Shine, Baby, Shine

Sophie and I have had a rough go of it lately. She's the type of kid who wants to push every limit twice just to make sure I'm paying attention. I have to bring my A game with this kid everyday, but the bummed out part, I'm pretty sure I don't have an A game... most days I'm lucky to have an F game. So there is a lot of arguing and her trying to bargain and me losing my temper at about 7pm. This means that she spends a lot of time in time out or missing out on fun stuff because she still doesn't get that no means no. I know she'll figure it out, hopefully sooner rather than later.

It's not all bad, Sophie makes up for it in with her absolute joy in life. She lives and does it full out. I want to be more like her (except for the throwing herself on the ground tantrums, I might mess up my hair). Plus she is so sweet and loving when she's not trying to drive me insane. She loves to tell me, "Mama you are my best girl".

So onto the shiny part of my story. We went to the local County Fair and what did we manage to find? Pony rides. I kid you not pony rides. I don't remeber going to too many fairs so I'm not sure if it's de riguer to have pony rides, but man I was excited. Sophie has been asking to ride a horse for months. It just trips my trigger to be able to give Sophie something that I know she's going to love. You should have seen Sophie light up at the sight of these tiny horses. She about died and then promptly took a nap on my friend Jennifer's shoulder while we waited for our turn.

Then she bravely hopped up on the tiniest little pony and beamed bright enough to light up a night sky.

Then the two guys running the operation took a mental break (one guy started texting, who knew cowboys texted? and the other guy was doing something) so those ponies started to run or gallop or trot, you get my drift. I would have died of fright but Sophie started laughing like a loon.

She had so much fun and she was glowing she was so happy. Which made me happy.


Shine, Baby, Shine!