On Saturday the boys and I participated in the annual Teddy Bear Parade in downtown Gresham with Byrson's preschool class. We had walked in it once before during Brayden's second year of preschool and it hadn't really gone well. That time, I brought the sit-n-stand stroller and on the way to the parade, Brayden told me he wasn't feeling well. He rode sitting backwards the whole way through the parade looking quite green and I raced through it as fast as I could just praying that he didn't throw up. He didn't, luckily. And I was very relieved when it was over and we were able to get out of there.
This time though, I had every reason to be optimistic that we would have a great time - and we really lucked out with the weather. Brayden was excited to be riding his bike and I was going to pull Bryson in the wagon. And my mom surprised me by saying that she wanted to come with us and watch the parade. The morning of, the weather was great, Bill decorated Brady's bike a bit with some streamers I had picked up and we got all loaded. And then Mr. Fussy reared his head and I allowed myself to get the best of myself and become flustered. We managed to find a place to park and quickly began the trek to the starting position. I was nervous that we were going to get there late, as usual - and didn't take the time to just calm down and take some deep breaths and calm Bryson down, too. But it all worked out, Brady walked his bike and I pulled Bryson in the wagon and when we got into position, I was already kinda sweaty and so was Brady. But luckily, Ms. Karen came by right when the fussing was really getting started with yellow balloons which made everything a bit better. And then a mother of a Scribbles student distributed little homemade "bear ears" clips for everyone to wear in their hair. Very creative and cute, I thought. Bryson wouldn't go for it though and I didn't want to push Mr. Fussy and Brayden couldn't wear them since I insisted he wear his bike helmet during the parade. But here I am, complete with frizzy hair.
The parade finally got underway and my mom happened to be seated about two blocks into it. Once Bryson saw her, he wanted out and when I told him he couldn't, the parade was ruined for him. Luckily he sat sulking quietly and I was able to just tug him along and focus on keeping Brayden on track. He zipped along and did great job, actually. I can't wait until we can spend some time with him on riding without his training wheels on which I wish I would've worked on this summer.
Towards the end of the parade, Brayden pooped out on me and I really had to work at encouraging him to keep going. He was saying he was "out of fuel" and that he was too hot and that his hands and knees hurt. The poor guy, it really is my fault. Always trying to be finishing up some schoolwork has turned him into Mike TV! But he persevered and we made it to the end!
By the end though, he was done riding his bike and hopped into the wagon. I only knew one way to my mom and that was the parade route so I maneuvered along the side of the other participants pulling about 80 pounds of wagon and guiding Brayden's bike. UGH! Not awesome. But luckily I was finally able to find my mom and headed off into the farmer's market to find drinks and snacks. I dropped off a delicious elephant ear with the boys and headed back into the market for hot dogs and Capri Suns and water which greatly improved everyone's mood, including my own. I also picked up some big, delicious Maryhill peaches.
But then Brayden spotted some decorative-twirly-sparkly-sticks a guy was selling and when I told him he couldn't get one, he got whiney and getting the kids and all the stuff back to the car was frustrating. By the time we got home I was exhausted and wondering why I insist on doing these kind of things with the kids because it is a lot of work for me and I was feeling like they really don't appreciate it at all. Later Brayden told his dad that he thought the parade was cool and that he had a good time. So that's a relief. And Bryson agrees with Brady so I guess the parade actually turned out to be a success.
No comments:
Post a Comment