Miranda

Miranda was a complete delight on our trip to New Orleans. With the exception of a few minutes of screaming when she bit her tongue during the wedding dinner, she was almost perfectly behaved the entire 2 and a half days. She was patient and never complained about all the waiting in lines at the airport, or in New Orleans while we decided what to do. She didn't argue about what we ate and even tried new foods like crawfish and oysters. She was perfectly behaved in all the restaurants. She didn't ask for snacks when we weren't eating. She wasn't shy about hanging out with strange people like Uncle Mike or Aunt Claire. She asked questions during the wedding, but she wasn't loud. She slept when she was suppose to and even slept late one morning. She didn't argue about all the walking we did and we did a lot and she was very appreciative of the fun stuff we did. One day Amy and I took her to a park on the trolley. We saw they had an amusement park in the park so starting walking over there. Miranda got distracted by a neat looking tree and asked to go play on it. She played for a good while, just running around, talking to birds, skipping around and climbing the tree. She was happy to just play by herself. I knew she would be the best kid to take on such a trip but I didn't think it would go as well as it did. It really made me appreciate her so much.

Then we got home.

And everything went back to "normal". She was whining. Arguing with siblings. Complaining about going to the bathroom. Being cranky in the morning. Being a victim to Parker and Elizabeth's taunts. Spilling soup on herself. Saying she was thirsty as soon as we get in the car. And generally being a little shit. It is so frustrating and I wish I better understood what, besides having siblings, causes it all.