Would this require a visit from Social Services?

The humidity is melting my brain. That's the only excuse I can come up with right now! We've had a few embarrassing mishaps in our house lately. Surprisingly, they all took place out of the kitchen - go figure!

Perhaps the most mortifying was when Hannah walks through the doors of the library for story time singing Aerosmith lyrics. It was a combination of Dude Looks Like a Lady, and Love In an Elevator. (Highly inappropriate, I know, but she loves Aerosmith, and thankfully most of their lyrics go right over her head at this point.) I was hopeful since Hannah sings rather off tune and it was a mixture of the two songs, it would throw anyone within earshot. But, since she has sung this beautiful medley in front of the same librarian twice now, I wasn't so lucky. All I could do was shrug and say, "I only have her father to blame." :)

The next mishap took place at the park. Hannah wanted to ride her trike to the park the other day, and since her steering was getting better (although it really couldn't get any worse!), I thought I could handle pushing Addi in a stroller and use myself and the stroller as a guard rail to keep Hannah's trike out of the middle of the road. My mistake was adding our lug of a dog to the mix - Penny pulls as if she's running the Iditarod, and all is lost if she spots a squirrel or rabbit! But hindsight is 20/20 ... at the beginning of the journey, none of these things were raising red flags. Afterall, how hard could it be - a walk in the park, right? So we set off and all was going smoothly. We made it to the park, and Hannah picked up speed in her excitement. Right before you get to this particular park, you have to make a 90 degree turn and the trail slopes downhill ever so slightly. So I'm coaching Hannah from a few feet behind and telling her to make sure to steer when the trail turns and to keep her eyes on the trail ... don't look at the dog ... look where you're going ... Hannah, don't look at the dog, yes she is cute ... Hannah, look where you're going, good job ... no, I don't know the dog's name ... focus on turning ... you got it ... Hannah you need to slow down now ... Hannah slow down ... Hannah ... HANNAH ... OH DEAR GOD ... STOP PEDALING ... NO, I mean keep your feet on your pedals, but SLOW DOWN! STOP MOVING YOUR FEET!! Oh nuts ... HAAAANNNNAAAAAHHHH!!!

Well, it was over quickly, I'll say that. She handled the turn beautifully, but then went into overdrive down the hill and in her panic (and mine!) lifted her feet up as she was going so fast and sped out of control. I swear she was nearing 20 mpr near the end! Meanwhile, I am sprinting after her while pushing Addi in the stroller (who is giggling, thinking this is the best ride ever!) and Penny is loaping along, but of course trying to go perpendicular to the way we are heading for some reason. It was at this point that I began wondering ... do I let go of the stroller so I may have a prayer of catching Hannah and prevent the nasty road rash that will surely be coming? There's a 5-point-harness on the stroller afterall. No. That would be bad. Dang ... Who's idea was this anyway?!

And then Hannah fell. By the time I got to her - the silent scream had turned ... well, not so silent. And those who hadn't already turned to see what all the commotion leading up to this point was about now turned to look at the deranged mother who had let her daughter go barreling downhill while running after her screaming like a crazy woman. Not our finest hour. But I am ever so thankful for the good samaritan and her dog. Turns out the dog's name at the top of the curve was Lucy, and she provided the best form of distraction we could have asked for. Without it, we still may be making our way home from the park.

The last mishap is the most shameful. We were at Target, and I had everything we needed wedged around Hannah who was sitting in the front seat while Addi was in her car seat in the main cart compartment. (In case you can't picture it, this leaves very little room for anything other than cute girls in the cart!) Things were going smoothly as Hannah hadn't started complaining about the frozen bag of broccoli making "her leggies cold" yet, so I thought I'd chance it and check out the plastic storage bin section. Thrilled that I not only found what I needed, but that it was also on sale, I pulled down the 30-gallon bin and stood there facing the girls wondering how I could get this out to the car without making a scene. Hannah could read my thoughts and was instantly worried. "What ya doing, Ma Ma?"

Truth be told, I was trying to figure out if I could balance the bin on top of her baby sister. I could, couldn't I? Granted, Addi would be entombed in blue plastic, but maybe if I upgraded to a clear plastic bin, that would be better. Maybe I wouldn't have to send her to therapy later in life as she would be able to see out. I got as far as lifting the bin up to eyeball the measurement when I noticed a little girl about 7 years old, stopping to stare, mouth gaping open. This was bad. If a 7-year-old knew it was wrong ... someone would surely call Social Services.