A visit to the Nina

Considering it would take me a month to have time to create a play-by-play posting of our vacation to the Nina and fabulous Washington, DC, I'll post a highlights/lowlights list instead.



Highlights:

-All of the flights! Animalia was fantastic, so good that she elicited compliments on ALL of the flights, both to and from. One man actually praised not only Animalia, but my very own parenting skills. Someone else, seated in front of us, also told me that my baby is very very smart as they could hear her counting to 20 during the flight.

-Animalia recognized Nina immediately and not only did she know her as Nina but she also knew her name and got it only slightly wrong, calling her Amarisa. It was very adorable.

-When we took her to Sesame Place, the very first time she saw the characters, she was so excited she shook!

-She was very lovey to Gloria and remembered her name.

-She saw the creepily taxidermied animals at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and was ecstatic, especially when she noticed the panda bear, repeating "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see?" over and over again. She also loved seeing the "dinosaurus" and the big elephant.

-She was thrilled at the Natural History Museum's special butterfly exhibit. It's a small structure inside the museum built specially for live butterflies with many lovely flowers planted in planters. We walked inside and there were butterflies everywhere. Animalia ooohed and aaahhed, especially when one landed on her. Very exciting.

-Happy as a clam on many rides including the carousel on the National Mall and the teacup-type ride and flying fish ride at Sesame Place.

-Happy as a clam in any water attraction at Sesame Place.

-She burst into song, singing "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow! You're only a day away!" as I was trying to put her to sleep. I guess this one is a highlight AND a low point because she was being very difficult at this point but it was so hilarious that we stifled laughter to maintain the serious environment that sleeping requires.

-Happy as a clam at H&M, totally thrilled about getting new clothes, especially the Hello Kitty tunic like thing.

-Loving the fried foods. It must've been crazy for her to eat french fries more than once during the week (I'm a terrible mother on vacation, a better one when we're home). She also LOVES dip. ANY dip. Ketchup, honey mustard, ranch. Dip! Yay!

-Her new Count Von Count that "Mama bought you" at Sesame Place. She calls him her "baby Count" and puts him to sleep tenderly.

-Italian ice on the National Mall.

-Buckling herself into her stroller all by herself.

-Most of the driving from DC to PA was fairly decent. She spent much of the time talking to herself if she wasn't asleep.

-She pooped in the potty for the very first time!!!

Lowlights:
-The National Zoo visit. Although the Animalia enjoyed seeing the first few animals very much, there were very few animals out by the time we got there. Then she was flopping around on the ground and at one point hoarded food in her mouth for about 20 minutes until she spit it all out near the horseys. This is her new and totally disgusting trick that I hope passes quickly.

-She spent a little time being defiant, a few times reduced to screeching. I think mostly she was tired and disoriented from not being at home and being totally out of her routine. Every car trip resulted in her asking to go see Daddy, or to go to Nana and Tata's house.

-Our visit to the Library of Congress to see Nina. When Nina took her stroller for brief storage, Animalia started screaming, "Aya's stroller!!!" and crying real tears. In a very quiet place. Where researching people could hear us. Because Nina stole her stroller.

-After she pooped in the potty, she finished it off by pooping in the diaper. Seriously. Yuck. Also, aside from the pooping, she wasn't too into using the potty, at least not as much as she was at home. I think the grown up potty was sort of weird for her, but also we were out so much and she was so distracted that she'd rarely mention it. On a more positive note, she seems to have readjusted quickly. Thank the lord.

-The mosquitos. Little bastards. Actually, they were rather large, the size of flies. And fat and slow off of my own blood and the blood of my teeny tiny toddler. We're still dealing with the itching and the total unprettiness. Here's hoping we don't get West Nile.

So there it is. A trip to see the Nina. All by ourselves. I'm exhausted but happy to see, after making a list, that there are more highlights than lowlights.