Once Upon a Trip....

Blair, age 2

Bedtime is always fun. Layne likes to be read to and Blair likes to have stories told to her. Some nights my "mommy brain" isn't working too well and I just can't muster up a creative enough story to satisfy Blair. She asks that they all be originals and I can't remember what story lines I have already used. If my listener is not satisfied I am told to tell another story. So, the other night I was having one of those moments and I was struggling to think of anything. So I told her a story about going to Paris but I did not follow the normal story format. Here is the what I tried:

Me: Imagine that one day I wake you up and I tell you to pack a small bag. We are stopping by to see Crystal before we leave to have your hair dyed a new color. 

Blair: I only want to have pink and purple streaks instead of all over color.

Me: After we leave there, we head to the airport to get on a plane. Do you have your passport Blair? 

Blair: Yes, I do and I really like my picture in it. Did you remember to pack snacks Mommy? Sometimes the snacks on the plane are not yummy enough. 

Me: I packed you some Skittles, is that ok?

Blair: Yes, that sounds great. Why am I packing a small bag of clothes? I need plenty of things to wear. Where are we going?

Me: You packed a small bag because we are going to shop for new clothes when we get there. We are flying to Paris.

Blair: Wow! That is where Fancy Nancy always wants to go! Do you know how to speak Paris?

Me: French

Blair: Huh?

Me: People in Paris speak French.

Blair: We are in North Carolina so we should be United States and not English. 

Me: No, we speak English because that is the language of our country. 

Blair: That makes no sense..... All we need to do there is say Ohh La La and Merci a lot and everyone will know what we are saying. That is what Fancy Nancy does. I also know pirate too. Shiver me tremble, arrrr, and the flag is called a Jolly Rancher. 

Me: Back to our trip. We fly for a long time and you get to watch a movie (or two). When we get there you get to see the Eiffel Tower (just like Fancy Nancy's picture) and we got shopping. 

Blair: You messed up Mommy. 

Me: How so?

Blair: This is a girls only trip. So we need to make sure that Kennedy is in a suitcase, we need to pick BeBe up on the way to the airport, and she needs to get all of Aupples' money so we can have a lot of fun shopping. I remembered to pack my piggy bank.

Me: Ok, so we do all of that except pack Kennedy in a suitcase because she can sit in a seat on the plane. We get to Paris...

Blair: I am sleepy, so I am going to dream about this now and get all of the details figured out. Good night Mommy. I love you!

It must have been some dream that she had that night because she woke up the next morning determined that we were heading to Paris that day on the way to preschool and she had it all figured out. She even told our sitter that we would be gone for a while because of this trip and told her about all of the plans that were made the evening before. To say she was disappointed when I told her we weren't going is a major understatement. Eventually the trip suffered a major downgrade and turned into a trip to New York to knit (the plans she shared with my mom). Regardless, she still pours over her Fancy Nancy books, looking for "Paris words" so she will be fluent when she does make this long journey. I am sticking to the "Once upon a time" format from here on out since the "Imagine one day" seemed to evolve into a planned mission. 

Au revoir