Mission: Stranger Danger Status: Failure

Okay, so I saw on Oprah a while back (yes, I know she could possibly be 1/3 of the unholy trinity, but it was quite a while back) where they set kids up to see if they would leave with strangers. I always thought to myself that I would try that should I ever have children. Well, the opportunity arose today. We went to the park to have dinner (Sonic - it is half price burger Tuesday) and Abby was playing on the playground. I approached an unsuspecting woman to see if she would try to lure my child off of the playground. After she recovered from her surprise and hesitation, she agreed to help me...if I did the same for her little girl. She walks up to Abby, tells her she is a pretty little girl, and asks her some questions. Abby tells the lady her name and says, "yes" she does want to go with this lady. WHAT!!?? Note to self - more stranger danger teaching!! Me and the nice lady (Monica) confront Abby and she starts to cry (Abby, not Monica). Good - it's always good to reinforce a lesson with some tears, right, Dad?

So, then it's my turn with her daughter (who is a little older - 1st grade). I walk up to her, tell her I like her cute jacket, and ask her if she wants some candy I have in my car. (yuck - I feel so dirty!) The girl politely says "no, thank you". I then say, "come one, just come with me over here", and start walking toward the parking lot - away from her mom. She starts coming with me! Her mom was shocked. Needless to say, she got a lecture.

Point being - always talk to your children about strangers! Practice, set them up! You can never be too sure!

January 09

January has been slow - which is good. Here are some pics of the Reinhards hanging out - literally. Dan had Maddie in the carrier, and Abby wanted to try it. Yep, she still fits.

We had an ice day a few weeks ago. Dan and Abby built a "fort". Lots of static in that fort.

Maddie is growing up so fast. She is 10 1/2 months old. Here are some of the things she can do: wave, shake her head (they learn "no" quickly), play peek-a-boo, and pull up on furniture and cruise. She can sign "more", "finished", and "water". She has one syllable "words" for bottle (this was her first word), bye, and more. She's learning "dog" right now. What happened to "Mama" and "Dada"? She loves eating, but prefers her finger foods to being fed with a spoon. We tried asparagus tonight and it was a hit!

Abby is growing cuter and sweeter by the day! We were talking about the rain the other day. Of course, she was asking "why", "why", "why"? I told her that God made it rain because the lakes and rivers were thirsty. After a moment, she asked, "they have mouths?"

She is so positive. We asked her the other day if her ice cream was good. Rather than yes, she said, "it's great!". She then told us later that evening that she was going to have a WONDERFUL day tomorrow. She is so sweet. (Most of the time) :)