Mimi

Dear Abigail,

You LOVE you some Mimi. I mean, who doesn't, but you really REALLY love your Mimi. Or maybe it's just you show your love for Mimi more than anything else. And Mimi recognizes this, no doubt. She always says she loves seeing you because you are always so excited to see her. By all means, she loves your other cousins, no if, ands, or buts, but you, without a doubt show your love back more than anyone, whether it is the way you wait and wait and wait for Mimi to show up at your house by standing at the window in Daddy's closet, screaming "Mimi, where are you" or how you jump up and down and get tears in your eyes when you see her and then run down the stairs straight into her arms. You also insist she do EVERYTHING for you. I mean everything, too. When Mimi is around, Mommy can't take you to potty, I can't give you a bath, I can't pour your milk, I can't even get you in or out of the carseat, or I hear "Mimi do it!" But, you won't hear me complain :) Mommy pretty much is on 'vacation' when Mimi is around, but not by choice, only because you demand it!!!

The problem with Mimi is that she lives 3 hours away. She clearly visits often, but you still haven't grasped the concept that she can't just come on over any time she pleases, or rather, you please. For example...

You have been having trouble napping, right? Well, on Thursday, Mommy said that if you napped, or heck, even just rested, we would go to the park. Well, that didn't happen. No resting, much less napping. So, we didn't go to the park, even after you begged (i.e. screamed). A little later that afternoon you walked in my room and said "I need Mimi". So I said you could call her, so you did. Well, I walked in on you talking to her (on the toilet nonetheless...) and heard a "Will you take me to the park?". Of course, Mimi had no idea why you'd be begging her to take you to the park, so she said sure and that she'd be there on Friday (which was true). Of course, you have no time concept right now, and thought that meant Mimi was coming to get you to take you to the park, so off to the window you went. And waited. And waited, and begged for me to open it and let you wait for Mimi. I tried telling you that it was going to be a long time before Mimi got here and that we'd have to go to sleep and find other things to do first, but you insisted on waiting. Mommy even called Mimi back (and made her feel guilty because now Mommy was having to deal with not only a non-napping child but a non-napping child waiting on her Mimi to take her to the park!!!!!) and tried to get her to explain to you how she couldn't be here until the next day. You weren't buying it... Well, eventually I convinced you to get in the car and run to Target with me. We weren't in Target very long when you said "Hey, I have an idea. We look for Mimi in Target". Well, considering you were not staying put in the shopping cart (remember the non-napping child...) I agreed that that was indeed a good idea. So, we looked for Mimi. At Target. You hollered "Mimi - where are you?" and looked down every aisle. You'd even stop when you heard a woman's voice and say "You hear that?" or "Come over here Mommy, she's over here". Sometimes you just screamed "Mimi! MIMI!!!!". We got lots of stares, and several smiles, but Mommy got her shopping done. When we went to check out you asked the lady "Where is Mimi" and the lady was nice enough to say she'd keep her eyes out for her. Unfortunately, we did not find Mimi at Target, and had to go home. Fortunately it was bedtime, so the search for Mimi was halted until morning. AND, by morning, we had other activities to entertain us! Mimi did finally make it, and you were happily waiting by the window, and eagerly ran down the stairs, and aggressively gave her a big ole hug and kiss! I'm not sure what age you start to understand "Mimi lives far away" but we're hoping sooner than later!!!! Until then, we'll just continue to search at Target for her...

Love you!!!