Uncle John's Game

On the second day my mom was here, we decided to make the treck to Tampa to see one of Uncle John's Spring Training games.  Ugh, we sat in traffic forever on the way there and were unable to stop for lunch or anything before we had to pick up Annie and her friend, Libby, before the game.  No big deal, except that sometimes my Terrible Two-Year Old can't handle situations like that.  For no apparent reason at all, she suddenly LOST IT right when Annie and Libby hopped into our car.  I mean LOST IT!...thrashing so badly in her car seat that she gave herself bruises and rope burn from the harnesses across her hips. Are you kidding me?!  So, I found the nearest parking lot, pulled in, snatched her out of that car seat, plopped her on the sidewalk outside of a Mexican market, and threatened to leave her there.  You should have heard the howling and seen the boogs and tears!  The ladies running the market even poked their heads around the door to peek on us and to make sure I wasn't abusing the wailing child.  I just looked at them with my frozen smile and said, "Lo siento.  Dos anos."  They smiled and nodded in understanding...and sympathy, I think, as the little girl with her mommy at the store brought out a paper towel for me to wipe my child's face with.

Meanwhile, Noni and Mahgie had driven off in my car to get Anna to John's game on time.  That brought on a whole new wave of wails from Eleanor: "Mahgie, Noni! Mahgie, Noni!  Come back!"  I told her that they'd be back but that this was what she had done.  Ooooh, nothing like guilt.  Once she finally calmed down, we walked into the Mexican market, bought a bag of Doritos, and sat out on the sidewalk like a couple of homeless bums eating our snack until Mahgie got back about 10 minutes later to bring us to the game.

Once we got to the game, both kids were perfect.  Phew!  Ellie just raced around, while Libby timed her running to the flowers and back, while Charlie just played with Annie's purse in the grass.  We made sure to take pictures, as this was officially Charlie's first ever baseball game.  His daddy was very jealous of Uncle John getting that honor when we got home and showed him the photos that evening.  Oops.  Joe then made sure to arrange a time and a place for us to meet him at his field the very next day to take pictures with him in his uniform.  Nothing like a bit of sibling rivalry!=)  See a later blog entry for those photos.