Sugarbaby

Birdie and I went to the mall to return some pants and buy her a new swimsuit. Next weekend we are going down to southern Utah for a few days, and my in-laws timeshare has a pool that is kept heated. There is green all around and I. cannot. wait. I am so done with wrapping my kids up in a ball of fleece/boots/wintercoat just to go outside. We need a vacation. I would already be in NM visiting my Mom & Dad if I thought for half a second I could survive the drive alone with three kids. It's a nine hour drive. With small kids it's ten hours and that's with a DVD player. Nursing it takes twelve to fourteen. It's a doable proposition with two adults but Dadguy hasn't the vacation days, My little sis Aunt Tay-mee now has a real job real far away and I'm no rockstar with a nanny. I am homesick for New Mexico, and I miss my parents and there really isn't anything I can do about it. At least we have next weekend and a new suit.

The swimsuit...

Clutching her J.C.Penny bag with her garish new swim attire Birdie climbs into her car booster seat and announces, "Mama, I have sugar in my ear."

"Sugar in your ear?" I ask as I secure her seat belt.

"Yeah, it's in my ear," she says as she picks at her ear.

"Huh." I walk around the van to get into the driver's seat. Opening the door, I slide in and fasten my seat belt. I thought we were done discussing sugar... heck, this is the kid who remembers driving our van. According to her she drove too fast and the man gave her a ticket.

"I have some sugar. Sugar is in my ear, mama."

"How on earth did you get sugar in your ear?"

"It's from the doughnuts." She has her index finger in her ear and is scratching around.

"How did you get the sugar from your doughnut into your ear?"

"Because I did!" (clearly her mother is an idiot)

"But how did it get to your ear? Did you stick your doughnut into your ear and squiggle it around?" By this time I have turned around in my seat to look at her and try to get her full meaning.

She looks at me earnestly and nods her head as she speaks slowly and clearly. "I ate my doughnut and the sugar went into my throat, then into my ear and now there is scratchy sugar in my ear!"

"OOOoooooooh, " I say with a sigh... "your ear hurts. It feels like you have sugar in your ear."

Another permutation of this cold she has been foxtrotting with all week? Ear infection? Great, now I think I have sugar in my ear.