In case you haven't noticed, I am completely enamored by the two little people I'm responsible for keeping alive. While the keeping them fed and clothed part of my duties are a pain in the butt, the rest of it is pretty darn fun ... mostly.
I do what I can to make it fun. Let's go with that.
Part of making it fun is deciding on a whim that everyone should pile into the car and go look at Christmas lights. Because CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. There is nothing more fun than a little holiday sparkle and shine!
Neither of the girls thought it was as great of an idea as I did. Alexis wanted to keep holed up in her room reading while Mila was like "PAJAMAS, LADY. I DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE WHILE WEARING PAJAMAS." But, half the fun of whims is that all of the details aren't perfect, so I made them go. Adulting may mean having to do things you don't want to do, but it also means you get to make other people do things they don't want to do. HOORAY!
So we piled in the car and drove to one of the many drive-thru light displays around the area. It was well past Christmas by the time I decided to force the issue, so the place was pretty much empty. I think we saw two or three other cars the entire time, in fact.
Since there was essentially nobody else there and I wanted to drive slowly enough to get passed by a snail, I decided the girls could pile into the front seat so they could see better. Two things happened:
1. Alexis discovered that the front seats of my car are heated. She may never forgive me for not telling her this before because having a warm butt is AWESOOOOOOME. Or so she says.
2. I remembered that there's a reason I don't reach back to unhook Mila's seatbelt. I have to walk around and unhook her so that I can immediately pick her up. If I don't, she imitates the Garfield suction cup things people had in their cars years ago. She shoots out of that seat and basically turns into a little lunatic. She glued herself to the glass, bounced around, and generally was all AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOM! I had to tell her to quit licking the window, you guys.
The good news is that the crazy of the two of them discovering new fun things was quickly squashed by the sparkle and shine. They shifted focus to the lights and were completely enthralled. Mila being two means Mila was extra full of wonder and delight. Which, awesomeness.
I questioned my decision to drag the girls out to see lights many, many times. Sometimes my idea of fun isn't exactly what they think is fun. All the doubt melted away when we crawled through the tunnel of lights, though. It was then that Mila gasped and with eyes wide whispered, "Wook at dat! It's booty-ful!"
Whims are the best.