MamaToots Personal Ramblings- Sillynesses

I had an idea that when I became a mama that I would go to great lengths to make my child smile and laugh, to keep the entertained, to keep them from crying, or stop them from crying. After all, I watched two sisters and multiple friends create all kinds of "sillyness" to accomplish the same thing.

The other day I had a very prominent "sillyness moment" (one of many to be sure).  My daughter is 1 1/2 and I have only on rare occasions been able to get her from the carseat to her bed for nap time without waking her up; or at the very least, being able to get her to go back to sleep.  I go to ridiculous measures to keep her awake when I know we are getting close to nap time and we are out in the car.

This is how it unfolded: We had just left a play time at a friend's house and I could sense -as I am quite intuitive- the quiet blanket of sleepiness start to fall upon her (also known as restlessness, eye rubbing, and yawning).  We were about 15 min away from our destination and hopefully a long satisfying nap.  So, of course, we hit about every red light possible.  And of course, being the good driver that I am, weaving through traffic and taking the most direct routes I can think of ahead of time while still obeying all traffic laws.  All the while trying to entertain my daughter by singing her favorite songs (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Your Boat, If Your Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands, ABC's), counting from 1-10 with her, and pointing our every landmark that I think she would find interesting as she pointed at every big truck calling them "tractors" (except for some reason she knew "bus") along with all their colors.  She was close enough behind me in our sedan that I could clap my hands on her feet (safely while driving, of course) and try to keep her excited about life as we approached our destination.  Her eyelids slowly drooping then she would look at me and giggle as if she knew the ploy all along.

Thanks to the suggestion of a friend from a previous conversation on this very matter (the same friend we had just left, in fact) I resorted to my final tactic: window rolling.  I would roll down random windows in the car to let the breeze in -now people, it was 26 DEGREES today so this was a blast of arctic air which led us to the "Oooo's" rising to high pitches then ending with "BURRR, COLD" which she would laugh and say "Cold" (now of course I let the car warm up before I did it again, I'm not cruel ;).  She would then say, "Again! Again!".

It WORKED!  We made it to our destination awake and even more ready for her nap.  Looking back on the event, because it was an EVENT, I wondered what it must have looked like to the car next to us: Sillyness that's what!

To me, these new "sillynesses" (yes, that's a new word I just made up) that I have incorporated into my life are part of what makes life fun.  It's the childlike "sillynesses" and fun that I can enjoy with my little girl that makes me smile and brings joy to my heart.

There are many, MANY "sillynesses" that we as parents do (Don't even deny it, I know you do it too) ;) and this was only one of mine.  Whether it be weird or crazy voices, funny faces, silly dances (I do my fair share of these too), or something of your own creativity we want to know!  What are yours?  Please share with us...

MamaToots!