I took a couple of days off from work this week because apparently you're supposed to do that? That's what I hear anyway. I still have five weeks of vacation to use before the year ends, so I'll work on getting better at taking a day or two here and there. I swear it.
ANYWAY.
We're right smack in the middle of all of the 2020 cancelled trips. One of the girls is coping with her disappointment from missing dance and cheer nationals, so I figured I'd take them both to a few local things that seem relatively safe as a distraction. It's not Cape May or San Antonio, but the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden wasn't a terrible place to spend an afternoon.
In general I've found that weekdays are a better time to wander into the world than weekends. That was definitely true as we managed to only encounter a total of five people the entire time we were at the gardens. Three of them were employees, so it was definitely a win.
It's weird. When you find these little windows where you can just do what you would always do, you can almost forget that everything is stupid right now. Mila is especially good at ignoring all of the stupid, which makes her positively delightful to be around.
EXCEPT THAT SHE NEVER STOPS TALKING.
I mean, seriously. She has always been challenged by the notion that she is allowed to close her mouth, but it's escalating. Not being able to freely spout nonsense to hoards of friends is apparently leaving her with no choice but the spout nonsense to us. It's adorable and all of that, but it NEVER ENDS. Also, her need to ask what every word ever means is ... wow. It's just wow.
"Mila, you're allowed to be quiet for a minute or two."
"What does 'allowed' mean?"
She knows exactly what it means, by the way. It's part of a game or something. Still, I answer every time. Once I was done explaining it, Mila had quite the reply.
"Mom, you're allowed to let me talk as much as I want."
I ... have no answers for that.