Mabes and a Duck

We had playgroup at the park yesterday. Mabes loves this park because it's right next to a lake with ducks and seagulls and will periodically run over to the lake and plop down on the grass and just watch the ducks. During snacktime yesterday, she was holding a pretzel and a cracker and this one duck was circling the table of kids just waiting to pounce on something. All the other kids were closely guarding their snacks, but Mabes was far more interested in the duck.

She was saying, "Hello, duck! How are you?" and waving the hand with the cracker in it. Seeing an opportunity, the duck pounced and grabbed the cracker out of her hand. Mabes jumped back, shocked, but pretty pleased with herself. She tried to get the duck to take the pretzel, but he wasn't interested. It was then that I realized that all the other kids were pretty freaked out by this, and the moms were upset--"Oh, no, the duck could have bitten her!" I'll admit, I'm overprotective about a lot of things, to the point of being just a step or two away from crazy. But really? Ducks? I mean, I thought the ducks in Fremont were bad (back in the day you were actually allowed to feed them), but then we went to Oregon, and the ducks there were just flat-out vicious. They'll take your food whether or not you had intended to feed them. They're so used to people feeding them, they have no fear. Compared to those ducks, this one practically asked for her cracker politely before gently taking it.

So maybe I was a horrible mom for letting her, but she kept running around with this duck. She'd hold out the pretzel, and say, "Here duck! Chase me!" then shake her booty at him and run/skip away. The duck wasn't as interested, so she just kept repeating this little dance around him. Finally, he waddled over to the lake and jumped in. Mabes followed to the edge of the rocks, and shouted, "Bye bye, duck! See you later! I take a picture of you! Cheese!" Apparently, the pretzel was her camera, which was why she refused to eat it.

As a sidenote, I am so excited, it's ridiculous. Why? Because I finally found Little Einstein's underwear today. I realize this speaks volumes about the level of excitement in my life, but screw that, I don't care. I've spent way too much time on google searches, ebay searches, at various Targets and the Disney Store looking for them, but I finally found them today at a Target I don't usually go to. And on clearance--it doesn't get much better than that. I think I've convinced myself that these panties will potty train Mabes on their own. They also had boy underwear, so after calling Sarah, I picked up a set for Dono. I just keep giggling.

....And I just returned from a short break. Mabes appeared to be concentrating a little to deeply on her kitchen counter, and I asked her if she needed to poop. This question is usually met with a loud "No!" and she runs to her room and then poops. This time, she glanced at the June panties (proudly on display, I had told her she couldn't wear them until she pooped on the potty) and said, "I go to potty." And she did it! Ahhhh, bribery....