Day Five
Wednesday, 28 February 2001
With apologies to Lewis Grizzard, "Elvis is dead, and Chicken Girl doesn't feel so well herself."
Today was the big day--the birthday celebration!
I cannot tell a lie: Feb. 28 is NOT Chicken Girl's actual birthday; it was a few days before our trip. However, the 28th IS Chocoholic's birthday, so we chose that day to celebrate both little angels.
Chicken Girl is Mini-Me in many ways. She is not prone to telling falsehoods either(except about being sick--details to follow). Therefore, I KNEW that if a cast member told her "Happy Birthday," she would announce, "Today is NOT my birthday." I didn't want to have to make any long explanations about why Chicken Girl was wearing a birthday badge, about how we didn't have a birthday party on her birthday, about how the trip was her birthday present. I didn't want everyone giving me "those looks"--as if I were crazy. But I know my child. I also did not want her to feel that she was lying, so I explained it to her this way: WE know that today is not your REAL birthday, but today is the day that we've chosen to CELEBRATE your birthday. Therefore, if anyone wishes you a happy birthday, respond by saying, "Thank you." Simple enough.
When we got out of bed, I was alarmed. Chicken Girl seemed warm to me; P. F. told me that I was imagining things. I asked Chicken Girl how she felt, and she said that her throat hurt a little bit, but that she was okay. I gave her some over-the-counter cold/cough medicine. (Thank goodness for Tubbi's at the Dolphin. They have medicine--and they're open 24 hours a day.) I had an uneasy feeling, but I ignored my gut instinct. (I am not going to win Mother of the Year.)
We took the bus to Magic Kingdom, and rode the trolley down Main Street to the Castle. The driver asked everyone on board to sing "Happy Birthday" to the girls. (They were wearing matching clothes, so, even though they do not resemble each other in the slightest, the girls found that about a gazillion people thought they were twins.) We crammed into the log jam atmosphere of the castle prior to park opening and waited with the other people waiting to enter Fantasyland. (Now that I think about it, Fantasyland is where I dwell a great deal of the time.
)
Chicken Girl was doing me proud. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" said any number of people. "Thanks," said CG.
We rode Dumbo right away. Chicken Girl had her eye on a yellow elephant; Chocoholic had dibs on a pink one. Both were successful. Chicken Girl asked for my cell phone. "Why?" I asked. She announced that she wanted to call her aunt (my sister). "Why?" I asked. "Because I've never called anyone while riding Dumbo," she explained. Hey, who am I to question logic?
P. F. and I were psyched. By arriving early, we were checking things off our list: Pooh's ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Small World. Check, check, check.
It was time for breakfast, so we headed to the castle for our PS. Snow White and the Prince were in the foyer, so Chicken Girl was WAY happy. (She is FAR more interested in the princes than in the princesses. She is much more interested in slaying the dragons and/or fighting evil herself than in waiting for a handsome man to rescue her from distress. She is not a passive, "someday my prince will come" kind of little kid. She is a "My mother told me to get an education and not to wait on any darn prince" kind of child. Chicken Girl has her quirks, but she's all right.) I noticed that Snow White was the exact same Snow White I had seen in August, 1999, at breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. (I'm sorry. I'm a details person. I digress. Often.)
We went upstairs to find our table decorated with streamers and confetti for the birthday girls. The following characters were in attendance: Cinderella (duh), Jasmine, Aladdin, Belle (my favorite princess--because she reads a lot and worries more about what's inside a person than what's on the outside--I am a sap.), and Mary Poppins. Now, don't get me wrong. I appreciate a good nanny as much as the next person, but I'm still not sure how Mary P. fits into the princess breakfast! If the girls said, "No, we are not twins. No, we are not cousins. We are friends." once, they said it a dozen times.
At the end of our meal, our server brought out a birthday cupcake for the girls; he also brought them cards. I noticed that Chicken Girl was being UNUSUALLY quiet (an obvious sign of trouble). When I told her to blow out her candle, she coughed such a ferocious cough that the flame was immediately extinguished. I was alarmed.
As we left the castle, I told P. F. that I was taking Chicken Girl back to the hotel. I knew the kid didn't feel well. She had developed a dazed, glazed kind of look, and she was too quiet. However, upon learning that her day at Magic Kingdom was being cut VERY short (very, very short), Chicken Girl perked up enough to bawl. "But I don't WANT to go back to the hotel!" she cried.
I felt really sorry for her because she was so disappointed, but I knew that she needed to rest. Hence, I led her back down Main Street--wearing her special birthday clothes complete with a really cute hat and wearing an "I'm celebrating my birthday" badge--and sobbing all the way. It was NOT a pretty scene. People gave me the most awful looks. I don't know what they imagined, but I wanted to scream, "HEY! I'm trying to do the RIGHT thing here!" I'm sure they thought I was being mean to this innocent little birthday girl. ACK!
We caught the bus back to the Dolphin, and Chicken Girl fell asleep en route. I managed to wake her up enough to get her to the room, and she fell asleep again. I was really grateful for our beautiful room at the Dolphin. While we would have preferred being in the parks, it was nice to have a comfortable, lovely room in which to rest. After a couple hours, my daughter seemed to feel better and she asked me if she could PLEASE go to the Tea Party at the Grand Floridian.
I noted that she did seem better after her nap. While I knew that she had a cold, I thought she was also just overly tired, and she did truly seem better after napping. So, I agreed, and we caught a cab to the Grand Floridian, where we met up with P. F. and Chocoholic.
Chef Drew began by teasing Chicken Girl about her birthday. He said, "No, it's your friend's birthday, and you're just wearing the badge." I said, "Chef Drew, you don't know how close to the truth you actually are!" I should have been reading the signs. Chicken Girl made no comment at all; I should have KNOWN she was not well. (I repeat: I will not win the Mother of the Year award.)
When we picked up the girls from the tea party, Chef Drew asked Chicken Girl when she'd be back. "Maybe summer," she said. "If you're lucky," I added and winked. Chef Drew then surprised me by asking me to send him some photos. He is WONDERFUL with children, and I HIGHLY recommend the children's activities that he plans. Chicken Girl and I are his biggest fans.
We headed back to the hotel, and P. F. supervised the girls while I walked to the BoardWalk Bakery to pick up the cake I had ordered.
The girls rested in the room. I had been dithering about what to do about Chicken Girl; I was afraid that she was getting sick, but I knew that she didn't have an emergency room kind of illness. I considered taking her to a doctor, but I didn't know where to go. I contacted my husband to get his take on the situation, and he told me to let her get plenty of rest and to keep treating the symptoms till we could get home. We both felt that she probably just had a cold or maybe a sinus infection. (We are idiots. I am an English teacher. What do I know about medicine?Details later.)
We had our official birthday celebration after resting in the room. The cake was LOVELY; the bakery did a great job. The girls managed to have a hissy fit right over the cake; they squabbled about who got to blow out how many candles. I settled it by telling them that they got to blow out three each. (They are six years old.) I feared that they were going to come to blows, but they resorted to tattling. Oh, it was a Kodak moment. We ate some cake, and the kids opened presents. We insisted that they rest for a while longer in the room. (Once again, we were so grateful for our view and for our balcony.)
Eventually, we decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We had to wait for about 40 minutes, so we shopped while we waited (which is, of course, the GOAL of the Rainforest Cafe!).
The girls, who have eaten in restaurants frequently since they were tiny, acted as if the experience was a novel concept. I don't know what the problem is; perhaps it's just that it's so darn loud in the Rainforest Cafe. We had to remind them several times to use "inside" voices. P. F. and I decided to see how much food two women could possibly consume--and we stuffed ourselves silly.
We made a run on the World of Disney. Chicken Girl was ecstatic to find the costume of her dreams--Peter Pan. She has been saving her allowance for just such a purchase. It was a BIG DEAL. She asked a CM if there was a feather for the cap. The woman said, "Yes," and collected it. Chicken Girl asked if there was a sword to go with the costume. The CM said, "No." Chicken Girl paused, thought for a second, and said, "Well, that's okay. My daddy can make me a sword. My daddy can do anything." (I called her daddy and told him that too. He was much pleased.)
Chicken Girl struck up a charming dialogue with the bus driver. She asked him if he were going to the Swan and Dolphin. He said, "No." She looked at him suspiciously and said, "Well, then you need to change your sign 'cause that's what it says on the front of your bus!" While we waited for other passengers to board, the driver showed CG how he could change the words on the front of the bus. "You're not going to the Dolphin?" she asked. When he repeated that he was not, she grinned and said, "You're trickin' me, huh?" He LOVED that line, so as he drove, he frequently said into the microphone, "You're trickin' me, huh?" He asked Chicken Girl where she lived and she said, "Oh, Australia!" She thought that answer was VERY funny! He said, "Not with that accent, kid! I'm guessing Alabama!" (He wasn't right, but he wasn't far off either!)
We returned to the resort laden with packages, went to the room, and bathed the girls. P. F. and I enjoyed some wine and some conversation before heading to bed. Then, we called it a day.
Day 6: Coming right up!
Wednesday, 28 February 2001
With apologies to Lewis Grizzard, "Elvis is dead, and Chicken Girl doesn't feel so well herself."
Today was the big day--the birthday celebration!
I cannot tell a lie: Feb. 28 is NOT Chicken Girl's actual birthday; it was a few days before our trip. However, the 28th IS Chocoholic's birthday, so we chose that day to celebrate both little angels.
Chicken Girl is Mini-Me in many ways. She is not prone to telling falsehoods either(except about being sick--details to follow). Therefore, I KNEW that if a cast member told her "Happy Birthday," she would announce, "Today is NOT my birthday." I didn't want to have to make any long explanations about why Chicken Girl was wearing a birthday badge, about how we didn't have a birthday party on her birthday, about how the trip was her birthday present. I didn't want everyone giving me "those looks"--as if I were crazy. But I know my child. I also did not want her to feel that she was lying, so I explained it to her this way: WE know that today is not your REAL birthday, but today is the day that we've chosen to CELEBRATE your birthday. Therefore, if anyone wishes you a happy birthday, respond by saying, "Thank you." Simple enough.
When we got out of bed, I was alarmed. Chicken Girl seemed warm to me; P. F. told me that I was imagining things. I asked Chicken Girl how she felt, and she said that her throat hurt a little bit, but that she was okay. I gave her some over-the-counter cold/cough medicine. (Thank goodness for Tubbi's at the Dolphin. They have medicine--and they're open 24 hours a day.) I had an uneasy feeling, but I ignored my gut instinct. (I am not going to win Mother of the Year.)
We took the bus to Magic Kingdom, and rode the trolley down Main Street to the Castle. The driver asked everyone on board to sing "Happy Birthday" to the girls. (They were wearing matching clothes, so, even though they do not resemble each other in the slightest, the girls found that about a gazillion people thought they were twins.) We crammed into the log jam atmosphere of the castle prior to park opening and waited with the other people waiting to enter Fantasyland. (Now that I think about it, Fantasyland is where I dwell a great deal of the time.
)Chicken Girl was doing me proud. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" said any number of people. "Thanks," said CG.
We rode Dumbo right away. Chicken Girl had her eye on a yellow elephant; Chocoholic had dibs on a pink one. Both were successful. Chicken Girl asked for my cell phone. "Why?" I asked. She announced that she wanted to call her aunt (my sister). "Why?" I asked. "Because I've never called anyone while riding Dumbo," she explained. Hey, who am I to question logic?
P. F. and I were psyched. By arriving early, we were checking things off our list: Pooh's ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Small World. Check, check, check.
It was time for breakfast, so we headed to the castle for our PS. Snow White and the Prince were in the foyer, so Chicken Girl was WAY happy. (She is FAR more interested in the princes than in the princesses. She is much more interested in slaying the dragons and/or fighting evil herself than in waiting for a handsome man to rescue her from distress. She is not a passive, "someday my prince will come" kind of little kid. She is a "My mother told me to get an education and not to wait on any darn prince" kind of child. Chicken Girl has her quirks, but she's all right.
) I noticed that Snow White was the exact same Snow White I had seen in August, 1999, at breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. (I'm sorry. I'm a details person. I digress. Often.)We went upstairs to find our table decorated with streamers and confetti for the birthday girls. The following characters were in attendance: Cinderella (duh), Jasmine, Aladdin, Belle (my favorite princess--because she reads a lot and worries more about what's inside a person than what's on the outside--I am a sap.), and Mary Poppins. Now, don't get me wrong. I appreciate a good nanny as much as the next person, but I'm still not sure how Mary P. fits into the princess breakfast! If the girls said, "No, we are not twins. No, we are not cousins. We are friends." once, they said it a dozen times.
At the end of our meal, our server brought out a birthday cupcake for the girls; he also brought them cards. I noticed that Chicken Girl was being UNUSUALLY quiet (an obvious sign of trouble). When I told her to blow out her candle, she coughed such a ferocious cough that the flame was immediately extinguished. I was alarmed.
As we left the castle, I told P. F. that I was taking Chicken Girl back to the hotel. I knew the kid didn't feel well. She had developed a dazed, glazed kind of look, and she was too quiet. However, upon learning that her day at Magic Kingdom was being cut VERY short (very, very short), Chicken Girl perked up enough to bawl. "But I don't WANT to go back to the hotel!" she cried.
I felt really sorry for her because she was so disappointed, but I knew that she needed to rest. Hence, I led her back down Main Street--wearing her special birthday clothes complete with a really cute hat and wearing an "I'm celebrating my birthday" badge--and sobbing all the way. It was NOT a pretty scene. People gave me the most awful looks. I don't know what they imagined, but I wanted to scream, "HEY! I'm trying to do the RIGHT thing here!" I'm sure they thought I was being mean to this innocent little birthday girl. ACK!
We caught the bus back to the Dolphin, and Chicken Girl fell asleep en route. I managed to wake her up enough to get her to the room, and she fell asleep again. I was really grateful for our beautiful room at the Dolphin. While we would have preferred being in the parks, it was nice to have a comfortable, lovely room in which to rest. After a couple hours, my daughter seemed to feel better and she asked me if she could PLEASE go to the Tea Party at the Grand Floridian.
I noted that she did seem better after her nap. While I knew that she had a cold, I thought she was also just overly tired, and she did truly seem better after napping. So, I agreed, and we caught a cab to the Grand Floridian, where we met up with P. F. and Chocoholic.
Chef Drew began by teasing Chicken Girl about her birthday. He said, "No, it's your friend's birthday, and you're just wearing the badge." I said, "Chef Drew, you don't know how close to the truth you actually are!" I should have been reading the signs. Chicken Girl made no comment at all; I should have KNOWN she was not well. (I repeat: I will not win the Mother of the Year award.)
When we picked up the girls from the tea party, Chef Drew asked Chicken Girl when she'd be back. "Maybe summer," she said. "If you're lucky," I added and winked. Chef Drew then surprised me by asking me to send him some photos. He is WONDERFUL with children, and I HIGHLY recommend the children's activities that he plans. Chicken Girl and I are his biggest fans.
We headed back to the hotel, and P. F. supervised the girls while I walked to the BoardWalk Bakery to pick up the cake I had ordered.
The girls rested in the room. I had been dithering about what to do about Chicken Girl; I was afraid that she was getting sick, but I knew that she didn't have an emergency room kind of illness. I considered taking her to a doctor, but I didn't know where to go. I contacted my husband to get his take on the situation, and he told me to let her get plenty of rest and to keep treating the symptoms till we could get home. We both felt that she probably just had a cold or maybe a sinus infection. (We are idiots. I am an English teacher. What do I know about medicine?Details later.)
We had our official birthday celebration after resting in the room. The cake was LOVELY; the bakery did a great job. The girls managed to have a hissy fit right over the cake; they squabbled about who got to blow out how many candles. I settled it by telling them that they got to blow out three each. (They are six years old.) I feared that they were going to come to blows, but they resorted to tattling. Oh, it was a Kodak moment. We ate some cake, and the kids opened presents. We insisted that they rest for a while longer in the room. (Once again, we were so grateful for our view and for our balcony.)
Eventually, we decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We had to wait for about 40 minutes, so we shopped while we waited (which is, of course, the GOAL of the Rainforest Cafe!).
The girls, who have eaten in restaurants frequently since they were tiny, acted as if the experience was a novel concept. I don't know what the problem is; perhaps it's just that it's so darn loud in the Rainforest Cafe. We had to remind them several times to use "inside" voices. P. F. and I decided to see how much food two women could possibly consume--and we stuffed ourselves silly.
We made a run on the World of Disney. Chicken Girl was ecstatic to find the costume of her dreams--Peter Pan. She has been saving her allowance for just such a purchase. It was a BIG DEAL. She asked a CM if there was a feather for the cap. The woman said, "Yes," and collected it. Chicken Girl asked if there was a sword to go with the costume. The CM said, "No." Chicken Girl paused, thought for a second, and said, "Well, that's okay. My daddy can make me a sword. My daddy can do anything." (I called her daddy and told him that too. He was much pleased.)
Chicken Girl struck up a charming dialogue with the bus driver. She asked him if he were going to the Swan and Dolphin. He said, "No." She looked at him suspiciously and said, "Well, then you need to change your sign 'cause that's what it says on the front of your bus!" While we waited for other passengers to board, the driver showed CG how he could change the words on the front of the bus. "You're not going to the Dolphin?" she asked. When he repeated that he was not, she grinned and said, "You're trickin' me, huh?" He LOVED that line, so as he drove, he frequently said into the microphone, "You're trickin' me, huh?" He asked Chicken Girl where she lived and she said, "Oh, Australia!" She thought that answer was VERY funny! He said, "Not with that accent, kid! I'm guessing Alabama!" (He wasn't right, but he wasn't far off either!)
We returned to the resort laden with packages, went to the room, and bathed the girls. P. F. and I enjoyed some wine and some conversation before heading to bed. Then, we called it a day.
Day 6: Coming right up!
