Lion Tamer

I’ve many times talked about Sidney’s VERY outgoing nature. Timid is not a word I will probably ever use to describe her. She’s friendly to everyone and somehow kids seem magnetically drawn to her. I remember when I put her into preschool the first year, my fear was that her physical makeup would be the source of negative experiences. How was I to know that two years later in kindergarten the girls would fight over who was going to play with her?

Last night her kindergarten class did a circus. Appropriately, Sidney was the lion tamer. By the way, I have no idea what being a lion tamer has to do with wearing a straw hat, but this was her costume so we’ll go with it. Smiley Sidney (her stage name) lead the lions (two boys from her class) through a series of feats like jumping through the flamed hoop. Or this case jumping through the hoola hoop with orange fabric tied around it. And true to form, she was the first act. At the end, each group of acts sang a portion of, “Take Me Out to the Circus” to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Unfortunately, one of the lions took ill last night, and there was one shy little boy that approached the microphone with Sidney. No problem. Sidney’s vocals more than made up for any volume lost. Everyone she encounters agrees it’s this outgoing attitude that makes a person completely forget about her hands and foot. In so many ways this is an answered prayer.

I’m typing and hoping I’m not hearing the same noise I heard a few days ago. There was a stirring in the living room closet. It wasn’t our old cat Ralph creaking around. I was up working and thought the coffee hadn’t kicked in, so I thought I was hearing things. Not so much. Out of the corner of my eye a small creature streaked across the living room. I texted Tom the following words, “There is a mouse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come down immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tom stumbled out of bed and went behind the chair searching for the vermin. No luck. Tom expertly set a trap with peanut butter. I am a grown woman, and I’m not proud of this next part. I was so afraid of the mouse that I removed my work from the general vicinity and never returned to the living room instead working from the kitchen all day. I finally came back in when Tom came home and declared the creature dead. With all the foot traffic in and out of people picking up cookies, we think the little critter snuck in.

So that’s my week in a nutshell. This weekend will be relaxing and cleaning. This was only after last weekend when we went to the waterpark with Tom’s parents. Sidney took one look at the splash pad and said, “That’s for baby’s,” heading for the waterslides. She went down every single one of them by herself. Of course, dad went down first and caught her at the bottom. It’s amazing how sweet he was with Sidney. At the end of our little weakened hiatus, he convinced me it would be a good idea to get on the double raft and go down the waterslide with him. Nobody ever told me that when two full grown adults get in, the speed picks up rapidly. Eli tells me the entire waterpark heard me screaming, “I HATE THIS!” 

And I'm off to my Saturday.