No slide

Well. I tried. I did. I was up at 5:00 am. I was excited. I was ready.

Unfortunately, A was not. I waited. I drank two cups of coffee. I raised A's blind and talked her through our morning. I decided to have a bath. Mistake. I heard grumbling, then calling, then yelling, "Mama, turn off the light!"

"The light's not on, pet. That's the sun."

"Turn it off!"

"Can't do that love, it's impossible. It's time to get up."

"Turn off the light, Mama. Turn it off!"

"No can do. Sorry. Come and have a bath."

Then there was more screaming and coughing and near-convulsions and finally, "I peed!!!"

So I had to get out of the bath and I found A standing in a puddle of pee in a rage that took a good 20 minutes to calm her out of, but by the time she had eaten and was ready to go, I was in a foul mood myself and it was 8:00 am, hours after I'd planned on leaving for the GGGS.

Harumph!

We drove down to the Glebe and circled, and circled, and circled, while I grumbled at my grumpy pre-schooler, who was trying to make up for her bad behaviour by saying nothing.
Finally, I headed into Centretown, where someone pulled out of a metered spot just in time for me to pull in.

"Okay," I said, "We're heading out and I want you to be good. No whining. No crying. No complaining. Undestood?"

"Okay."

We packed up a backpack and hitched a bag onto the umbrella stroller and off we went, into the crowds, seeking the slide. When we arrived at the bank, I realized it had been firebombed and I had no money. So we turned around and headed into Shopper's for some food item and cash back, but I could only get $40 for my juice purchase, but that was a budget and I tried to work with it.

"Do you want juice?"

"No!"

"Are you sure? I'm having juice."

"No!"

I took out my juice and started to drink.

"Juice, mama!"

And promptly handed it over to grumpy girl.

We walked into Starbucks just before 9:00 am and H wasn't there, so we went to the bathroom.

"Do you want to pee? This may be your only chance."

"NO!"

"Are you sure?"

"I don't have to pee."

"Okay."

So she didn't. I did. But by the time we exited, no H, so we headed off down 3rd. Twenty minutes later, we returned with our princess costume (white with sparkes and a cone hat with rosebuds) to find H with her aunt and two boys on the patio.

We circled around with them for awhile, but A was still whining, alternating with coyly twirling in her costume so that strangers would chuckle or coo. By 10:30 am I'd had enough. We'd lost H in the crowd, A was upset, and we were having a hard time getting through the crowds with the stroller. I realized I'd missed out of slidesville because of our delay and I gave up on the GGGS.
It was okay, though. The costume worked and I got several nice guazy dresses for A and I. I'd spent $28 total for 2 hotdogs, the costume, a silk dress, two cotton tops, and a dress for A. Not bad.

I returned home exhausted and headed back to bed. A insisted on watching Dora videos, so I let her do that quietly in her room. She'd come in and check on me every few minutes bringing a new toy to keep me company. Eventually she climbed on top of me for a 5 minute nap.

All in all, it was fine. I brought the car, I met the friend, I got some stuff. But no slided. Alas.

There's one on sale at Toy's R Us today though. I might have to give in and buy it. Thankfully, A's with her dad and I can get in and out of the store peacefully alone and without whining.