This is Abigail. 

Here's a funny story about this picture.  While Gracie is at ballet, Abigail & I hang out and do sticker books and scibble in coloring books.  Well, that's what we usually do.  Last week, I planned on taking Abigail to the playground at church while Gracie danced.  Only, it was too cold & too windy.  But, I hadn't brought her books for entertainment and she was hungry, so I decided to take her to Circle K and let her pick out a snack.  She chose Cheetos - that's my girl .  I also picked up a soda for me and a lemonade for her.  As we walked into the dance class waiting area, all the other moms were having a discussion about healthy eating and how they got their kids to eat vegetables and nutrient-packed snacks.  They were discussing the pros and cons of becoming a vegetarian.  Abigail pranced by with her hand thrust in her Cheetos Big Grab bag, fake cheese orange rimming her smiling mouth.  I kind of just got her to walk quickly past the other moms so we could hide with our snacks at the end of the hall.  Do I need to tell you that I really don't fit in with the other ballet moms?

Well, that's not what this post is about.  What this post is about is the cost of raising children.  Before my kids were born, I read all kinds of articles about how much it costs to raise a child.  These articles included things like clothes and diapers, food and childcare.  There were even some articles that touched on the touchy-feely costs of raising kids....the number of hugs & kisses you'd get, how much a card from your baby with her name scrawled in crayon was worth millions...yada, yada, yada.  I don't remember reading in any article about how much you should budget for your toddler destroying things...on a daily basis. 

Abigail has her normal toddler quirks.  Like, she has to change her pull-ups several times throughout the day, even if her pull-up is perfectly dry.  This is a little known fact but after you wear pull-ups for several hours, the stuffing in them starts to bunch up like a pillow that's been washed and dried too many times.  And the bunching up is probably not too comfortable.  So, Abigail strips, grabs another pull-up and say, "I hash to change dis' diapie!  It has wawks (rocks) in it!"  Now, I really can't blame my girl for that...who wants to go around with rocks in their underwear!  But, Abigail's destructive tendencies go beyond her little quirks.  The girl is a one-child demotion derby.  I did a rough list of the things she has destroyed in the last week:

1)Her Tinkerbell thermos.  She was playing a vicious game of dodgeball with Gracie today and evidently, a ball wasn't handy
2)My Oil of Olay Regenerist mosturizer.  I found her in the bathroom with it all over her face and her shirt.  If you see us out and about this week, now you understand why her skin is wrinkle-free and I look like a Pug dog...
3)Not one, but two extermal hard drives.  Dropping computer equipment onto a wood floor while standing on the ottoman is not really good for said equipment
4)My necklace Steve gave me for Christmas.   Apparently, the necklace wasn't as strong as I though it was or her snatching-things-from-my-neck abilities are greater than I thought they were
5)A Rhinestone necklace I've had since I was a teenager.   Who needs to use a necklace clasp when your snatching-things-off-your-own-neck abilities are incredible.  Now, this was probably my fault since I let her try it on...
6)My photography business checkbook.  She said she was writing her name
7)The list of presents that Gracie got for her birthday.  If you don't receive a thank you not for the present you gave Gracie, well now you know why
8)Countless bottles of glitter...no I didn't learn my lesson at Christmas...glitter must be kept in a locked cabinet with the cleaning products and the bottles of alcohol...

Well, that's about all I can think of for now.  I figure that Abigail costs Steve & I about $30 a day in things she breaks....which adds up to a staggering $10,950 a year.  I think I'm going to send this blog to the people who write the articles about how much it cost to raise a child....if you're going to write an article about child expenses, I think you should include all the costs...don't you?