Bella's First Trip to the Post Office
7/30/2008 02:56:00 PM 0 Comments »
When Josh and I picked up Bella from her trip to see her Emmy and Tee Lee in Kenedy last weekend, we, of course, left her entire bag of clothes on the floor in the kitchen. Mom got the phone call the next morning, after we woke up, went to get Bella's clothes for school and realized that we had left her clothes 4 1/2 hours away. Bummer. You see, Bella is rough on clothing, as I think most kids are. She wears most of her food (her daddy says that is genetic, too, because I never fail to wear at least part of my dinner. He's not funny.) and she always finds dirt I didn't know was in my house, or the one marker that doesn't have a top, or she grows more and then everything is too short. I have lots of clothes for her, but with the stains and ill-fit, they are not the clothes I let her go into public with, not to mention she is...particular about her clothing and all the clothes she loved had been forgotten (for the first time ever) far, far away. So, while we waited for the box from Kenedy with her bag o' clothes in it, I got very creative while finding Bella her daily outfit. We managed just fine, she always looked cute, but it was a lot harder than if I just had her familiar, favorite clothes that fit.
The box was supposed to be in Livingston no later than Saturday, but just our luck, it didn't arrive until Monday. Well, it was just the slip that they put in your mail box, saying the box wouldn't fit and we would have to pick it up at the post office, before 5 PM. Try explaining that to a 3 year-old! What is even more frustrating is that the mail runs late in the day, so it wasn't in there when I left to go pick Bella up from school, believe me, I checked. But it was when we returned, and, of course, it was after 5 PM. Not only did I have to explain why we had a peach-colored card instead of her box, but also that we couldn't get it until the next day, after school. Let's just say after a million questions, rewording responses to answer the reworded questions, and her father telling her the exact same things I did, she was ready to let it pass. I asked her to put the package slip on the fridge with one of her magnets so that it wouldn't get lost, and many times throughout the evening I found her at the fridge just looking at it. Another thing about Bella, she NEVER forgets. Sure, you can change the subject for a while or distract her with other things, but before the day is done she'll talk to you about it again, never fails. So I wasn't surprised, as we read our stories before lights out, that the box and the post office kept sneaking in to our conversation. After reassurances and simple explanations, she drifted off to sleep to dream of her very own package in the mail.
The next morning, reminding her that we would go pick up her box from the post office after I picked her up from school was great stimulus to get her out of bed. She was at the door waiting on me so we could get to school, with her package slip in hand to put in the car for safe-keeping. The promise of the box also assisted in allowing me to take my leave with very little sniffling as I dropped her off, because she was so excited to tell her teacher about the package she was was going to acquire after school.
So, I picked her up a bit early to ensure we had plenty of time to go to the post office. She was so excited! Constant chatter as we waited in line, full of questions and pointing out all the things and happenings in the post office lobby. With slip in hand, she approached the counter, and then turned to me with arms raised so I could lift her up to speak with the postwoman. Everyone in there knew from our five minute wait in line exactly what we were there for and that this was her first big girl trip to visit the USPS. The nice lady behind the counter played her part in assisting Bella, spoke directly to her, took the slip from her hand and then went to retrieve the box from the back. The look on Bella's face was priceless!! A huge grin of expectation, with eyes and arms open wide as she reached for the box, but in the end turned to daddy to pick it up for her and carry it to the car. She couldn't believe how big it was and the smile never left her face. Her hand laid on top of it the whole way home, and it was like her birthday, she said, after daddy opened it and she saw her things. There was a new Kindermat for her nap times, all her clothes, her swimsuit (she thought is was forever lost), and a pumice stone for Bella to do her feet in the shower. Her Emmy told her that women never have rough feet and this is how we keep them soft, so, of course, Bella has to have one. At last, the box arrived and my daughter was content, finally!!!
Until next time...
The box was supposed to be in Livingston no later than Saturday, but just our luck, it didn't arrive until Monday. Well, it was just the slip that they put in your mail box, saying the box wouldn't fit and we would have to pick it up at the post office, before 5 PM. Try explaining that to a 3 year-old! What is even more frustrating is that the mail runs late in the day, so it wasn't in there when I left to go pick Bella up from school, believe me, I checked. But it was when we returned, and, of course, it was after 5 PM. Not only did I have to explain why we had a peach-colored card instead of her box, but also that we couldn't get it until the next day, after school. Let's just say after a million questions, rewording responses to answer the reworded questions, and her father telling her the exact same things I did, she was ready to let it pass. I asked her to put the package slip on the fridge with one of her magnets so that it wouldn't get lost, and many times throughout the evening I found her at the fridge just looking at it. Another thing about Bella, she NEVER forgets. Sure, you can change the subject for a while or distract her with other things, but before the day is done she'll talk to you about it again, never fails. So I wasn't surprised, as we read our stories before lights out, that the box and the post office kept sneaking in to our conversation. After reassurances and simple explanations, she drifted off to sleep to dream of her very own package in the mail.
The next morning, reminding her that we would go pick up her box from the post office after I picked her up from school was great stimulus to get her out of bed. She was at the door waiting on me so we could get to school, with her package slip in hand to put in the car for safe-keeping. The promise of the box also assisted in allowing me to take my leave with very little sniffling as I dropped her off, because she was so excited to tell her teacher about the package she was was going to acquire after school.
So, I picked her up a bit early to ensure we had plenty of time to go to the post office. She was so excited! Constant chatter as we waited in line, full of questions and pointing out all the things and happenings in the post office lobby. With slip in hand, she approached the counter, and then turned to me with arms raised so I could lift her up to speak with the postwoman. Everyone in there knew from our five minute wait in line exactly what we were there for and that this was her first big girl trip to visit the USPS. The nice lady behind the counter played her part in assisting Bella, spoke directly to her, took the slip from her hand and then went to retrieve the box from the back. The look on Bella's face was priceless!! A huge grin of expectation, with eyes and arms open wide as she reached for the box, but in the end turned to daddy to pick it up for her and carry it to the car. She couldn't believe how big it was and the smile never left her face. Her hand laid on top of it the whole way home, and it was like her birthday, she said, after daddy opened it and she saw her things. There was a new Kindermat for her nap times, all her clothes, her swimsuit (she thought is was forever lost), and a pumice stone for Bella to do her feet in the shower. Her Emmy told her that women never have rough feet and this is how we keep them soft, so, of course, Bella has to have one. At last, the box arrived and my daughter was content, finally!!!
Until next time...
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