Worlds-toughest-toddler

I'm not sure where Mazzy gets it (certainly not from me), but she is ONE TOUGH KID.

She falls down and picks herself right back up (thanks to a "shake it off" technique my husband initiated when she was barely a month old), she fearlessly introduces herself to Clifford-size canines on the street (even though her mother is cowering behind her), and every time she sees a group of kids twice her size, she makes her way into the pack and eventually tries to boss them around (with varying degrees of success).

This weekend, we took Mazzy to the Queens County Fair, where she went on every ride that permitted a person of her size and also competed in her FIRST EVER potato sack race— against a bunch of 17-year-olds no less.

Or just really tall 10-year-olds…

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I wish I could say Mazzy won the race, but my sweet pea came in DEAD LAST. I think most of the kids finished before she even started.

But that wasn't the impressive part.

You know how most normal people, upon realizing they are totally defeated, will give up to save face? But SUPER AWESOME PEOPLE who want to prove things to THEMSELVES as opposed to caring what OTHER people think, will finish no matter how humilating their elongated journey might be? Like marathon runners who cross the finsh line after dark or Biggest Loser contestants who would rather be carried by their competitors to complete the challenge than drop out?

That was Mazzy in the potato sack race.

It was not about winning— it was about FINISHING WHAT SHE STARTED. And she did it without Jillian Michaels screaming at her about deep-seeded issues she would rather not have discussed on national television.

Don't worry. There is video. (With additional footage of Mazzy breaking branches over the back of her neck and climbing to the top of this ridiculously tall pyramid at Sesame Place with a diaper so full it was hanging out the back of her shorts and must have added at least 10 pounds.)

BEHOLD— my fearless, tenacious, tough little toddler.

World's Toughest Toddler from Ilana W on Vimeo.

Note: Footage obviously sped up for the pyramid climbing part. Just because I know your time is valuable, not because I am trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes or anything.