good people, bad mom?

MissM loves school buses. I don't know why. She got a toy bus that she hauls around everywhere and clings to in the car. I took her on a metro bus and one would have thought we went on a trip to the moon with how happy she was. Her best pal at day care gets to ride the school bus 2 times a day to go to half-day pre-k. He hates it b/c he's naughty at school, but he LOVES coming home and telling MissM all about the bus. My guy has a pal who drives a bus in the next county over. He said he'd take MissM on a ride on a half-day b/c he'd have a window of time. So, this am we got up extra early and went to meet Mr.M. at his bus and take a ride. He gave us a tour of the bus and explained all the lights and buttons etc. We then went on a ride in the front seat and after a spell, Mr.M. had us move to the farthest seat back to go over a series of speed bumps. When the bus went over the bumps, we flew up into the air about 18". MissM loved every second of it. She's been ill this week and it probably wasn't the best decision to wake a sleeping sick kid up early and take her out in the cold without breakfast to go ride a bus, but it was worth every second of it to see her smile and hear her laugh like crazy.

Later in the day we were at Walmart getting some things when MissM asked for a coloring book. She's getting better at coloring and likes the $1 books and rarely asks for something, so I got her one. I couldn't remember if we had crayons in the car, so I picked up a 3pack of 2 sided chubbies. These are neat crayons. There's a different color on each end and they're extra fat. MissM loves these crayons. I couldn't find a bar code, so I felt nervous about getting them. As a compromise, I picked up a 16pk of thick crayons (thicker than the small but not as thick as the chubbies) and we went off to check out. Well, as feared, the cashier couldn't sell me the 3pk of the crayons MissM likes and we had to get the 16pk of the less favored crayons. Another woman went back to check out this mysterious stack of crayons without bar codes and later stopped us on the way out the door. Apparently the 3pk was supposed to be attached to a coloring book and sold as a set. Someone removed all the crayons and left them in the aisle and then bought all the books. The woman wasn't technically allowed to sell us the crayons, but since someone else already paid for them, she gave us the 3pk for free. That just completed MissM's day. That woman didn't have to be so nice, and she was.

I am often surprised at how nice people are to my daughter and they really restore my faith and hope in humanity.

hottlanta

i'm going to atlanta in june b/c my guy has to go and i want to go somewhere warm damnit. if we fly, it'll be just the two of us, but if we drive, we'll bring the kid.

I want to see/plan to see:
the aquarium
the botanical gardens
stone mountain

if i have time:
Martin Luther king jr's house etc.
the Carter museum
the kid's museum (if we bring the kid)

there's also a tour of CNN and Coke which seem like good emergency back-up plans like if it rains the day i want to go to the botanical garden.

we're staying at a nice hotel that's near the aquarium, so i know that's a done deal.
There's also a kangaroo breeding place that looks good for the kid. The Columbus zoo has a herd of kangaroos that MissM loved. they're in a giant walled in and covered garden there and you walk around amongst them. MissM asked a zookeeper if she could ride a kangaroo and he got very pissy . WTf does he expect out of a 3yo anyway?

this is the bright spot on my horizon as my sister and her kids are moving to St Louis soon and I won't see my niece or nephew for a very long time. This winter has sucked ass so far oh god and we're just starting TAX SEASON.