Life on the Concrete Prairie: Little Firecracker

Fourth of July was pretty busy. We spent the morning at Papaw and Nana Bev's house. Mia liked riding around in the big Radio Flyer wagon. Nana Bev bought a couple of small chairs for her and Kennedy to use (and Connor and Zoey later on). Mia would sit in one then get up and sit in the other. This went on for awhile until she decided to try out the rocking horse. This rocking horse is pretty much as old as I am. Bev bought it for me when I was little. It's held up amazingly well throughout the years. Many of us kids used it. The ears are the only part of it that isn't wooden. Dad had to finally replace them recently, and they look as good as new. Mia was a little hesitant at first. She wasn't sure how to rock it plus her tippy toes just barely reached the runners on the sides. Once she figured it out though...look out! She was hurling herself back and forth with no fear.

After lunch, Mia and I went back to the hospital to see Rachel, Zoey, and Mimi. I had stopped to get Mom and Rach chocolate malts in Heavener so they were starting to melt by the time I made it to Poteau. Rach sat hers on the hospital table by her bed. Mia was trying to climb onto the sofa beside that table and stumbled. She bumped into the table which sent the malt flying to the floor. When it hit, the lid popped off, and the straw went through the bottom of the cup. Chocolate malt was EVERYWHERE. Did I happen to mention that Rach was in a never-yet-been-used room in the brand new labor and delivery wing of the hospital? Brand-spanking new and now christened by my toddler and a chocolate malt. I had to sop up malt that was all over the floor (because of course it had been full). I cleaned it off the sofa, the hospital bed, the table, and the walls. I thought I had removed all traces of it until more visitors started coming in. We had to finally call maintenance because everyone's shoes kept sticking to the floor. Oops. Mia was in her fourth of July dress, so I put Zoey in her red, white, and blues too. I wanted a pic of the girls in their festive outfits, but Mia didn't feel much like posing.

After we left the hospital, Mia and I met Papaw, Nana Bev, and Ryan for pizza (well, Mia ate food I brought for her). When we were finished, I stopped by Sonic and got Rach a replacement malt. We dropped it by the hospital on our way to Nanny and Papa's. We visited with Nanny and Papa for a while, and then it was time to head out for fireworks. My cousin, Stacy, and Wesley's cousin, Cody, live next to each other. There's plenty of space between their houses, so everyone set up there. When Mia and I arrived, it was getting close to dark. Cody brought his daughter, Cadence, over to see Mia. Mia is only three weeks older than Cadence. The girls inspected each other for a minute. Then, they started to walk off together. After only about five feet, they both started whining and reached out to us. At first, I thought they were each afraid that the other one was getting their parent's attention. When I picked Mia up, I saw that there were ants crawling on her ankles. At the same time, Cody said that something was biting him on the knee. The girls had found the only biting ants in the yard I guess. We scooped them up and went inside the house to make sure we got all of the ants off. I put some Benadryl cream on Mia's legs, and she immediately forgot about it. I took Mia's Mickey Mouse chair for her to sit in. She loves that chair and sits in it at home all of the time. However, we got no use out of it that night. Mia liked the lights but was terrified of the noise. She spent the entire time clinging to my shirt with her head buried in my chest. Whenever the noise would stop, she would peak up to see the lights only to dive down again when the noises continued. She never made a peep, though. So, I guess she halfway liked it. It was great family time!

FYI: Lots of pictures!