Chinese New Year

Grasshopper and MaGreen went to Chinese New Year today. Just as we hit the crowd with my friend Nicole and her kids, my little girl tensed up. She held my fingers as we all snaked through a gigantic crowd. It was hot, we ARE still in Houston, and so we found our way inside where there were a few dancers on a stage and a large audience, and more booths. By the time we were half-way into the second group of rooms, Grasshopper was screaming that she wanted to go back outside: she was scared, she said.

So went back outside, and the crowd still scared her. I found a patch of grass, and Nicole and her family graciously sat with us while Grasshopper could wind down. But when we tried to leave the grassy knoll she started screaming again, and I let Nicole go on. I sat her down and asked her to try to give walking around one more chance, and that we'd driven a long way and I really thought she'd enjoy the festival if she gave it a shot. She sat still a couple minutes, and decided to try again...but she couldn't last three minutes. She was just terrified, it seemed, of the crowd.

So we left. I was sad not learn more, but Grasshopper was almost immediately calmer, and pretty articulate about her fear of all the people. We stopped by and Indian Grocery, had a quick lunch at an Indian buffet, and came home, where we both passed out.

I'm glad we gave the day a shot, but no more festivals for this family for at least another six months!

See how I'm going to pretend like the last post wasn't in September.