efforts that day were focused on Kendall and not the flowers, so you can't really get any sort of appreciation of how utterly gorgeous it is out there. I'll have to take some more pictures of the "scenery" next time we're there ... which I'm hoping will be very soon. But here are some pictures of the cutest kid out there!