Friday, March 4, 2011

"Off we go to sing-a-ling-a-land to sing and play all daaaaay!"

Flash Flood absolutely loves "helping" me unload and reload the dishwasher. It's cute, except when I actually need to get it done, then it's annoying. In a desperate attempt to distract him from my monotonous morning ritual, I grabbed an old VHS tape that was a sing-a-long favorite of Her Highness' when she around the same age. He'd never seen it, so I thought it might keep him busy for a few minutes, while I finished loading the plates, crusty with dried ketchup and dehydrated scrambled eggs.
For three and a half minutes, Flash Flood was in a trance, staring at the silly (almost disturbing) characters who were singing their way to Silly-ville in the Wee-Sing Train. But that was it. Three and a half minutes later, he was off to destroy the bookshelf. Even though the video didn't capture his attention, it did mine.
Warm memories flooded my heart, as the dorky bunny and talking clouds danced and sang together. Images of Her Highness at age two played over and over in my brain. There she was, all 24 pounds of her, dancing and singing along. Tiny little pig tails bopping all over the place. Sweet little voice, that never missed a word to those songs, then pleaded the moment the video was over, "Again! Pwease! AGAIN!! PWEASE MOMMA!! Sing-a-ling!!"
A giant lump filled my throat, making it hard for me to swallow. Tears filled my eyes, as I stared down at the dirty dishes. It seems like two days ago I was meeting Her Highness for the first time....

And then for about 20 minutes she was this size....

Yesterday, she spent the day dressing up like a bunny and hunting eggs...


And now, today, what seems like only two days after our first meeting....

She's this brave big girl, who doesn't need her Momma so much anymore.

Who rolls her eyes when I wave too big in public, or scream "I LOVE YOOOOUUUUU!" with my head hanging out the window of our dirty van in the drop off line at school.

So, today, in what seems like only two days after our first meeting, I plan to snatch her up the second she walks in the door from school, kiss her a million times, then make her watch that obnoxious video. Just for old time's sake. And to pay her back. Because now all those dorky songs are stuck in my head. And every time I sing one, I get a lump in my throat.
It would be the only fair thing to do, really.

7 comments:

Whitney said...

Aww, what a sweet post! My Mama caught me watching The Smurfs my senior year and she cried. She said "It seems like just yesterday you were watching that when you were only in kindergarten."
It seems to me that Mamas cry a lot. :P

The Hills said...

Tristan LOVES to "help" with the dishwasher too! Isn't it CRAZY how fast our kids grow up?! I remember when all you and Bert had was your princess...amazing how things can change in 6, really short, years! Kiss that sweet girl this afternoon until she rolls her eyes and screams!

The Incredible Shrinking Woman said...

GULP- now I'm thinking about the worst video we have ever owned as far as kid's entertainment goes- MOUSE HOUSE. Not Mickey, but these weird claymation characters from BBC that we found at a going out of business video store. I haven't seen it in years, but I can still sing every song and tell you the order of the episodes on the tape.
My kids were enthralled with it. But anything (I repeat) ANYTHING is better than Barney.

MARY said...

That was so sweet! I do the same with Alex she is 7! I write her little notes about the things she did as a toddler...I think, more to remind myself, than to tell her..
Your daughter is beautiful!

Cindy said...

Tears in my eyes Holly! What a sweet post! Love on that sweet Princess every chance you get!

Sara Elizabeth said...

So sweet and so true. I just developed old film the other day and saw pictures of my little girls. They were playing dress-up and talking on their toy phone. Now they are 9.5 and 10.5 and want to wear real make up and think they need their own cell phone. They don't think it is very funny when I laugh at their requests. Good thing I still do :)

McKinney Madness said...

Now don't tell me that... because my baby is already growing up way too quickly and it's scary!! Your kiddos are adorable, and I know what you mean by enjoying every single minute!!