Growing up is bittersweet for everyone involved. For Alexis, there is a bit of emphasis on the bitter, at least in her head. She is far more likely to ponder the joys of being a baby again than she is to think of the freedoms that come with getting older. I've tried to explain that the whole baby thing was a one time shot and her time to eat, sleep, and poop all day are done, but she doesn't care about my reasoning. She wants to wear baby clothes and be wrapped tightly in a blanket and do all the things that babies do. Really, who doesn't?
Her biggest heartache attached to getting older is the realization that she just won't get carried around all the time anymore. It drives her CRAZY. She wants to be carried so, so, so badly. She tries begging, crying, asking nicely, manipulating, pleading . . . everything. Alas, she is just plain too heavy to get hauled around, at least by me.
As we made our way through the various Disney parks, the whole thing where the kid no longer gets to board a human chariot started to eat at her soul. With sadness in her eyes, she would plead, occasionally gaining a little sympathy from her dad. It got so bad that she actually started to ask for one of those wheeled things she saw other kids riding in. You know, a stroller.
People, the kid can tell you she's "frust-er-rated" and can accurately recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but she didn't know the word "stroller." That might say something about how long it has been since she last rode in one, mostly because she has always hated them with the fire of 15632140912384 suns. One day a few years ago I forgot the handcuffs and cement shoes at home and decided it was just plain time to give up on those fancy wheeled contraptions. We haven't looked back since.
Anyway, while trying to explain that getting bigger was a good thing, we discovered BAM! The kid is big enough for the BIG RIDES! BAM! BAM! BAM! We weren't entirely sure how she would feel about the likes of Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain and Tower of Terror, but I think it is now safe to say she liked them. A lot.
Before you make fun of how much of a dork I am in the photo, please note that I was trying VERY hard to sell the ride to Alexis. If ever I have wanted her to enjoy something, that was it. It was a make-or-break moment in our little Disney getaway. If she liked it, that meant we would get to ride the big rides the rest of the week. If not, I was going to start plotting violence while listening to an endless loop of "It's a Small World."
I needn't have worried. We rode Splash Mountain so many times that I lost count.
Bittersweet, indeed.