The perils of the bubble dress

A few weeks ago, we came to a crossroads as a family.

Despite our best efforts and earnest attempts, Kiyomi had started to recognize that she does, in fact, have a mind of her own. And it has started with … the bubble dress. Typically, Kiyomi has been wonderfully complacent when it comes to getting dressed – she would put on whatever I picked out. And then, one day, she didn’t. Now the morning routine consists of a toddler in a diaper (if we’re lucky) and little legs scooting down the hallway with a grown-up following closely behind carrying a shirt/dress/shorts/pants trying desperately to explain that clothes are probably needed in the current circumstances.
Where does the bubble dress come in, you ask? It’s pretty much the only thing she’ll wear – a purple dress with multicoloured polkadots all over it - without a fight. Part of her rant when we’re trying to reason a pair of pants is “bubba dress, bubba dress, bubba dress!” The bigger problem, of course, is that she is outgrowing the bubble dress. Once that’s too small, she’ll likely be clad in a diaper only cause it’s gonna be far too exhausting to dress her in anything else.

The summer has blown by. August started with a trip to Toronto to visit Ojiichan, Obaachan, Martin, Miyo and of course, the main attraction, Mika! A beautiful weekend, warm and sunny, which included a trip to the zoo. It was our first trip to the Toronto zoo, and the highlight for Kiyomi was life-size animatronic dinosaurs.

Other exciting adventures in the last month has been a trip to the Ex, where Ella showed Kiyomi the ropes, and the two of them tore up the midway. After some initial uncertainty, Kiyomi took to the ride-idea like a duck to water. I don’t think I’ve heard her yell “again, again!”, so many times, while her little hands furiously signed “more, more!!”. She wasn’t even off a ride before she was practically pleading to get back on. I’m really beginning to think she’s a little thrill junky. By the time we pried her away from the rides, it was full sensory overload with the midway lights, sounds and smells. Kiyomi loved it and made sure she was right in the thick of things.

She also went for her first self-propelled hike in Gatineau Park. We’d been for little hikes before, but she was always in the carrier. This time, it was all her, baby! We weren’t sure how it was going to work out, but she managed to walk over a kilometre all by herself. Of course, there were many stops with “wha’s daaat?”, a lengthy snack break at the half way point, and the introduction of a new game – throwing rocks into the stream. So many rocks were chucked into the poor little stream by Mackenzie King estate that I’m fearful we may have disturbed the ecological balance of the place. Not to mention the rocks that were tucked away in her pockets.

Other interesting discoveries of late have been video games and pockets – not necessarily in that order. Her Nana got her a video game system for her birthday this year, and she loves it. She hasn’t yet gotten the hang of everything, but she loves the big button that makes things jump on screen. A number of people have become unwilling partners in Kiyomi’s quest to jump on screen.

As for her pockets, well, they’ve become the ultimate repository now that she’s discovered that you can stash keepsakes there and fish them out later – or not. For my part, it has meant some really interesting discoveries at laundry time. Nothing says toddler like a scrunched up ball of pasty paper and rocks. So far, no creepy crawlies have emerged from the depths of those pockets, so I should consider myself lucky.

Kiyomi continues to do all the things that little girls do – chat’s up a storm and is starting to assert herself more and more (which is a polite way of saying, she has her bossy moments). This last couple of weeks, she’s developed a passion for dinosaurs and other creatures. To my utter delight, her favourite book at the moment is “Where the Wild Things Are”, a favourite of mine when I was little. There is something pretty amazing about reading your favourite childhood book to your daughter. The parting shot for tonight shows a childhood right of passage – Dr. Seuss.