The F#%@ING Circus Part 2

Picking up where I left off before, I feel this story needed to be broken into 2 posts. 

THE TICKETS ARRIVE:

I open them, text Mall-or-ree that they have arrived. (She and I are both as excited as Brianna about going to the circus so a squeal of excitement happens when I rip open the envelope.) I hang the tickets on the fridge and go on about my day.

She steps off the bus with a smile on her face...it is almost as if she can smell the tickets from outside. She runs inside and I ask why she is so happy.

"For nothing, I just had a good day."

Well kid, your day is about to get even brighter! I show her the tickets, her mouth drops open and the words come out in a whisper.

"It is our tickets to the fucking circus, my heart is so excited about this that it is beating really fast like when I run in gym." (It is her choice of wording and her choice of clothing that leads me to believe she is the real life version of Junie B. Jones)

Flash forward 2 weeks...It's April 7, 2012. It is circus day! Mall-or-ree and I counted down the minutes until the "big day". (It is kind of sad that this was the biggest thing happening for me as of late.)

So yesterday I get up at 6 a.m. to make sure I have everything packed. We need to leave our house by 9 and I was prepping for two kids, Cheese and Bird. (Bird is only 10 months old so you have to drag along a lot of crap for her.) I get the diapers packed, I make an extra bottle to take, I make sure I have binkies for the Bird. I then pack my wallet with cash for her to buy goodies with, and the tickets because we would get nowhere real quick without them. I pack my phone and camera. I realize this only took an hour and I still have time so I am able to make myself at least half way presentable for the day. (It was an exciting moment for me because I didn't HAVE to wear a pony tail, I had time to fix my hair.)

At 8 a.m., with no help from me and no help from alarm, as I am opening the door her little body springs from the bed like it was on a pulley system.

"Is it time for the circus?? I am so excited that it feels like there things in my tummy."

Well then...on that note let's get dressed.

She is decked out in a tutu, leggings and her circus shirt (thank Auntie Lee!) and her elephant earrings. We are ready to go. I wish there was a way to bottle her energy and excitement. We quickly pick up Mall-or-ree and head to arena where the circus is at. She is almost running to get in but knows she has to stay close.  We walk in and her body is vibrating she is so excited. Her little hands in her mouth.

It's been a while since she has said "We are going to the fucking circus" and even with prompting she doesn't say it. She is finally there, a month after tickets were purchased, it is her dream come true (a 2nd time because we went last year too.)

Of course there are merchandise booths everywhere and her eyes are aglow with what things may come. I told her we would wait until the end to look at things because they were doing a pre-show where the kids could come into the arena.

We make out way to our section and seats. The arena floor is covered in people, there is a bounce house, CLOWNS EVERYWHERE and some Shaolin monks doing T'ai Chi. There is also a poodle doing tricks.

Cheese looks down and freezes in fear, all she can see is clowns everywhere. Funny, she LOVES the circus but hates clowns. I tell her we don't have to go down to floor if she doesn't want to, we can just chill. (So glad Mall-or-ree is as chilled as we are.)

"Clowns really freak my freak mommy. They are super scary. I am NOT going down there."

That's cool with me and I am pretty sure it's cool with Mall-or-ree because she hiked in with Bird. But then she sees the poodle jumping through hoops. I fucking hate poodles, they are so foo-foo and mean.

"I want to go see the poodle Mommy. I thought you said they were mean but that one isn't mean, it's doing tricks and jumping through a hoop and there is a lady in sparkles. I want to see the poodle mommy!"

We pick up our stuff and head to the floor, as we step onto the black squishy flooring in place for the circus she managed to bob and weave through the sea of clowns. She is working hard to get to that damn poodle. She wants not to stop at any point along the way. We make it to the poodle ring, the furthest one away of course and now it is no longer poodles but a hula hooper spinning with about 20 hoops on her waist. I can barely do one since I had kids let alone 20. I am amazed (which obviously takes very little.)

There is some kind of clown dance thing going on behind us, for obvious reasons Cheese wanted NOTHING to do with it. So we continue watching. She gets to see an elephant so close she could have touched it, and it was painting a picture. She got to see one of the silk ribbon dancers up close and personal as she danced in the air just above our heads. She got to see jack russells perform. All delighting in "those are Chester dogs mommy!" (We have a jack named Chester.) 

She turns and see the monks just as it is time to go back to our seats because the show would be starting in 15 minutes or so. The stairs seemed so few coming down, but going back up with a 25 pound baby is a different story. We get to our seats and get settled. She is talking a mile a minute and I am not catching much of it, we are just trying to settle in with all of the crap I had to bring with me. I realized that when she saw this...

that she really saw this...

and she asked "How did they get airbenders here?!"

I knew her daddy would be ever so proud. (Those of you who don't know what this is, google Avatar: the last airbender."

All of a sudden, the lights go dark and the big booming voice of the ringmaster begins to emanate from the PA system. She is on the edge of her seat waiting to see and hear everything said and done. Her Gaga-esque eyes back out, facing the floor we had just been standing on that the workers had transformed into a floor for the opener in less than 10 minutes. (Again, I was amazed...see how little it really takes. Sad.) She is taking it all in, the costumes, the huge screens with dragons on them, the lights, the music, the dancing. It is such a beautiful thing on her face, so sweet and innocent.(Which we do NOT get to see all that often.) It is a momentous occasion. She is at the fucking circus and it is the grandest thing she has done since the circus last year. Excitement is bubbling out of her, her chair vibrating with energy. She stands up and then sits down, then stands up again, then sits down on her knees. (Never mind that we had to move her seat one over because the lady with the 3 seats in front of us chose to sit in front of Cheese and her beehive hair blocked her view.) 

Then all of a sudden Cheese spots a little person. He dressed as a clown but without the make up. He is next to the ringmaster so he must be important, you can see the thoughts crossing her mind as she is deciding what to say to me. He is dancing, he is jumping, he is doing all sorts of awesome things and his name is Paolo. With a face as serious as a heart attack she looks at me and says...

"I want that little man. I want to bring him home."

And that my friends, is how you enjoy the fucking circus when you are six years old.