The Games Where Mommy (Almost) Always Wins

Kids are quite amusing. Well, at least mine are, especially my toddler. Now that Grace, the baby, is past the stage of only eating, sleeping, and pooping, she also keeps me entertained.

It seems one way little ones like to amuse themselves is by creating games. Neither one of my daughters has ever played a "real" game, yet they are able to create one. How does that work?

Ginny in my chair in the midst of our "game."

The favorite game in our home is one created by my two-year-old, Ginny. When I get up to leave the living room, she will give me a look and then race to my chair. Once on the chair, she will declare, "Ginny's chair." She will giggle to herself and look quite smug. I have been known to thwart her efforts by not directly returning to the chair. If I do not return in a timely manner, Ginny will get up from the chair and play with a toy. The moment I begin returning to the living room and my chair, she runs to the chair, climbs in, and says with a giggle, "Ginny's Chair." I have learned that the proper response is to tickle her into a fit of giggles and lift her out of the chair while saying, "Mommy's Chair." Then, Ginny happily goes and plays with her toys and leaves me to my chair.

Ginny will try this with my husband and his recliner. He does not respond the same way. Instead, he will go and sit on the couch, ignoring the toddler in his chair. Sometimes this lack of response frustrates her, and she will let him know it. Other times, she just ignores that he didn't respond properly and will act as though she won the game since obviously the chair is now hers, forever. Or, at least until the opportunity presents itself to play the game again.

Keeping Grace blocked in.

Ginny has evidently inspired her sister with her antics. While Grace is not crawling, much less walking, she is mobile. Her game is a lot more simple and straightforward. If she sees an electrical cord, she races for it. If she notices an exit from the living room, she rushes to escape. They key to winning the game with Grace is just to make sure no electrical cords are evident and that we keep the living room blocked off with the ottoman.

So far, I'm winning these games. I think I might be in trouble once they get older and can out smart me.

Rockin' The Minivan

Over the past two years, I have had a dream. It is a simple dream, really, albeit a bit expensive.

I have been dreaming about owning a minivan.

Isn't she beautiful?

My dream began while I was pregnant with my toddler, Ginny. At that point, my dream was closer to fantasy than reality. After all, we had a car, my Accord, that we were still making payments on, and the last thing we wanted was two car payments. So, I patiently waited, knowing that the car wouldn't be paid off for another two years.

We started minivan shopping last January (or was it February) when we went down to St. Louis to attend a car show. My DH and I concluded that going there would be the best non-pressured way to have a look at a variety of minivans in the least amount of time. We had a fabulous time there looking at all sorts of options. At one point we even thought about going with a crossover, but decided that wouldn't work. We wanted, heck, needed, a third row of seats; something a crossover does not offer. Ultimately, we settled on the Honda Odyssey being the best choice for us. While it was the most expensive option, it also had all the features we wanted plus the added bonus of getting the best mileage. 

Front view

It has been over a year since the car show. My patience was wearing thin, but knew, realistically, that we needed to wait. Then, this week, the wait came to an end.  Our car was paid off, confirmed by the arrival of the title, and my husband put out feelers to a couple of local car dealers. Before I would have pooh-poohed the idea of doing that, figuring it would lead to high pressure tactics. However, it ended up working toward our benefit so now I'm a believer.

Starting on Tuesday, my DH heard from two of the dealers, one by email (S) and the other by phone (B). S let my husband know that he could get us the EX model for $27954, just about $1,200 under invoice. I was stunned and thrilled. Could negotiations be so easy? B (the salesperson at the other dealership) told my husband that price was nearly impossible; it had to be a mistake on S's part. My diligent husband followed up with S, asking for verification, making sure he was giving us the price for the right model. S came back saying that he was wrong; he could actually get it for us for $27454, $500 less!!! Wow! The email from S was then forwarded to B so she could see that the price was, in fact accurate. 

Yet, another view of my gorgeous Odyssey!

I'm guessing B was really motivated to sell us a van. She came back, said she had discussed it with her manager, and they could meet that price. I was stunned, yet thrilled. I have never had such an easy negotiation in my life. 

Since B said she had a few more minivans at her dealership, we thought we would start there instead of with S. Our new concern was the trade-in. With such an easy time negotiating the price of the minivan, we figured we wouldn't get much for my husband's old Buick. So, as a family of four, we ventured north up to Bloomington to the dealership. 

Our salesperson, B, was very friendly. She took first me, then my husband, for test drives. I loved how the van drove. It was better than I anticipated, such a smooth drive. Once my husband was done, we headed over to discuss the price of the Odyssey and start negotiations on trading in the Buick. We went over the Buick's history, including the accident my DH had last year when he hit a deer. It was fixed nicely, and we anticipated no major issues. What happened next was like getting hit in the gut. 

Inside view. Ginny loves her new view!

B left to get the Car Fax on the Buick and to discuss the price with her manager. When she came back, we could tell by her demeanor that something was wrong. According to Car Fax, my husband's accident had resulted in our car being totaled. We were flabbergasted. Insurance had never told us that, and we were still paying for comprehensive insurance on the car. How could they allow that if it had been totaled? We certainly didn't get a check. Our insurance company had repaired the car. All of that didn't matter. As far as the dealership was concerned, the car was unsellable since Car Fax said it was totaled. They would not be buying our car from us. No trade-in. 

B did let us know that they would be able to get us a better price for the minivan than we had anticipated, though. They would sell it to us for $27204. While we were still processing the news on our trade-in, especially since that was going to be our down payment, B also told us what our monthly payments would be if we qualified for their special low interest financing. With all of this in mind, we left the dealership to go eat lunch so we could make a decision on what to do. Would we go ahead and get the minivan or wait until we sorted out the mess with the Buick? (At this point we had already gotten on the phone with our insurance agent asking WTH could have happened.)

At lunch, after some consideration, we decided to go ahead and get the Odyssey. In the end, we would be  getting the Odyssey for a lot less than originally anticipated, nearly $2500 less--the same amount we figured we would get for the trade-in.  We also discussed what we would do with the Buick. Knowing that a family member was in need of a vehicle, we decided to give it to them. It really wouldn't be a huge loss to us, but would be a great benefit to them. At that moment, I had a sense of clarity. It was as if God had planned all of this to happen. Us to get a minivan we wanted for a lot less than anticipated so that we could "afford" to give the car to someone in need. Providence.

Once we were done with lunch, we returned to the dealership and let B know that we would go ahead and buy the minivan. Paperwork was done fairly quickly, and we were ready to leave. I figured I would drive back with the baby, and Chris would drive back with Ginny. Ginny had something else in mind. It seems that she fell in love with the minivan too. She insisted on riding with Mommy! 

My perspective from the driver's seat. Notice that a person can
fit between the 2 car seats! How awesome is that?

Getting the Odyssey involved some drama (and a LONG story), but I am so happy to have my dream fulfilled! I am in love with my minivan. It is fabulous! (I may or may not to admit "visiting" my new van in the garage several times last night). I really can't understand people who see minivans as the devil or say things like "my soul died when I thought of getting a minivan." I have so much room in the vehicle. It is much easier to load and unload the girls. It drives great. The best part is that when guests visit, we won't have to take 2 cars any longer. The van seats eight, after all.

**Oh, an interesting last note to this. This morning, my husband got an email from S stating that he gave us the wrong price. He would be able to sell us the Odyssey for $28,954, $1500 more than he quoted us. LOL! **

My Little Helper: Bath Time for Grace

Today I'm actually starting a series of blogs that I will publish each Tuesday (I hope) for the next few weeks focused on a single theme. The theme for this series, my first, will be called My Little Helper.  It will highlight my toddler Ginny's attempts to help. They can be quite entertaining in their own way. I hope you enjoy the series enough that you look forward to the new one each week.

Bath Time for Grace

Ginny in the thick of things pouring water on her sister.

Ginny, my oldest, loves bath time. She absolutely adores it. Other than the first bath we gave her at home, she has always loved bath time. Her love of baths has, at times, turned to obsession. There have been days when she hasn't needed a bath. She doesn't grasp that concept. Ginny has been known to pound on the bathroom door after dinner, in tears, crying, and yelling out, "Bath!" 

We quickly learned that even saying the word, "bath," would lead to the same response. "Bath" was one of the very first words we ever spelled out so she wouldn't know what we were discussing. Euphemisms and synonyms were used as well for a while. When her sister Grace would need a bath, we would say that we needed to get Grace clean or we would be using the tub. Never the word, "bath." Being pretty smart, my daughter has figured out what "clean", "tub", and "shower" all mean. We are just grateful that she doesn't bang on the door daily as she has in the past. Now her breakdowns at the bathroom door are completely random and unpredictable. 

Grace, our baby, loves bath time as well. She is just not yet old enough to express it in the same way her older sister does. Her first baths were given to her in a small baby bath tub near our kitchen sink; the same small tub we used for her sister. At some point, Grace discovered how much fun it is to kick the water while bathing. After this discovery was made, a few weeks ago, we moved her tub into the big tub in the guest bathroom. She will continue to use her small tub until she can sit up on her own without tumbling over. Hopefully soon. 

Being sure to help Mommy wash Grace's hair.

Now that we are in the bathroom, instead of the kitchen, Ginny comes in to help Grace take her baths. Ginny loves to pour water on her sister, rub her head, and play with her. She is thrilled to help us out. In fact, I get the feeling that she thinks that she is the one giving her sister the bath and not myself or my DH. Once Grace's bath is done, and she is dried and dressed, Ginny also takes great pride in brushing her baby sister's hair. Well, what hair there is. 

I look forward to the time when both girls will take baths together. I have a feeling it will be quite amusing.