The Dis

Since my parents live only about 2 hours from Orlando, I knew we'd get to Disney World eventually. It's expensive -- $95 for a one-day adult ticket to Magic Kingdom -- so I thought we'd probably wait until Molly was older. But she's so into princesses now and there are so many rides designed for preschoolers, we decided to go ahead and go this Christmas when Cinderella's castle would have maximum impact.

I think my family went to Disney World when I was about 8 years old. We went to all the parks over the course of 4 or 5 days and I remember it being an overwhelming experience. It was fun, but there was definitely some fighting. A lost car. Long lines and lots of waiting.

When I told people we were planning to go to Disney World, I tended to get one of two reactions. Either, "Oh, goodness....really? Well, good luck with that. I hear it's totally packed around Christmas." OR, "Oh my gosh! It's so much fun! You're going to love it!" My guess is that people with the first type of response went to Disney World years ago and have memories similar to mine (or they're just grumpy) and that people with the second type of response went more recently because the Disney World of today is awesome.

What probably changed the game and made a day at Disney so much easier is the Fast Pass (introduced in 1999, according to Wikipedia). It basically allows you to jump right to the front of the line and go on rides without waiting. Heaven. You have to plan ahead a little bit. You can only get one Fast Pass at a time and the window for the ride you want is usually about an hour away. But there's plenty of other stuff to see and do while you're waiting and nothing is more satisfying than walking up to the front of a line that is 75 minutes long.

Molly had so much fun, as you can see in the pictures below, and was a really good kid all day. She was a little overwhelmed at first -- it's a lot to take in -- but after an hour or so, she was hamming it up with Minnie Mouse and brave enough to go on a roller coaster.

We spent about 10 hours at Magic Kingdom, from about 8:30 am to 6:30 pm. We could have stayed even longer -- the park is open until 1:00 am -- but Jason and I felt like we'd seen and done enough :) Molly was still full of energy, of course, and dancing around in her new princess dress, but after the Fairy Godmother lit up the castle with her magic wand, we told Molly it was over and everyone was leaving. She believed us.

The food left a little to be desired, and I wish they wouldn't torture young children with SO many gift shops, but all in all, it was a pretty magical experience. When can we go again?

The happy family

Journey of the Little Mermaid -- the only ride we went on twice :)

A little nervous to meet her first princess

Comparing braids with Rapunzel

Goofing off with Minnie Mouse

Checking out Mickey's Christmas Parade

The spinning tea cups

Enjoying Disney's best junk food

First roller coaster -- The Barnstormer

End of the day -- finally a princess

Lights!

Christmas Magic 2013

Greetings from Florida! We had a very very merry Christmas yesterday with my parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nephew, grandparents, and Aunt Suzie. It was a day filled with gifts, food, chatter, and laughter. And since we're in Florida, add on tennis, bike rides, and walks on the beach. Sigh, I love it here. Here are a few pics from the big day -- I promise to write about Disney soon!

Trimming the tree -- thanks to Google+  for the twinkle effects

A hug for cousin James

Stockings

One of many (many) gifts for Molly - Monkey George!

Bonding with Aunt B...

...and with Aunt Sus

James going after the Slinky -- once again, Molly had a hard time sharing her Christmas loot!

Lead the way

Jason and I had an interesting parent teacher conference yesterday morning. We came prepared with questions, wanting to know more about Molly's interactions with the other kids. She is pretty shy around our friends' kids -- it always takes her a while to warm up -- and lately she has been refusing to participate in ballet. Jason and I try not to worry about it, but you know, we want her to be able to mix it up and have fun.

So imagine our surprise when the teacher tells us that Molly is one of the ringleaders of her class. Apparently she is friends with all the kids, is one of the ones who gets different games started, and sometimes gets in trouble (aka, gets put "on yellow") for talking too much and not listening. Huh?

The teacher laughed at us when we asked if Molly was too shy or sensitive. She said Molly pretty much rules Preschool 1.

So I guess Molly's got her own life. At 3 and a half. I think Jason and I need to start letting her lead the way a little bit more. If she's not comfortable with her ballet class, no big deal. It doesn't mean she's not social, she just likes smaller groups and kids her age. We just have to let her grow up and do her thing. Because apparently she's doing just fine!

Corrections

Apparently I misinterpreted part of my conversation with Molly yesterday (see below). Jason told me she's been harassing him about taking her along on a work trip. So she wasn't even answering my "What do mommies do?" question with that comment. She was asking for permission to tag along on a business trip with her dad. Little does she know, a trip to Jason's office in the New Jersey 'burbs would probably be less than thrilling...

Also, as Jason pointed out, if I asked "What do daddies do?" and got "Go to work" as one of the top 2 answers, I would not have blinked an eye. I need to get my head in 2013 and stop stressing about being a working mom. It's not like I'm the only one doing it! I need to embrace this life instead of apologizing for it. What do mommies do? I think we can do just about anything.

What do mommies do?

A conversation with my daughter, who has been pretending lately that Barbie is her child:

Me: "So Molly, what do mommies do?"

 

Molly: "They give kisses."

 

Me: "Ok, that's a good answer. What else?"

 

Molly: "They go to work."

 

Me: (Pause for a minute because, wow, that hurts a little bit.)

 

Me: "Yes, they do go to work. What else do they do? What do you do for your child?"

 

Molly: "Go on a work trip. With Daddy!"

 

Me: (Another pause. Hmmm, these are not the answers I was expecting. What was I expecting anyway?)

 

Me: "Nooo, silly, we don't go on work trips together. Mommies do lots of things for their children. What do I do for you?"

 

Molly: "Get me dresses! And headbands!"

 

At this point, I decided to call it quits and just smother my daughter in kisses. At least that was her #1 answer! 

Making a list and checking it twice

No, not my Christmas list. I'm starting to think about my New Year's Resolutions. I was pretty happy with my 2013 list. Although I missed my exercise goal on and off throughout the year, I did a pretty good job picking up Molly early and never missed a date night.

This year, I'm thinking I'll keep the exercise and date night resolutions, but want to exchange my Molly resolution for something better. Instead of making a point to spend more time with Molly, I want to make it my goal to spend more quality time with Molly. And that means putting down my phone. Kylie wrote a good blog post about the topic a few months ago. Although I agreed with everything she wrote, I didn't actually take her advice.

I read in the paper today that most adults check their phones 150 times a day. I couldn't believe that stat when I read it, but I bet it's probably true. Scary! I know I don't need to look at that thing 150 times a day. I just do it out of habit. Boredom. But the whole point of making resolutions is to change bad habits, right? I can do it. The phone will go away from 7 to 8 every morning and from 6 to 8 every evening. Breaking the habit on weekends might be harder, especially during fantasy football season. However, if my 2014 teams are as bad as my 2013 teams, it might not end up being so difficult after all!