Unraveling fun with the bun

The other day J and I had the oddest day.  See, Kiddo disappeared and in her place, BunBun the Bunny Rabbit appeared.  J and I were a bit distressed and we planned on raising a sweet lil girl, not a bunny, but it was a ridiculously cute bunny, so we said what the heck.  We needed things from Tops and we needed a new air purifier filter for Kiddo’s room (just in case she came back) so we were off to the mall.  Besides that, what does a Bunny named BunBun eat?  See, we had a lot to do.

Surprising to all of us (LOL) was the rabbit decorations at the mall.  As you can see, BunBun was delighted.

Thankfully, the transmogrification of Kiddo was short lived and BunBun finally turned back into our lil love.  She really is living a Calvin and Hobbes life.  Side note to fans of Bill Watterson has a new book coming out.  Not Calvin and Hobbes related.  I, for one, am curious.  

Kiddo got to try a new donut place and we got her a new air filter, so that will help with the allergies as well and she’s been a champ with the Neti and new therapies.  They seem to be helping as well.  Also, AQI has become something we are researching in looking at potential new landing spots after our BKK adventure.  However, Kiddo was loving the new donut and wants to try a few of the other flavors.

You got it, Kiddo!

Yesterday, in the morning, I was singing.  Not well.  Not an actual song.  Something that I picked up years ago (30 years ago now…. WOW) and it’s just stuck in my head.  It’s a blurb from Martin Lawrence when he was host of HBO’s DEF Comedy Jam and I can’t find clips of it anywhere.  However, my singing this annoys Kiddo (and J) to no end.  So, I got a sign.  

Kiddo is, always, all-in when it comes to play.  Be it turning into BunBun, making No Singing Signs, or even running the friend restaurant.  Look at her take orders and dealing with Poley and the Polarbear crew in to eat.  I especially liked when she balanced on one foot to write the order.  If you are confused by the writing, that’s Ranza.  It’s a stuffed friend language that Kiddo and the friends know.  It’s all very technical, so I won’t bore you all, but those weren’t just squiggles on the paper.  That was Ranza.  As I said, when she plays, she is All-In.

She’s also All-In with her distain for pigeons and birds.  

When we started this adventure, we left our place in O-Side, CA on a Monday mid-day and traveled up to LA.  We stayed there for 3 days having a little staycation before jetting off to this life (and two weeks in quarantine) and we spent a lot of time in and around Grand Central Market in LA.  We ate there something like 6 times in three days.  The food and variety were amazing.  However, on one of these days, I was collecting food for us and as I came out to find the table, I saw J with a puddle of Kiddo in her arms.

Kiddo had fallen out of a chair.  Not sideways, thru the back.  It was outdoor seating and the types of chairs they had (about 2/3rds of them) had a partial open back.  The type that are foldable seating, but the back rest only starts about mid-back for an adult.  So, that’s a lot of space for a skinny little 4 year old butt to slip through.  

I didn’t see it and J only saw the backend of it, but Kiddo blames the pigeons for it.  She can’t really put it into words.  We suspect that a bird of pigeon landed near her or on the seat next to her and she flinched and scooted backwards and in that, slipped through the chair and took and tumble.  Obviously, she was and is fine, except for her irrational hatred of pigeons (grey birds/non-tropical birds) that came from the event.

One of the things Kiddo does these days is shoo birds.  Especially grey/plain looking birds.  To her, they are pigeons.  If we are walking and she sees them (I’ve posted video in the past) she will run and shoo and chase them away.  It’s cute.  Her little irrational fear and loathing.

Yesterday, J and I took her out for a bike ride around the building.  It’s been raining and overcast these last few days, not as warm, less direct sun, so the pool is a little chilly.  A bike ride is a good energy killer, so off we set to have some family outside and Kiddo bike time.  Half way through our second circuit around the building (it’s about a block around, with some ups and downs) and we are coming around a corner.  Kiddo was pretty close (sometimes she’ll get a quarter/half block ahead) and there were some birds.  She is off her bike like a shot!  

SHOO!  SHOOOOOOOO!  SHOO… YOU BEASTS!!!!!!!!!  SHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

J and I lost our bananas.  Just all of them.  It was beyond cute and hilarious.  Lil miss 19.5kg (43lbs) and 114cm (45 inches/3’9”) charging at birds yelling “Shoo you beasts” was just too much.  I wish I had video of it.  Beyond hilarious and cute!

Lastly, Kiddo and I are playing a game together.  It’s called Unravel Two (trailer for those curious) and so far it is cute and fun.  We can play together in co-op, so she is one color (we modified that to be pink for her) and I’m the other (originally, I was blue and she was Red, but because she changed to pink, I needed to change to yellow.  Besides, blue and yellow are Brewer Colors and that’s Dada’s favorite team) and we need to run, jump, and do some puzzle solving.  I do most of the puzzle solving, but Kiddo did toss out one of two suggestions.  One of her suggestions did lead us to a solution, in a roundabout way.  So, she is helping. 

She’s also getting good.  She did some hard stuff.  Wall jumping.  Jumping and using the R2 trigger to grab an anchor point to climb or swing from.  If Schmittah were here and doing what Kiddo did, it would be just another game and a basic thing.  Kiddo doing that at 5 with no previous experience and just seeing and understanding it and being able to do it… I can’t tell you how proud I am.  How love I am.  How I just needed to pause the game to kiss her head a few times.  

J got some pics, but you can’t really see much.  Maybe I’ll see if she can’t get some video soon.  Watching Kiddo do this is too much fun.  Also, it is beyond cute seeing her face and the pride and joy and accomplishment on it when she does those things and figures out the hard parts is great.  Also, see her ask for help is great.  

Dada, can I triangle onto you to get past this… It’s too hard for me now.

Two things; Accepting and asking for help.  I love that she can and will do this.  She will sometimes want to try again (one more try before I triangle you) and I accept that.  Good for you Kiddo!  

**Side note- Triangle you.  In the game, one character can wind into another via the triangle button on the controller.  I can then help her across difficult parts.

The second is the “For now”.  She knows she can’t do certain jumps or button combos, either her hands are too small or she just doesn’t have the skill set and timing yet to get certain jumps or catches.  She also knows she will get there.  I can’t tell you how proud I am of that.  For her, it’s knowing that it’s a temporary thing.  She’s not good… Yet.  But she will be or can be if she wants.  Also, in J and myself for teaching her that.  When I was a kid, you couldn’t ask for help, that was a sign of weakness and failure.  Kiddo, however, is being taught that asking for Help is a brave and normal thing and that sometimes you need help to get past a difficult part, but also that those difficult things are temporary and can be overcome.  

Let’s go, Kiddo… It’s still February break and it’s a bright and sunny day.  Let’s ride the scooter at Decathlon and get a new bike helmet.  Let’s play.  Let’s run KiddoDonalds.  Let’s swim.  Let’s just be fun and laugh and love and play.  We love the spirit and hope it’s always as vocal, bold, and amazing as always.