1) Clara's mamas tell her the exciting news that we are going to see a puppet show at a local library. Upon arrival, we realize we have the date wrong and it is really next week. Clara is very understanding. "Mama made a mistake and there are no puppets," she repeats several times.
2) Clara's mamas tell her that instead we will catch the trolley that has been running up and down past our house all morning, a special event for the Christmas holidays. We chase the trolley back and forth in our car, unable to find where it starts or stops. We follow it for blocks and blocks. We get this close once:
But we never get on.
3) As a consolation about the trolley, we tell Clara we will go see the carolers in the neighborhood. We find them singing on a corner, park the car, and cross the street in the rain to see them. The carolers hand us their card, pack up, and tell us they are moving to four blocks from our house.
4) Clara refuses to get back in her car seat, perfecting the 'back arch.' We see some more carolers. Mama grabs Clara and runs for them. They stop singing and head for an approaching trolley, which apparently does stop if you are wearing a caroling outfit. We run to catch them, but they load and the trolley turns the corner. Mama and Clara run around the corner and up the street. Clara presses her feet against the waistband of Mama's ill-fitting maternity pants, which quickly fall much too low to be proper, comfortable, or to keep Mama from being humiliated. It is raining forcefully. Mama tries hard not to cry while running back to catch Ma and the car before we are abandoned 20 blocks from home.
5) We tell Clara she can get her hair cut. We take her to a nearby spot Mama saw did children's cuts. They are closed on weekends. We take her to another spot down the street. They are booked.
6) We go back in search of the carolers, who are not where they said they would be.
7) In desperation to make at least one promise come true, Mama dashes into another hair salon to beg for a cut. On the way, she sees the trolley. The driver rings his bell and waves, having seen her so many times. Sigh. The hair salon obliges, they are very nice, and it goes well. Phew! But as we sit Clara down in the chair on some phone books, the carolers walk by. Maddening.
8) We theorize about where the trolley may stop. We go into a coffee shop to get Clara her first hot chocolate and to wait, since it's pouring. Mama checks the street three times for the trolley and doesn't see it. As we get on our coats, it whizzes by. The driver waves again.
9) We go home, feeling quite defeated! We look forward to a fun excursion tomorrow to the Polar Express train, not knowing our car will break down with major and expensive problems an hour before we plan to leave...
Some days are just like that.
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