A 3-day trip to Yellowstone and Park became a 2-day trip. Life is never as simple when traveling with a 2 year old girl named Bailey. It was fun to introduce to finding snow up on top of "Snowy Mt." (Sawtelle Peak) and feeding the fish and chasing the seagulls at Big Springs (she loved chasing the seagulls away). The next day we drove through Yellowstone Park and Bailey kept looking for swings and slides - because she was sure a park had to have them somewhere. However, we did go to little Black Sands Basin with its small, but continuous geysers and colored pools with "stinky smoke" that Bailey didn't like. She kept saying, "It's really not poop," of the sulphurous smell. I had worried about her running around and had even had planned some kind of embarrassing harness thing with a rope or a dog leash maybe, but never went through with it. We told he she must hold our hands and stay on the path - always. She went us one better. She wanted to crawl into Grandpa's arms and be carried when we were near that "scary stuff." However, she was not at all afraid of the bison and elk and had to be physically restrained from running over to pet the pretty animals.
At night in the trailer she became nervous lying on her table-turned-into-a-bed. "But I want to go to Blackfoot and take a bath and watch a movie and go to bed." "I miss my mommy and I want to go to Pocatello and be with my mommy. I don't want to sleep in the trailer. I'm scared of monsters and worms." I validated her feelings, told her we would protect her from monsters and worms (who are all in Blackfoot under the ground), and proved it be sleeping beside her. She thanked me tenderly for this, stroking my cheek and telling me that I am her friend and she loves me.
On the drive home I gave her a coloring book and crayons, but soon things got too quiet. I unhooked, looked back,and found that she had used her tan pants as a coloring book. Happily, they came clean again. Daddy picked her up when he got home from his little trip and took her down to Mommy's house in Pocatello. So she got everything that she had wanted the night before.
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