Apt Descriptor

If you've ever had a conversation with Dale about Ivie, chances are you've heard him refer to her as "a mess" or "a trip", with the latter being his favorite.

Monday night, after a dinner out with friends and before heading upstairs for bath (it was Ivie-only bath night), Ivie was thirsty. And it just so happened that we had an Aquafina mini-water bottle in the fridge. So Dale gave it to Ivie, who was thrilled that it was "her size". She brought it upstairs with her, took a few swigs, sat it on the bathroom counter, and ultimately lost interest in favor of playing in the tub.

I had closed Macie's door to put her to bed, so I'm not sure how it started, but as soon as she got out of the tub, Ivie erupted into a MAJOR meltdown (it didn't help that it was 8:45p by this point - WAY past her normal bedtime). Sobbing uncontrollably and asking for her mommy, over and over. I heard Dale trying to calm her down. Incessantly. Unsuccessfully. Finally, after several minutes, Ivie came into Macie's room, still sobbing. Peering over her head, I saw Dale sitting on the ottoman in her room, with an only slightly discernible grin on his face, as Ivie walked over to me and wailed, "Mommy, Daddy drank my waaaaaterrrrr!!!". Apparently Dale had (erroneously, it turns out) assumed that Ivie had forgotten about the water bottle and had finished it off himself. The nerve of him!!!

It took several minutes to get her to catch her breath and stop weeping before she finally agreed to let Dale read books and put her to bed.

But she didn't entirely forgive him. The next night (Tuesday) after bath, while they snuggled before bed, Ivie looked at Dale and simply said, "Last night, you drank my water. You need to say you're sorry." Dale stifled a laugh and apologized. For the umpteenth time.

THEN, last night (Wednesday), we were waiting outside Rudino's for some friends to join us for dinner and pumpkin patching (more on that soon). While waiting, Dale was messing around with Ivie and, at one point, quickly lifted her up in the air and over his head, essentially flipping her over. We're still not sure if her stomach dropped or if Dale squeezed her stomach/ribs too hard, but Ivie began crying, saying that Daddy had hurt her belly.

So, after bath again (which is when Ivie apparently does her formal recapping of the day's events), Ivie said to Dale, "Daddy, you scared me today." Not sure what she was talking about, Dale asked for more details. Ivie said, "Today, when we were waiting for Will to go to the restaurant [not at all pronounced correctly, but he knew what she was talking about]. You need to say you're sorry."

Dale laughed (unable to suppress it this time) and told Ivie he was sorry.

And you know how Ivie responded? She looked up at him and said, off-handedly, "Daddy, I'm a trip."

Iv, you took the words right out of Daddy's mouth...