From Ryan:
Anytime Stephanie goes on a business trip, it's always an adventure back home. When Adelaide was younger, I really dreaded the departure of mommy, and her return met with the anticipation and fanfare of a conquering general. As Adelaide has gotten bigger, I have lost the dread and actually look forward to the OCCASIONAL trip, it's great to get to spend time with Ade and get all the attention. The business trips have transformed from bogus journey to excellent adventure. That said, we certainly are still almost as excited for mommy to get back as we used to be.
Specific to this trip to China, Adelaide was ... interesting. There really was either an absolute angel or a complete demon, there was no middle ground. The pattern remained pretty consistent throughout the week. Waking up in the morning Adelaide was a delight, she'd happily snuggle while watching cartoons, eat her breakfast and everything was great... until it was timed to get dressed and go. At that point, the fighting would start and she would just want to play play play. Adelaide did enjoy a change of pace one morning when we went to Starbucks and she got her kid's hot chocolate and scone. It was quite fun for both of us, and she definitely attracted a lot of attention. Finally, I'd get Adelaide off to school and the work would begin.
Each day, my return to Kiddie Academy included fun and exciting plans of special dinners, visits to the bookstore, to Target, etc... Each day, those plans would instantly be blown to pieces by a very demanding 3 footer who only wanted to do exactly what she wanted, reasonable or not. You could say, the pickup from school and the following ~30 minutes were not something I looked forward to doing. On normal days, this is one of my favorite times of the day, I'm always excited to pick her up but for this week... not so much. Instead of love and stories about the funny things that she did during her day, it was all about her demands and my fast talking to get the situation under control. We had some great dinners, a new movie, an exciting visit to the grocery store and post meal stop at Petsmart.... but we worked for it, that's for sure.
Two quick notes:
1. Adelaide persuaded me to get her an evening hot chocolate @ Starbucks to go with the one she had that morning. Seeing a habit (or daily expectation) being formed I explained that we simply didn't have enough money to get her hot chocolates anytime she wanted so she could only have them sometimes. She apparently approved of that message, as she didn't make that demand again the rest of the time.
2. During the worst episode of her after school madness, I pulled a major save by "using the secret entrance" to "the salad bar".. aka Milton's. A good dose of boiled eggs, black olives, pepperoni, garbanzo beans and some jello gets her settled down and in a great mood. All was well until, the next night when she decided my suggestion of going to the mall to eat and then the bookstore was not a good one and a return trip to the salad bar was required. I explained this wasn't an option, meltdown ensued but was recovered by promising her rice, beans and the opportunity to say "Hola Amigo!".
After returning from dinner each night, we got to spend our best time together. Adelaide loved her daddy most, and the feeling was mutual. She just wanted to cuddle up, watch her TV, read some books and just generally unwind. The occasional two handed caressing of my face accompanied by an exaggerated "I looooooove you daddy" was certainly welcome... and just didn't get old. This version of my little rascal would continue on through bed where she was excellent each night.
Each night we'd talk about mommy coming home from China on Saturday, talked about how mommy had to pee in a hole in the ground, wondered if mommy met Kai Lan, and talked about how excited we were for soccer and the Caniac Carnival.
Adelaide was extremely excited when she woke up on Saturday. She knew it was Saturday and she knew all of the things that Saturday would bring (even football.. but I think I was more excited for that than she was). After an uneventful soccer practice, off to the carnival we went. I really didn't know what to expect. We went alone (as opposed to meeting up with anyone) as I really didn't know if this was going to be something she liked or a 10 minute event that took a long time to get to and from. Adelaide loved it!!
A quick piece of background information. Adelaide enjoys going to Carolina Ale House and we look at the banners of the local college teams hung throughout the dining room. We talk about the Devils, the Pirates, the Wolfie etc etc. Her favorite is the Wolfie.
Parking for the carnival was focused all the side of the football stadium. Adelaide told me "They don't play hockey there" and laughed. I explained that the Wolfies play football there... the response was the ridiculous nonsensical Wolfpack hand gesture that I had no idea she knew. The carnival itself was basically loud music, a large number of inflatables, food and hockey practice.
She got to see Stormy right away which was extremely exciting because he was on a motorcycle... duh. Adelaide was extremely aggressive. She wanted to wait in line for each inflatable and didn't care how big there. Not that she is usually timid, but even still I was impressed with her ambition to climb and conquer anything regardless of it's size, even the WAVE OF FIRE!!!!
After the WAVE OF FIRE!!!!, we went inside to watch a little of the practice. Unfortunately, they weren't starting for another 30 minutes. I decided we'd grab some hot dogs ($1) and popcorn (free) and sit in the arena and wait. I only list the prices out of amazement at getting concessions at the RBC Center without paying and arm and a leg. Adelaide ate 1/2 my hot dog after telling me she didn't want one ... but I was experienced enough to know that change of mind was coming... so I was already prepared with another. After our snack, the practice began and Ade was a big fan. Like most things she sees... she will be playing hockey when she gets bigger..or so she says. If she does every single thing later in life that she claims she will, then she is going to need to live until she is like 150 years old.
We only watched practice for like 15 minutes as we needed to get home for nap time (and needed to stop by "The Eye" to purchase a Stormy doll). Off we went, free cotton candy in hand ready to go down for a nice big nap to bring mommy's trip to China to a close.
