Mother load

I debated long and hard about whether to take the kids to see the Chinese New Year's parade downtown and decided at the last minute to attempt it. Jack had recovered from an entire week of being sick and needed to get out of the house to break the boredom and I felt that I needed a few pictures of Makena witnessing a Chinese tradition to keep up my end of the promise I made to the officials in Chongqing -- that I would raise her with a sense of her culture.

As usual, it was a last minute decision. I told Jack to get dressed and I ran into the shower where I was promptly joined by Makena. Every time she hears it running, she insists on stripping out of her clothes and getting in. It's not worth the crying tantrum to oppose her and I can keep an eye on her that way, all be it a soapy one.

Once we were done, I toweled her off and proceeded to take a minute for myself when I heard her utter her first three-word sentence: "Ooh, look poopoo!" I couldn't believe the string of words pouring out of her mouth nor the vision of her naked in the hallway pointing at a lump on the carpet. She repeated the sentence and followed it by, "Ew, stinky!"
We made it downtown in time to see the last of the parade. There were thousands of people everywhere and firecrackers and confetti were being tossed left and right. It was amazing. Jack never once said he was bored and even helped me keep an eye on Makena who kept pointing to the rodents, calling them "mouse". A few bystanders kept telling me they were "rats" -- which I knew. I was just happy to see Makena expressing herself.

Unfortunately, her expressions didn't stop there. I put her on my shoulders to help her get a better view when I was assaulted by a very familiar smell... Makena repeated her "Ooh, stinky" line and Jack's expression confirmed it all. I had it on my clothes... my neck... in my hair...

As I ran back to the car with no wipes on hand, I kept telling myself that nobody knew me and that I would never see these thousands of people again... We drove off with the windows down so that I could go home and have my second shower of the day.Hopefully, Makena will be out of diapers for the year of the ox.

Is - a - potty head.