Morning adventure

I had an allergist appointment bright and early this morning, so the kids and I headed out for a sixxy-nine bus adventure. Once on the bus, Julia decided to loudly air all of our family medical issues to the rest of the passengers. "Mom, uh, one time when we visited you in the hospital... not the time when you had Madeleine, the time when we went to visit you in the hospital that's near the Y? Well, when we were going there to visit you, I realized that it was on the same street as my doctor that we went to for my molluscum contagiosum. Yeah, 'cause I recognized the building! I remembered we went there when you were still allowed to drive. But Mom, have you ever had a seizure before? Well, one time, when I was riding home from camp and I was telling about your seizure, Karolina thought I said FEVER instead of SEIZURE."

Hi everybody. I'm riding the 59 bus because I had a seizure and I can't drive. But don't worry, my daughter's molliscum contagiosum has been treated.

When we got to the doctor's office, the girls sat quietly and patiently for about five seconds before showing their deep disappointment and disapproval over the fact that I had not brought toys along to entertain them. The receptionist came to my rescue with a bag of markers and two clipboards with a blank piece of paper for the girls to color. While Julia worked hard on flowers, Madeleine went for a more abstract piece of art, filling me in on what she was drawing: "There it is. I did it. That's the mountain steps. That's STEP! Yeah, that's mountain STEP!"

After the appointment was over, the receptionist offered the girls a lollipop, which, at not even 9 in the morning, was of course the most wonderful treat they could imagine. As I scheduled my next appointment, both girls felt the need to dance and leap around the waiting room proclaiming their joy over having Blow Pops. Madeleine couldn't contain her excitement and had to tell the other woman in the waiting room all about the lollipops. "It's BLUE!" she declared, holding her blue Blow Pop out dangerously close to the woman. "That's Julia's lollipop. It's RED!" she then announced, pointing over at Julia. "That's my LOLLIPOP!" again thrusting her lollipop towards the other waiting patient. Followed by some twirling during which the lollipop repeatedly got stuck in her hair.

As we rode the bus home, the girls debated what was in the middle of their lollipops.
JULIA: Mama, do you think this is a TOOTSIE POP?
ME: No, it has bubble gum in the middle.
JULIA: I don't think it's bubble gum. I think it might be a tootsie pop.
MADELEINE: It's BUBBLE GUP! Yeah, it's bubble gup. Bubble gup. No, it's not bubble gup.

It turns out it was bubble gup, but I was able to stealthily steal Madeleine's pop away before she got to the center.

Now, it wouldn't be a sixxy-nine bus ride without Madeleine loudly pointing out the other people riding along with us. At the stop before ours, a woman who looked to be of Indian descent got on board, prompting Madeleine to announce, "Look, that's Courtney Mommy! Yeah, it's Courtney Mommy right there!"

As always, showing off her spot-on observational skills.