Pee Shooter

Henry and Miss R visited Grammy and Poppy on Monday. I can't remember much of Monday b/c I pretty much slept the day away. Jeff was still coughing up a storm.

On Tuesday, the kids marched into school together holding hands. Henry likes dropping Miss R off with her class first. Tuesday was a bio parent visitation day for Miss R. When I dropped off Henry at his classroom, Miss Lulu told Henry to give me a happy face, and he did smile (unlike the previous day's pained smile). Jeff and I picked up the kids at school on the way to Grammy and Poppy's house. I went inside while Jeff waited in the car with Roger who came with us. I picked up Henry first. He gave me a big hug. We then went to get Miss R. Henry was so cute when we entered the room. He yelled out "Miss R! Miss R!" He gave her a hug and tried to give her a kiss. Grammy said that Henry noticed she was charging a new telephone. He looked at it and said "New cell phone!" Miss R has finally identified a book as her favorite; it is called "Little Gorilla." It used to be one of Henry's favorites too.

On Wednesday, there were no problems dropping off the kids at school. Henry required several hugs before I left. I picked up the kids at 3PM. Henry was coloring with three of his friends at a table. He and a little boy named Xavier kept switching frogs. So when we get his art work on Friday, the frog will have to be considered at collaborative effort. The kids at his table were very nice. When Henry first started day care, I was a little concerned that maybe we were pushing too much by putting him in the class by his actual age. He was either going to be way ahead in the 1 year old room or slightly lower than average in various developmental skills in the 2 year old room. Watching him today, I felt like we made the right choice after all. He isn't yet 2 years old adjusted, but he fits right in.

Miss Diana told me that she decided to try Henry on the potty b/c he was showing some indication that he was ready. He's been watching the other kids use the potty, and he wanted to use it too. Miss Stephanie added that he went into a corner and pulled his shorts down (another suggestion that he's ready). Jeff and I had never actually seen Henry take his pants off until this evening! Miss Stephanie said that they are willing to start potty training if we want to bring in the pull-ups. The other day, Henry was in the kitchen with Jeff and said "poop!" Jeff asked Henry if he wanted to go potty. Henry said "no." Henry did in fact go number 2, so at least we know that he's aware of his bodily functions, which is an important step in this process. He's been holding his bladder overnight for months and doesn't release until he is up and about in the morning. Anyway, Miss Diana said that the potty scared Henry a little bit b/c he was afraid that he was going to fall in. Their potty is child sized but bigger than the child's potty we have here at home. He ended up squirting her pants leg.

Carmen, Miss R's CPS caseworker, and a new trainee whose name I can't remember (but she was very nice) came for a home visit. Miss R was delightful. Henry was in a terrible 2 mood. I told them about Miss R's medical reports from the doctor. Carmen said that Miss R handled the last two bio parent visitations very well (that is, she isn't screaming anymore during the visits), but the case really hasn't progressed in terms of the bio parents working the case plan. There will be a dependency hearing in mid-August. She said that hearing is to let the judge know where the case stands. Then, the hearing to determine parental rights is scheduled for November. The bio parents have about 3-4 months to turn things around.

After Carmen and her colleague left, Henry, Miss R, and I ended up in their bedroom. They played on their new beds for the very first time! We are still awaiting the mattress pads. Hopefully, they will arrive by Friday and then we can beginning the transition of getting them into their own beds this weekend! We'll start by putting them into their room for naps. Henry and Miss R had a fine time jumping on Miss R's bed. Then, Henry and I read "Curious George Goes Camping."

I made vegetable fried rice and gyoza dumpings for dinner. Thanks Trader Joe's! Miss R was a huge fan of the rice. Ate a ton. We watched an episode of Sponge Bob after dinner. The kids lost interest about 5 minutes into it. Henry played golf. When Jeff got back from walking Roger, we played "Couch Mountain." Then, it was bath, bottle, and bed for the kids.

Jeff and I are still sick. But Jeff sounded much better today. I felt a little better but still laid down for a short nap that ended up lasting two hours. On the wellness front, the kids seem really good.

Rebuffed

Yesterday evening, we went to my parents' house to celebrate Jeff's birthday with Grammy, Poppy, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, and Great Uncle Jim. Miss R was shy. Erin said that she'd never heard Miss R speak. I believe that she finally said a word in front of Erin toward the end of the evening. Roger came with us. He was happy to play with Indiana. As the cake was being placed in front of Jeff, Henry said "Happy Birthday!" to him several times. Miss R and Henry enjoyed ice cream during dessert. Henry sang just about the entire "ring-around-the-rosie" song all by himself for Grammy.

Last night was rough. I was trying to get some work done b/c I wasn't tired. In fact, I finally felt like I had some energy. But Miss R woke up at least five times crying. I'm pretty sure that she wanted milk, but Jeff and I decided to stop giving them milk at night. Well, actually, Jeff was the real "decider" on this issue, but I didn't object. The kids don't use bottles at school. We suspect that the bottles are a crutch that are inhibiting food consumption when at home. Plus, we don't like them drinking milk in bed when they've just brushed their teeth. I've been wondering, moreover, whether Miss R's high levels of milk consumption are contributing to constipation issues that have been improved only minimally with medication. Long story short, she is peeved about not been given milk on command in the middle of the night.

This morning, Henry gave Miss R hugs as I was trying to get her shoes on. He has been saying a lot of long sentences lately. For example, he said "I need to give R a hug."

I took the kids to school. Henry happily said "School!" as we entered the parking lot. The kids held hands on the way to the door of the school. As they got up a step, they released their hands. Miss R reached her hand out for Henry, but Henry wasn't looking. I said, "R, I'll take your hand." She yelled, "No!", completely rebuffed me, and then reached and found Henry's hand. They walked hand in hand all the way down the hall (and it is a long hall) and outside to the playground to find Miss R's class. Miss R's class was coming inside early at the time b/c it was too darn hot outside. They walked with her class still hand-in-hand. Then, Miss R followed her class, and Henry stopped by his classroom when he saw Miss Lulu. He cried a little and made me feel guilty. As usual these days, he was playing around the room by the time I reached the lobby as evidenced on the school monitors.

Jeff and I are still sick. I'm hoping that my chest x-ray results will come in today or tomorrow. I think that the antibiotics are beginning to help, but I still feel pretty lousy. Jeff isn't coughing as frequently, but when he does, it doesn't sound good.

Climbing

Yesterday, we packed the kids up and headed to a park where our agency was supposed to be holding a "quarterly," which is a training session that they run so that we fulfill our training hours that are required to keep a license active. We arrived, but they had canceled it b/c the speaker was sick.

The kids were rearing to play. It was hot. So we took them to the mall. For the record, I confirmed with the nurse practitioner on Thursday that I was past the point of being contagious. Right now, Jeff's and my health issues are only negatively impacting us. We started off at Sears. We bought Henry a Sponge Bob comforter and sheet set. We didn't see anything that we liked for Miss R. They had a cute Disney princess set. But I had already bought her a similar theme set of underwear. And I'm a bit uncomfortable giving her themed items where all of the characters are always white. That's fine on some stuff. I certainly understand that by far, the majority of the U.S. population is white (something like 83%). But I'd like to see some racial diversity on the toys that she is given. It simply can't always be white, white, white. Our preference was actually to get her an Elmo bed set. Elmo is her favorite TV character, but we can't find Elmo sheets in the stores. I went onto the Sesame Street store website last night and was disappointed. She likes Sponge Bob and Thomas the Tank Engine too. But when I think of Miss R, I think Elmo. While shopping, the kids had fun running down the aisles. How is it that I haven't lost weight taking care of these two? I made a great block preventing Henry from going done the escalator on his own. He is a fast one.

We stopped by a pet shop and looked at the puppy dogs. The kids loved that. Eventually, we made our way to the children's play area.



























The children's play area was busy but nice because it contained mainly kids their age. No overgrown tweens in sight. Miss R did a fabulous job going down a slide on her own. She knows how to use her feet to slow down her speed. She usually wanted my help, but I did get her to go up the stairs and settle herself at the top on her own. Henry's climbing was just amazing. I can remember when some of the objects just looked too tall and steep for him to climb. He figured out how to use his feet to grip onto surfaces and scale just about everything. It was so neat to see.

We went to Red Robin for lunch. That went well. The kids really liked their meals, and the service was fast and efficient. It was a relatively easy dining experience, which rarely happens these days.

I was exhausted by the time we left the mall. My breathing was still a bit shallow. And Jeff and I both continued to have coughing jags. We went home. The kids took short naps. Then, Jeff took them to Grammy and Poppy's house. He went to the driving range. He returned to the house to pick me up. We went to World Sports Grille to celebrate his birthday. I managed to win four stuffed toys (Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Geanie) for the kids from a claw machine. When we arrived back at my parents' house, the kids were as active as ever. They were still up when we got home, which was fine. We had medicine to give them. Then, they went to bed.

This morning, Miss R had bottle requests starting before 6AM. Henry and Jeff out of bed first. Miss R and I stayed in bed. I tried to convince her to go back to sleep. She didn't. We pretty much just stayed in bed and snuggled.

Henry had already eaten when we made our way to the kitchen. He wanted some water but then spit it on the floor. I made him clean it up. After Miss R made a huge mess of a pancake, I took Miss R and Henry to their bathroom for bath time.



Jeff's taking care of the kids now. I'm working. Our plan for today is to hang out around the house. We'll be headed over to my parents' house tonight for Jeff's birthday dinner.

Brushing Teeth

On Thursday afternoon, Henry and Miss R went to Grammy and Poppy's house for a couple hours. We gave them a bath when they got home. Henry did an excellent job brushing his teeth. Miss R doesn't have the front brushing motion down yet, so Jeff had to do her teeth forcibly. She is a master at keeping her upper lip over her front teeth and using her tongue to thwart the brush. I let the kids brush my teeth with my tooth brush so they'd get the idea down better. We got the kids to bed by 8:45PM.

Miss R was the first one up on Friday morning. She's been doing a bit better not waking up in the middle of the night. We'd hit a rough patch since our Oregon trip. I've wondered if it was her ear infection making her irritable. If that's the case, the antibiotics seem to have helped.

When we arrived at school, Miss R went happily into her play area. Henry wanted to "hold you" and stay in my arms. He finally went to Miss Lulu but cried. Miss Lulu told him to make a happy face for me. It was the most pained smile that I've ever seen. But by the time I got to the lobby, I saw him take a toy from a little girl and run, so I guess he recovered rather quickly. As of late, he loves taking something from a person and then running so that the person will chase him.

I went to the mall in the afternoon to get Jeff a birthday present. I realized that I had no juice in the car for the kids. The kids get cantankerous if there is no bottle or cup awaiting them. So I stopped by the grocery story and got some juice boxes for them. I got Henry first. He was outside in the play area being sprayed with a squirt bottle by Miss Diana. Henry and I then picked up Miss R who rushed over to give me a huge hug. The kids held hands all the way down the hall until we hit the parking lot. Henry tried to run for it. That didn't go over so well with me and he got scolded. I'm sure that he internalized my remarks and pledged in his heart never to do it again even if he didn't show the slightest trace of remorse.

Henry, Miss R, and I played ring-around-the-rosie in the living room while Jeff made dinner. We also called Grammy. Henry was upset b/c he wanted to see Grammy today. And he burst into tears when Grammy said that she'd see him tomorrow. He was genuinely upset. A few minutes later, while I spoke with Jeff in the kitchen, I heard a commotion in the living room. Henry had a puzzle that Miss R wanted, and she grabbed a fist full of his hair when he wouldn't give it to her. That earned her an automatic "time out." I then made her say "I'm sorry" to Henry, which she did although I strongly suspect that she doesn't really know what it means.

Henry didn't eat much dinner. Part of it was Chinese leftovers. Miss R had stuffed herself on raisins prior to dinner.

After dinner, I went to put on a saved episode of SpongeBob from the DVR but the machine won't open anything that is in a folder. Very curious. So I decided to put on a DVD. I hadn't selected a movie yet, but Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone was in the player. Henry wanted to watch it. He has seen the beginning of it twice. He knows the characters well b/c of our reading of Harry Potter aloud and his former nanny often played the audio book version of Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone. He knew that Uncle Vernon was going to throw Harry's letters in the "fire." He knows who Dumbledore is.

I walked Roger while Jeff and the kids watched Harry Potter. I ran into a couple neighbors but stayed a respectful distance so as not to get them sick. It was getting quite dark by the time I got back. I was fortunate to spot the rattlesnake in the driveway and keep a distance. Jeff went outside with a flashlight and confirmed that it was indeed a rattler.

I gave Henry a cereal bar to quell his appetite. He was hungry, of course, having not eaten. Of course, the books say that you should give kids their meals, and if they don't eat, that's fine but don't give them anything else. Given how sick we are, I didn't feel like listening to Henry shout "Eat! Eat!" if we didn't give him anything as a snack. I feel like we can only battle so much in one day.

Jeff got the kids to sleep before 9PM. Then, we watched a movie, which was nice.

In happy news today, Jeff ordered mattresses for the kids' beds! They might arrive as early as Monday, in which case we'll be able to take the kids sheet and comforter shopping. We'll probably not kick them out of Henry's king sized bed (formerly know as Jeff's and my bed) right away. I think that we'll start with naps on the new beds and work our way to night time sleeping from there.

I think that Miss R is going to have a tough time. She wakes up frequently wanting to know where I am. She has some separation anxiety. Given all that she's been through, I'm not exactly surprised and I certainly don't want to cause unnecessary stress. So we'll do things nice and slow. I'm hoping that she'll love her new sheets so much that she'll be excited to be in her new room.

Couch Mountain

On Tuesday night, Jeff got us some Chinese and Thai food. Henry seemed to enjoy the Tom Kah Jay soup (coconut base). He and Miss R ate chicken lo mein and rice. Miss R loves her starches. Henry ate a bite of broccoli. Toward the end of the meal, I tried him on a piece of tofu. He liked it and wanted more. After several bites of tofu, he started coughing. Spit up a bit (more mucous than food). I want him to get better soon. The kids were a struggle to get to bed. Jeff started out the endeavor. But he was coughing and miserable, so I took over. That made Henry upset b/c he wanted Daddy. Somehow, they eventually went to sleep with much protest.

On Wednesday morning, Jeff took Henry to school, hung out at my parents' house with Miss R for a little while (its close to the pediatrician's office), and then took Miss R to a doctor's appointment. She has an infection in her right ear (so that makes three family members with ear issues). She was also given steroids for her lungs b/c of her cough. My mom took care of Miss R for the rest of the day. That was a fairly easy task as Miss R slept 2 hours 45 minutes for her nap.

Jeff and I picked up Henry at day care. When he saw us through his classroom window, he blinked and then let a very loud, happy squeal. He ran to the door and gave Daddy a big hug. I got a quick hug too, but then it was back to Daddy. We met my mom in the parking lot with Miss R who was happy to see us. Apparently, she'd mentioned Henry a few times during the day.

I made pasta primavera in an alfredo sauce for dinner. Jeff thought it was delicious. Miss R wouldn't touch it. Henry wasn't interested in it either. I asked Henry, "Isn't the pasta yummy?" He gave me a very blunt, "no" and shook his head. Sigh. I thought that it was pretty good. I broiled the vegetables before sauteing them. The alfredo sauce was homemade. Not bad.

After dinner, Daddy looked exhausted, so he got a break from the kids by cleaning the kitchen. I took the kids to the living room. We did a quick couple rounds of ring-around-the-rosie and then made a mountain out of the couch cushions. Henry liked climbing "Couch Mountain." Miss R was testy. Henry barely grazed her arm, and she burst into tears. Basically, she was a complete pill unless I was holding her. Next to me wouldn't do. She had to be on me, which I found a bit cloying. Henry was very cute. When I started to put back the cushions, he wanted to climb more. He bounced up and down on the remaining pile and burst into a song singing "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed." His favorite line is "...fell off and bumped his head." He pretended to fall of the cushions and bump his head. I sang part of it, and he'd finish the lines, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed."

Miss R got super cranky. I asked her if she wanted to go to bed. She said, "Bed." So we went to bed at 8PM while Jeff played with Henry in the living room. I slept until 10:30PM and then got up. I didn't mean to sleep that long.

Around 6:20AM, Miss R woke me up. She wanted her morning bottle. I had scheduled a nurse's visit at my doctor's office for 8:15AM, so we needed to get up a little earlier than usual anyway. Jeff fed the kids while I got ready. I had a hard time undoing Miss R's braids (there were five small braids in her hair). It looks good when I make then small, but they are very challenging to undo. We were out the door by 7:40AM.

As we walked across the parking lot, I asked Henry to hold Miss R's hand, so that she was in the middle of us. Three different people smiled at us as we made our way to the door. Henry and Miss R holding hands was very cute. We dropped off Miss R first. Her class was on the playground. She walked through the gate, toddered over to Miss Josie and gave her a hug, and then waved goodbye. No tears. Then, Henry and I went to his classroom. A teacher named Abe was watching the class while Miss Lulu stepped out for a moment. Henry almost went into Abe's arms but then changed his mind. He then saw Miss Lulu and went to her a bit grudingly. He cried but it wasn't his most convincing guilty-inducing performance.

I went to the nurse visit at my doctor's office. Turns out that I may have pneumonia, so I had to drive to another office to get x-rayed. We'll know the results in 2-4 days. Sigh. I believe that this has been the sickest year ever. I'm just awaiting for the plague of locusts to descend upon the household.

Like Father, Like Son

Jeff made a delicious quiche last night. Henry had to be awoken from his nap b/c it was after 6:30PM and he'd been napping for over 3 hours. I don't think that Miss R even tried the quiche, but Henry had a couple bites.

Jeff has been referring to Miss R as "the little girl who cried poop" because she said "poop!" a couple times to Jeff, getting him to usher her to the Elmo potty, which she did not use for its intended purpose. She got me to take her to the potty a couple times as well. She looked pretty happy sitting there, pushing the button where Elmo gives praise “You did it!” or “Congratulations!” At some point, I’ll try to explain that one pushes the button when one has actually gone to the bathroom.

It was hard to get the kids to sleep, but Jeff did it! Miss R woke up at 4:38AM this morning, screaming her head off. She wouldn’t communicate. I assumed that she needed to produce a stool, so I took her to the potty, but that only made her more upset. She said that she wanted water but got mad when I handed her a water bottle. It turned out that she wanted milk. I gave in b/c I wanted to get some sleep. Then, Henry woke up at 5:30AM, while Jeff was taking Roger on a walk. He was upset that Daddy was gone. When Daddy came back, he sat by Henry’s side and Henry fell asleep. The three of us (Henry, Miss R, and me) were still asleep at 8:30AM when Jeff decided it was time to wake us.

After the kids were fed, I braided Miss R’s hair. She had a bio parent visitation today.

In the afternoon, I suggested to Jeff that he go to the doctor’s office b/c he’d been coughing profusely throughout the day. He gave a noncommittal “OK.” So I said, “Would you go to the doctor’s office if I called right now and made you an appointment?” He mentioned something about how he didn’t like going to the doctor’s, but I took his answer as a “yes” (he’d go) b/c he didn’t outright say “no.” I got him an appointment with the nurse practitioner at 2:15PM. At the appointment, the nurse practitioner asked him if his ears had been bothering him. He said, “no.” She said that they were red. Like father, like son, I suppose.

Jeff picked up Miss R at day care. They said that her temperature was 98 degrees under the arm. She felt warm to them, and her nose had been running still. I’m not sure that 99 degrees core temperature can even really be considered a low grade fever, but we’ll watch her as always and see how she is feeling tomorrow.

Severe Ear Infection

Henry coughed and sounded "mucousy" through the night. I got the kids up a little after 7AM. We decided that we'd call the pediatrician's office at 8AM and get recommendations on the kids. I mentioned that they'd come down with a cold at the beginning of the month. Miss R seemed to get over it right away in terms of fever and feeling down. Henry's cough persisted. Both kids had runny noses. I mentioned that Henry had three nights of goopy eyes. I said that both kids were active. Miss R's nose was running with yellow mucous, and I wasn't sure if it was appropriate that she go to school given the color. Ruth, one of Dr. Bianchi's nurses, called back. She said that Miss R was OK for daycare as her current symptoms weren't alarming. But they wanted to see Henry at 1PM.

We decided to keep Miss R home b/c she and Henry were having fun together. They actually keep each other entertained. We had it worked out so that I would watch the kids in the morning. Jeff would take the kids to the doctor's office at 1PM, and my mom would meet them there, and then she'd take the kids in the afternoon so that I could get some work done.

After their breakfast, I took them to their future bedroom and showed them the "big boy" and "big girl" underwear that I had purchased last night at Babies R Us. I decided to break out Henry's Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and see how he liked the feeling of not having so much padding around his derriere. He seemed to like the green Percy pair, so that was today's experiment. I played patty cake and ring-around-the-rosie with the kids. They like the part where "we all fall down." We read books. Henry played golf (NOTE: He may have missed the ball in the picture, but his form sure looked great! Look at that follow through!). I had them watch Elmo's Potty Time video. It didn't seem to inspire the kids. Henry ended up wetting his Percy underpants. The one thing that the video did accomplish was getting the kids to freely say "poo!" and "pee!" for the fun of it.

Well, around 11AM, Miss R's CPS caseworker called. She wanted to do a home visit this afternoon at 4PM. So, it didn't make sense for the kids to go to Grammy's house. I ended up taking Henry to the doctor's office, while Jeff put Miss R down for a nap.

Henry weighed 26 lbs 9 ozs. He yelled out for "Bianchi!," his doctor, when we were in the exam room. Dr. Bianchi said that Henry's chest sounds fine, but when he looked in his left ear, he said "He has a moderate to severe ear infection. Has he been complaining at all about his ears?" I said, "No." Then, he looked in his right ear and said "severe ear infection. He must have an incredibly high pain tolerance." He probably has a sinus infection. He also "may" have viral pink-eye. He gave me eye drops to give him just in case it is bacterial pink-eye. And, he gave me a prescription for the ear infection. We'll see him again in four weeks. Dr. Bianchi was impressed by Henry saying "Bianchi! Bianchi!"

Henry and I went to Walgreen's to get his prescription filled. I kept him in the cart so he wouldn't spread his germs everywhere. I bought him some things (bath toy ducks and books) while we waited for the prescription. While we were in the toy section, Henry said "Car!" He was looking at the end of the aisle toward the back end of the store where various over-the-counter drugs are kept. He repeated "Car!" I looked up at the large mirror fringe that they have running along the top of the shelves. Against the mirror, around the store, various words were written. From our vantage point, we could see the word "care" from the larger word "health care." I'm pretty sure that he was pointing at the word "care" but saying "cars."

Jeff had done some cleaning to make our place presentable. At 3:36PM, Carmen called to cancel the appointment. She was having car problems. Jeff put Henry down for a nap, and Miss R has been running around playing. At one point, she got in Roger's bed in my office, so her hair now has dog fur in it. She has been in a good mood.

That's all for now. Henry won't be going to school tomorrow. Miss R is clear for day care. Plus, she has a bio parent visitation tomorrow.

Quiet Weekend

Well, we didn't end up going to the Tucson Children's Museum this weekend. Henry and Miss R both have runny noses. And Henry has been coughing at night and waking up the last two mornings with yellow goop in his eyes. The runny nose alone doesn't necessarily mean that a kid is contagious, but the goopy eyes suggest that something is amiss. We decided that it was best not to spread cold germs all over Tucson. I think that Miss R will be OK for school tomorrow, but I suspect that Henry will have to stay home. I have "felt" fine but my voice went out on Friday night. I've been whispering and miming all weekend. It's the second time this year that I've lost my voice. Jeff has had to be the one giving stern orders to the little ones (e.g., "R don't push Henry," "Henry, don't swing your golf club that close to your sister's head," etc.).

On both Saturday and Sunday, we've spent most of the day in the living room. Henry has discovered the joys of having Daddy read the Sponge Bob books. Jeff finally had enough of the book about Sponge Bob and a princess, I think. So Henry's new favorite is one about Sponge Bob entering his snail Gary into a snail race. There's a part where Gary runs into the side ("BAM!") and the crowd "gasped." That's Henry's favorite part, which he requests being read "again, again!" The kids took fairly long naps (2.5 hours plus) both days. We took them over to Grammy and Poppy's late in the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning, the kids had a lot of fun dancing. Jeff had put on the DirecTV XM station called "Kids Place Live." Henry grabbed Miss R's hands, and they bounced up and down together to a song called "We R Super Heroes" by Robbert Bobbert.

During their nap, a baby cactus wren taunted our cats, Bitsy and Princess.















At Grammy and Poppy's house, they swam. My mom said the temperature in the pool was 90 degrees, but Henry got the chills, so they took the kids inside. Henry was running a low grade fever in the evening when he came home; his temp was normal when he woke up in the morning. As we put the kids to bed, Jeff sang the Baby Beluga song. Henry sang parts of it with him.

Henry enjoyed reading the Sunday comics with Daddy. At some point, we ended up piling papers on top of Henry, which Miss R thought was funny. It made Miss R hyper, and she chased Bitsy around. At one point during the morning, Jeff was reading a Sponge Bob book that includes the "Goofy Goober" song. The end of each line of the "Goofy Goober" song ends in "Yeah!" Miss R knew exactly where the "Yeah!" lines were supposed to be, so she joined in accordingly.

When the kids woke up from their nap, Henry was upset b/c Daddy wouldn't read him the Sponge Bob snail race book that instant. When his cries did not get him what he wanted, he bowed his head down and looked so dejected. I ended up reading it to him in a voice slightly stronger than a whisper. Although my voice was weak, the tone wasn't bad for the character of Patrick Star. After that, we got ready to go to the grandparents' house. I drove them there and then went grocery shopping.



Jeff went to Trader Joe's and then picked the kids up. Henry's eyes were super goopy when he came home. Either he has a sinus infection or perhaps conjunctivitis. Sigh. We are calling his pediatrician tomorrow morning.

Rock Star

Jeff picked up Henry and Miss R from school in the afternoon. Both kids had a good day. Henry's teacher, Miss Stephanie, brought coloring spray to put in the kids' hair. Jeff said that he thought that Henry had the wildest hair at school. He brought the sunglasses to Henry. As Henry walked out, more comments about Henry looking like a "rock star" were made. The staff at the front desk had a good giggle as Henry left.

We played for a little while in the living room. I was itching to get out of the house. We decided to go to Monkey Business, a new restaurant/arcade establishment in Marana. It is no Dave & Buster's, but they have several games that are appropriate for toddlers. Monkey Business was a huge hit with Henry and Miss R. They like the flashing lights in the arcade. They attempted to play skee ball but couldn't quite get the balls up the lanes. We let them play some car games (we had to hit the gas pedals for them, but they did the steering). There was a space shuttle ride that moved back and forth. Both Henry and Miss R fit in it at the same time. We took tons of pictures, as always, but can't post the ones of Miss R for privacy reasons. Take our word: The kids are super cute together. Monkey Business is trying to sustain itself in the market by having slightly better food than a place like Chunk E. Cheese. The food was pretty good. For whatever reason, Henry found the ketchup to be the tastiest part of the meal.





















We left around 7:30PM. By that point, the kids didn't want to leave, but Miss R was in a mood. It was clearly nearing her bed time. When we got home, I put her to bed. Jeff read with Henry in the living room. When it was time for Henry to go to bed, Jeff brought him in the bedroom, but Henry talked up a storm. It took him 50 minutes to settle down.

I think that we are going to try to visit the Tucson Children's Museum tomorrow. The exhibits may be slightly to advanced for their ages, but we'll see. I've never been.

That's all from The Wild Kingdom.

Crazy Hair Day

On Thursday, Jeff attended a CFT for Miss R. Not much progress has been made in the case, although the bio parents did show up to the meeting, having missed the previous ones. We believe that the outcome of the case will be decided in November for Miss R...if CPS and the judge decide to follow state law. They may allow extensions, which violates the spirit of the law which is designed to put the infant/toddlers' needs first (e.g., based on what research has shown on attachment). I'm distressed that the "system" is going to do our foster daughter a disservice.

Jeff picked up the kids in the afternoon. He set up a small pool under the patio earlier in the day. The water felt good. The pool itself is looking sad b/c it has an air leak, but the kids had fun. After our pool excursion, I put both kids in pull-ups. I'm hoping that they'll come to the realization that pull-ups are nicer than diapers b/c they are less bulky.

Jeff made them tuna casserole for dinner. Henry didn't really try it, but Miss R eventually did and seemed to like it.

The kids had tons of fun in the evening chasing each other around the living room. Lots of hugs were given in the chase. It was so cute.

We gave the kids a bath. Miss R had gotten stuff in her hair so I took out her braids and conditioned her hair. Prior to the bath, I had Miss R sit on the Elmo potty. She seemed OK with that but didn't urinate. Henry then sat on the potty, and we cheered when he peed. Miss R cheered too. I'm not sure that she understood why we were cheering, but she likes to clap and be happy. It will be nice for us when the kids are potty trained. Not that diapers are hard to deal with, but I think that the kids will like the potty once they realize that they are in control of their bodies.

Today is crazy hair day at their school. Jeff put mousse in Henry's hair. Miss R loved it. She chased Henry around, gave him hugs, and kept trying to run her fingers through his hair. It would have been ideal if I had left the braids in Miss R's hair the night before b/c when I undo her brains, her hair can indeed be crazy. But I let it go natural last night. I try parting her hair and doing some twists to make it go out in all directions. As we got out of the car, Henry put on his sun glasses. A couple people commented on how he looked like a rock star. On my way out the door, Miss Stephanie, one of Henry's teachers, asked if they could put some spray coloring in Henry's hair. I said that would be fine with us. So, we'll have to see what it looks like at the end of the day.

Invincible

On Wednesday afternoon, Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids at school. Miss R's class was in a different room watching fish in a larger fish tank than the already very large one in the hall. My mom said that Miss R was pressed against the glass. She really loves fish.

Jeff and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. My expectations were high (the reviews said it was one of the best HP movies); Jeff had been trying to keep his low. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is one of my favorite books in the series. The movie was OK, which in essence means that I was disappointed in it. I'm not quite sure why all of the rave reviews. The character development was poor. And they changed minor things throughout the story for no apparent reason. Plus they added a scene that's not in the book, which also served no purpose. Some of the special effects were neat. I am pleased that I didn't go at midnight last night.

When we arrived at Grammy and Poppy's house, Aunt Erin was there. Henry showed her my parents' collection of DVDs. Upon looking at the case for Invincible, Henry said "Eagles!" How on earth did he know that the movie was about the Eagles? He's never seen it before. Again, the question arises: Can he read?

We had a crisis in the wardrobe department before swimming. We were out of swim diapers, but we had their swim suits. I discussed the pros and cons with my mom of them wearing real diapers under their swim suits. Erin looked at me and said, "Wow. You really are a mom. It just hit me."

Swimming went well. The water was a little cooler than the previous couple days of bath tub temperatures. Henry was in a mood. He wanted to be simultaneously in his whale floating device and outside the pool and was upset that neither he nor we knew how to make that happen. He was obviously tired. Miss R, however, was in a very good mood having taken a 1.5 hour nap upon arrival at the grandparents' house.

We had dinner. Henry wanted my baked beans instead of his chicken stew and hot dog. He ate quite a few baked beans. After dinner, Grammy gave him animal crackers in a little bag to share with Miss R. He did share a couple but seemed to relish in ownership over the baggie. Then, it was time to head home.

Is It Really Time to Go Home?

On Monday afternoon, Jeff picked up the kids at day care. He observed that Henry didn't come bounding out of his seat to greet him. He took his time getting out of his chair. In the car, Miss R was eying Henry's gold fish crackers. Apparently, he shared them with her. Her fingers and mouth were blue from a birthday cup cake that a classmate's mom had brought to share with the kids in Miss R's class.

Alison, our family specialist from A Place to Call home, came for a home inspection. It doesn't appear that Miss R's case is moving forward. We have a CFT meeting (CPS acronym for child-family team meeting) on Thursday. Alison said how cute Miss R and Henry are together. Very true.

On Tuesday, Miss R was supposed to have a bio parent visitation, but it got canceled. Carmen, Miss R's CPS caseworker, called Jeff in the morning to let him know. My parents picked up Henry and Miss R at day care in the afternoon. The teacher was reading a story. Henry was sitting in the front row. He saw my parents come into the class, but he didn't move until the story was completed. The teachers told my parents that Miss R had a very good day.

Jeff and I arrived at my parents around 6PM. We took Roger (our labrapitt) with us so that he could visit Indiana (the border collie). Apparently, they became very good friends during our vacation when Roger stayed at Grammy and Poppy's house. We went swimming. Henry and Miss R had a great time. Both learned to blow bubbles in the water the other day. Miss R was having fun doing that again. Henry was showing Grammy and Poppy how he could throw balls with both hands. The kids had chicken stew for dinner. And then we came home.

We got off to a late start this morning (Wednesday). I made the kids oatmeal and gave them fresh fruit. Henry was unimpressed. I made our last egg (single) for myself but ended up sharing it with Henry. After a few bites of egg, he appetite perked up and he was willing to try the oatmeal. The fresh strawberries and peach could have been mud as far as the kids were concerned.

I dropped Henry off at school and then took Miss R for a blood test. We aren't anticipating any problems but are just being thorough with her care. She was pretty happy in the waiting room, acting silly in fact. She was not happy when she got pricked with the needle however. She expressed her displeasure to me for the next 10 minutes. Then, it was off to school for her as well.

That's all from here. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens today. It is the first time that I haven't gone to a midnight showing of a Harry Potter movie, but I decided not to abandon Jeff and the kids last night and am patiently waiting for a 3:30PM showing this afternoon. My parents are picking up the kids again. We plan to go swimming with them after the movie.

The Pool

On Sunday morning, we took Henry and Miss R to Grammy and Poppy's house. They took long naps for Grammy. Henry slept 2 hours. Miss R slept 3 hours. In the late afternoon, Jeff and I returned to go swimming. Grammy and Poppy had bought the kids some pool toys. Henry did an excellent job throwing the balls. Henry enjoyed his blue whale floating tube. Miss R had a lot of fun. She really liked her pink dolphin floating tube. Miss R liked swimming around with Poppy. She called out for "Poppy" in the water. Her vocabulary is coming along so well. I wish that we had tracked its trajectory. With two kids these days, such thing are hard to do.

After we swam, I was in charge of getting the kids out of their suits. They didn't make it easy. Miss R was particularly head strong and wanted to run around the house in her new swimsuit.

The kids had chicken catchatorie (sp?) for dinner. My mother had made it on Friday. The kids gobbled up the rice. Henry had several pieces of chicken. Miss R didn't even try the chicken. She did, however, take a piece of my salad, sucked off the dressing, and then threw the soggy, mangled leaf across the table. She also put her feet on the table during dinner and then Henry tried to copy her.

Then we came home. Henry was sound asleep by 8:15PM. Miss R refused to sleep. I finally got her to bed around 10PM. I went to bed around midnight. She got up at 3AM and refused to sleep. I changed her diaper, got her a bottle, the works. I had to take her in the living room so that she wouldn't wake up Henry. Very frustrating. She's been a terrible sleeper since the "vacation" began, meaning that I forced to get up at least twice during the night to tend to her. I thought that this phase should have ended long ago.

This morning, I didn't want to get up b/c I was tired. Henry, who slept more than anyone, didn't want to get up either. And Miss R was a log. Jeff had to physically pick her up to wake her up. Henry was perky once up. Miss R only ate two bites of her breakfast. I got the kids to school by 8:50PM. Miss R cried but the tears dried before I left the room. Henry was upset b/c he thought I was going to leave him in Miss R's class. Once I took him to his class, he was happy to see Miss Lulu. She asked about his vacation. I asked Henry, "What did you pick at Grandpa Joe's?" "Picked raspberries!" he answered. He didn't cry at all when I left. He looked good.

On the docket today is a visit from Alison, our family specialist from A Place to Call Home. The house is a bit chaotic b/c we haven't put everything away from the trip.

In other news, I forgot to mention that Henry started calling me "Kate" on our Oregon trip. He hasn't completely replaced "Mommy" with it, but it is so weird to have my two year old son call out "Kate! Kate!" Either yesterday or the day before, I'm pretty sure that he referred to "Daddy" as "Jeff!" This is just a personal preference, but I'd rather not have our son call us by our first names. It reminds me of a scene from Some Kind of Wonderful where Eric Stoltz's character starts calling his parents by their first names at the dinner table. The father sternly says, "I'm dad. This is mom" as he points to his wife. We haven't corrected Henry b/c I'm pretty sure that would just make the first name option more appealing. Hopefully, this phase will be short-lived.

"Where's Grandpa Joe?"

On Thursday afternoon, we took the kids to Bagley Park in Hillsboro. It is a small, neighborhood park. Henry was fearless as usual on the super high slide. He decided to sleep on some of the equipment at some point. The Twins went on some slides together. They rode on a tire swing. Played on a merry-go-around (hand pushed kind). There was also a "car" to drive. We picked up a pizza on the way home. Had dinner on the deck. The kids took forever to go to sleep. Miss R was wound up. She was cute but in a super silly mood. If I hadn't been with her all day, I would have assumed someone gave her Jolt! cola. Perhaps olives make her giddy.

On Friday morning, we had breakfast. Henry and Miss R were cute in the living room. Henry gave Miss R a kiss on the cheek, which made her smile. I think that she kissed his forehead. At one point, I called my mom so that Henry could talk to her on the cell phone.

We went outside to play before packing up. Henry hit bubbles with his baseball bat. When Henry realized that Grandpa Joe had disappeared, he called out "Where's Grandpa Joe?" We went on a search through the green houses. He found Grandpa Joe tending to the plants. He thought that Grandpa Joe was "picking raspberries." The raspberry plants were in another green house. We found the plants. Miss R wanted some raspberries. I found a couple that were in picking condition and pleased to see that she actually ate them. Very rare for Miss R to eat fresh fruit.

We went back inside for a snack. The kids went down for a nap without too much commotion. Then, Jeff and I packed up our belongings and did some light cleaning. Our goal was to leave the place in as good a condition as we found it. I learned that Henry had discovered where Grandpa Joe kept cards in the living room. He played the first half of 52-card pick up with two decks and no pick up.

As we got ready to get into the cab (minivan), Miss R put out her arms for Grandpa Joe to hold her. The cab ride was warm. Miss R and Henry held hands in the car. When we got to the airport, Henry splayed on the ground as Jeff put together the car seats on the carry-on suitcases. He was very dirty when all was said and done. Miss R, by contrast, was very patient. We had a late lunch at a good deli. Henry had the opportunity to climb some things. On the airplane, Miss R was fine on the take off and fell asleep on me. Jeff kept Henry busy with books. Other than Miss R knocking over some water accidentally, the flight was rather uneventful. Henry got a little fussy, but his agitation was cured with The Sword and the Stone via my laptop. When Miss R woke up, I kept her entertained by showing her how to work the seat belts. The row behind us was empty so we sat back there together, and she practiced putting the seat belt together about 80 times. I was needed to unlatch it. We also looked out of the window and saw the Grand Canyon. All in all, the kids were as good as we could have possibly expected two toddlers to be.

We had flown to Portland on Alaska Airlines but returned on US Airways. Our car was in the terminal 2 parking lot; we arrived in terminal 4, which meant that we had to take our four suitcases, two car seats, and two kids on the shuttle bus. Somehow, we managed. Again, the kids were as good as we could have expected. When we got in the car, the kids were cranky. They didn't want to sit down, and we couldn't blame them. We kept our eyes open for a McD's with a play area but didn't see one. We figured that they were hungry again. Hungry kids = Grumpy kids. So we stopped by at the IHOP in Casa Grande. Henry got to eat pancakes for dinner. Miss R had a grilled cheese sandwich. She was irked that I tried to cut it into smaller pieces. She wanted to take control and tear the pieces herself (something that I'll keep in mind in the future).

We got back to the house after midnight. The kids were asleep.

On Saturday morning, Henry woke up happy. I think that he was pleased to be home. He hadn't said "go home" in a couple days, but I think that he missed the familiarity, although on one of the days he did say "Go home to Grandpa Joe's house" suggesting that Grandpa Joe's was becoming familiar.

I made the kids and Jeff pancakes (because one can't eat too many pancakes in a 24-hour period). Henry had almost three pancakes. They weren't huge pancakes, but he normally eats one. Maybe he is going through yet another growth spurt. We played around the house. Jeff noticed that Miss R can now turn off the lights in the living room; right before we left, she had learned to turn them off but didn't seem tall enough to turn them on. The kids had a much needed bath. I gave them a snack. We had planned to go to Grammy and Poppy's house, but the kids didn't get their naps until 1PM or so. Miss R didn't settle down until after 2:30-3PM. Jeff and Henry woke up at 5PM and found Miss R and I on the couch. Princess had cuddled into my side. I was very hungry not having eaten (I forgot to eat breakfast when I was making breakfast).

We met up with Grammy and Poppy at Swenson's. To entice Henry out of the house, I said the word "ice cream." That proved to be a motivating factor. We had a good meal. Henry ate more than he usually does for dinner. He rejected his frozen yogurt in favor of Grammy's praline sundae (I asked her to not give him the fudge sauce though; the last thing that we need to Henry on caffeinated foods).

We went over to Grammy and Poppy's house to pick up Roger. Roger missed us, but it was nice to see that he and Indiana are now good friends. They gave each other lots of kisses. We came home. Played in the living room. Henry practiced golf swing. Miss R sat by my side with her bottle. Then, it was time for bed for the kids. Jeff and I stayed up and watched a movie, which hasn't happened in a very long time.

Jeff mentioned that he thought it was good that we've given ourselves a couple days at home before jumping back to work. Today was a much needed jet lag recovery day. We should be back to normal tomorrow. Henry and Miss R are going to visit the Grammy and Poppy tomorrow. My parents say that their pool water is 90 degrees. At that temperature, I may even go swimming.

On the Farm

We woke up this morning, had breakfast, and played out and about around the nursery.

During breakfast, Henry was perturbed because I had sullied his waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. He said, "It's messy" and refused to eat them. I made him a new waffle without anything but syrup, and he ate. I remember Carolyn being one of those kids who wouldn't eat if her foods touched on the plate. I suspect that Henry is going to be the same way.

After breakfast, we went out to the nursery. We walked along the plant beds. Henry and Robin took turns on the tractor.

The Enchanted Forest and Fresh Air

On Tuesday, we noticed that the kids were in pretty good moods. Miss R had been in a pretty good mood at the zoo on Monday, and her good mood continued. Henry seemed more like himself. We left the house around noon to meet our friends Dave and BJ and their daughter Morganne at The Enchanted Forest, which is an amusement park 7 miles south of Salem. It is about an hour and a half drive. The kids fell asleep in the car.

The kids were groggy waking up. They were initially a little reserved around our friends (as they are with anyone new). But they really opened up toward the end of the excursion and had a lot of fun with Morganne. Morganne was very sweet to them. She brought them toys. A very cute frog for Henry and a super soft lamb for Miss R. Henry hugged his frog as soon as she gave it to him.





The Enchanted Forest is a theme park. It has cute models of various fairy tales (some are ripped off from Disney stories as Dave pointed out). As you get to newer areas of the park, they have changed the names of the characters (e.g., on the seven dwarfs, Smiley = Happy, Grouch = Grumpy, etc.). Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun. Henry went down some slides with Jeff.





We went to the area where they have rides for little kids. Henry and Miss R were a little short for some of the rides. They'll be the perfect heights next year. Henry wanted to ride the train. Jeff, Henry, Miss R, and I road it twice. Then, when Morganne had arrived from one of the bigger rides, she road the train with Henry, Miss R, and I. But Henry cried through the ride b/c he wanted Jeff, which was sad. Clingy-mode had returned. He ate a lot of Jeff's hot dog for a late lunch. I didn't know that he liked hot dogs so much. He ate half of Jeff's hot dog at the zoo plus some of Wyatt's corn dog on Monday. He and Miss R also had some cheesy popcorn. It was the first time I've ever let Henry try popcorn. I don't know whether Miss R had had it before but she loved it.

We watched a show called "Snow White and the Seven Dorks" at the theatre. Henry and Miss R actually watched a good part of the show. They even clapped at some parts and yelled in the appropriate spots. Afterward, Miss R gave high fives to two of the cast members. We then ran into Chippy the Chipmunk. Miss R gave him a low five.

The kids really liked Geppetto's Shop, which had fun gadgets to play with and a model train to start and stop. Miss R liked a little room that had black birds singing out of a pie. She danced. We went to a water fountain show that ended up being a big hit. It helped that there was a family at the show who went crazy with clapping, which got our kids excited about clapping.

We went back to the western town to change diapers before heading out of the park, while Morganne went on the big log ride with Dave. We got side tracked in McGoon's Saloon, which was a hallway of uneven, bouncing floor boards. I think that Henry could have spent a good hour in there!


We then went to dinner in Salem at Red Robin. The kids played with crayons. They seemed to prefer throwing them to coloring with them. Henry threw one at the table next to us (oops!). The kids liked their dinners. Henry ate a lot of mac and cheese. Jeff, Henry, Miss R, and Morganne visited the arcade afterwards.



We then unfortunately had to say goodbye and head home. Beautiful Morganne was so kind to our little ones. Henry was obviously taken with her (as shown in the pictures above).

We drove through Salem on our way home. We drove by Willamette, Jeff's and my alma mater. It looks as picturesque as it did when we attended. It really was a special place to go to college. I told Henry that Willamette is where Mommy and Daddy fell in love. He repeated "fell in vuv." He pointed at some trees and said "rain forest." Apparently, in The Fox and the Hound, they refer to the forest in which the fox is released as the rain forest.

We took the back roads way home. It was beautiful. Henry said "Go home to Grandpa Joe's" a couple of times. Henry drank two bottles of milk. I think that the roads may have been a bit too windy. About 7 minutes from the house, Henry spewed the entire contents of his stomach. We had to pull off to the side of the road to do a quick clean up. The car seat took the brunt of the spew. Henry announced a little bit later that he wanted pancakes.

The kids went to bed rather late. I don't know what time it was, but it was way past their bedtime. We all slept in until about 9:40AM. I was the first one up. Then Jeff. Then the kids. We spent the day at home. It was too cold to go to the beach. And Henry's car seat still smelled, despite Jeff's clean up efforts [So while the kids napped in the afternoon, Jeff did a clean up round two on it.].

In the morning, we had breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Miss R didn't eat much, but Henry ate most of his eggs and pancakes. We followed Grandpa Joe out to one of the greenhouses to collect fresh raspberries. I figured that it would be nice to show the kids where berries came from (besides the store). Jeff learned that he too had issues with getting his hands dirty when he was a toddler. Apparently, he used to wash his hands every time he fell in the dirt, which was frequent at times. So that's where Henry gets some of his hand issues.

When we came inside, the kids watched something on TV, I can't remember what. I took out Miss R's braids so she was sporting a rather wide hairdo.

Henry went down for a nap at 1PM. Miss R followed around 2PM. Both kids slept between 2-2.5 hours, which was good. When they got up, Henry said that he wanted a "snack." Then, we went outside and played with the balls and bubbles that Jennifer, Charlie, and Wyatt gave them. Miss R insisted that Grandpa Joe come down with us. Miss R, incidentially, is very fond of Grandpa Joe. She lights up when he is around. We sat on the grass. Marley ran around in her spunky dog mode. Miss R jumped on my back, Henry followed. Then Miss R tackled Grandpa Joe and Henry followed suit. Henry wanted to go "inside" which was code for "watch a movie." We got his juice but we stayed out on the deck for awhile longer. Miss R and Henry fought over a box. I believe that Henry won the rights to it. At one point, he wanted to the chair that he had rejected earlier, but Miss R had claimed it. He then proceeded to hug her and was trying to sneakily roll her out of the chair. That play didn't work. At another point, both Miss R and Henry gave each other some genuine hugs. And that was so very cute.

The kids watched The Jungle Book (or at least a part of it) when we came inside. It was about 7PM. I fixed dinner for myself, while Jeff took care of the kids. Joe made hamburgers for himself and Jeff. Around 8PM, we got the kids some dinner. Henry had actually eaten a fair amount of snack on the deck (about 2 servings of dried fruit). They kids played with their spaghetti and apple slices. Miss R grunted at Jeff. It turned out that Henry solved the mystery of the grunting. Miss R wanted "potatoes" as Henry pointed out. Jeff had been eating potato salad in front of them. So Henry gave the kids most of his potato salad, which was a big hit.

At 8:40PM, Jeff said goodbye to us. He went off to play volleyball with Tony. The kids have actually been quite good. Miss R needed to use the potty about 2 minutes after Jeff left. Henry stayed with Grandpa Joe and cuddled on his lap. Miss R stayed with Grandpa Joe when I needed to get Henry a new bottle of milk. We watched a little bit of So You Think You Can Dance and then the kids headed to bed. We stopped by the bathroom to brush our teeth. I had to remind the kids that we don't brush the floor with our tooth brushes, but other than that, they did pretty well. Henry found a cardboard roll from a roll of toilet paper that he used as a telescope and found highly entertaining. In bed, Henry said "read books." I read them The Monster Under the Shed once and we did two rounds of Lady and the Tramp. I didn't read the latter word for word b/c it is rather long. But I did a pretty good synopsis.

The First Half of Our "Vacation"

On Friday, I took the kids over to Grammy and Poppy's house in the morning. They were still runny-nosed, so I decided it best not to take them to daycare. I think that it was in morning before we left that Henry was playing on the floor with his puzzles and putting the pieces into their proper places. Henry has found puzzles difficult in the past, so it was nice seeing him play with them on his own w/o prompting and doing well.

Jeff and I cleaned, did laundry, and packed. It was a productive but crazy-busy day. We left the house at 4:15PM. We picked up the kids at 4:45PM and were on the road to Phoenix. It was raining in the mountains during our drive.


We got to Sky Harbor Airport by 6:30PM, which was better than we had anticipated given our late departure from Tucson. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:15PM. It turned out that it was late b/c of lightening storms in the Phoenix area. Luckily, there was virtually no one in the security area when we arrived at the airport. Very good news b/c we had to take off our shoes and the kids' shoes, take out the laptops, detach the car seats from the suitcases, and make sure that Henry and Miss R didn't run off. We had time for Round Table Pizza. Jeff got four slices of veggie pizza. Henry didn't want to eat. Miss R ate all of the black olives off of all four of the pizzas. It was a LOT of olives. Our gate was at the end of the terminal. We had an excellent view of the runway. The kids got to watch the planes take off.

Things went about as well as we could be expected. Henry drank his bottle when the plane took off. He fell asleep right away. Definitely my boy. I managed to stay awake b/c Miss R had a panic attack on my lap. She refused her bottle, which probably made the situation worse on her ears than it should have been. She panicked but then jumped into Daddy's lap and then passed out for the rest of the flight until the decent into Portland. Both kids didn't like the decent; luckily, it was short. The flight was OK except for the intoxicated, loud people doing shots with mystery liquids behind us. They spent a good part of the trip trying to get the person next to them to do shots too but refused to tell him what they were drinking. The gal had the mouth of a sailor; we were glad that the kids were asleep.

We arrived around midnight. Jeff's sister Jennifer and his dad Joe picked us up. We got to Joe's house around 1AM or so. Marley was excited to see us. She looks fabulous. Jennifer and her son's Charlie and Wyatt took to her right away. There are two double beds on the first floor. Jennifer offered her room to us, but we decided to cram into the bed in Jeff's old room. Henry usually cuddles up to Jeff, and lately, Miss R has been sleep on top of me. Miss R was riled up and didn't settle down until 3AM.

On Saturday, the 4th of July, we slept in until 9AM or so. Got up. Got to see Jeff's handsome nephews, Charlie and Wyatt. Jennifer, Charlie, and Wyatt got the kids gifts: crayons, coloring books, the DVD The Land Before Time, Little Foot (the dinosaur from TLBT), bubbles, and balls. Wyatt had a neat, glittery top hat for his birthday hat (as he was born on the 4th of July). Both Henry and Miss R were fascinated by it.




We went to Jeff's Aunt Kay's house for lunch. We visited with Jeff's mom Gwen and her sisters (Kay, Gail, and Jean). Henry slept a good part of the time. He wasn't feeling well. Gail brought the kids beautiful presents. Henry got a nice new outfit, and Miss R got a swim suit. Wyatt broke out the bubbles for the kids, which entertained them. Henry had been very clingy to Jeff in the morning. The bubbles were Jeff's one reprieve. Miss R had a mega temper tantrum when I changed her diaper. That was followed by a second temper tantrum when I took off her shoe after she indicated that she wanted to go to the pool. Ah, the joys of parenthood!

Around 4PM, we returned to Jeff's dad's house and had a sumptuous dinner made by Joe's friend Diane. Excellent homemade salsa and chocolate-dipped cherries and strawberries. All of the traditional BBQ dishes plus excellent veggies. The buns for the burgers and veggies burgers were homemade. Miss R liked the buns. Jeff's brothers Andrew and Cooper were at Joe's house when we arrived. It was a great family get together. Henry was in Daddy-cling mode, and Miss R was in Mommy-cling mode. If Jeff moved 2 feet away from Henry, he'd whine.

Miss R was clingy, but she took to her Aunt Jennifer right away. That gave me a chance to rest my arms in-between holding sessions. For Henry, there was no one but Jeff. He said "go home" a couple times...just like he did in San Diego. That's one disadvantage about keeping Henry home so much as a baby. He isn't particularly flexible about being away from home. That was compounded by the fact that he didn't take a nap on Friday and didn't quite get enough sleep Friday night.

After Jeff's brother's left, we watched the first half of Happy Feet. Then, the kids went to bed.

On Sunday, Jennifer, Charlie, Wyatt, Jeff, Henry, and Miss R went back to Aunt Kay's house and spent time with "Grammy Gwen" at Henry's request. He said her name a couple times. I stayed behind and got some work done that I hadn't finished before I left. That was good for me. It sounded like Henry and Miss R took naps over at Aunt Kay's house, which were much needed.

On Sunday night, Jeff and I took Henry and Miss R to Tony and Kaylynn's house. Tony is Jeff's best friend from high school...maybe even middle school (I'll have to check with Jeff on that). Tony and Kaylynn have four beautiful children: Lexie, Phoenix, Brooklyn, and Colton. Lexie was a hit with Henry for showing him her rats. She has two of them. Phoenix did a wonderful job playing piano for us. Henry followed Brooklyn around. Brooklyn is a sweet heart who generously offered Jeff and I some of her pretty rocks. Colton is a handsome boy who is three years old. Miss R spent most of the time on my lap. Henry, however, enjoyed running around with the other children. The kids ate dinner together at the table. Jeff and I were surprised at how well the kids did...other than Henry talking through the blessing. He really liked the chicken a lot, and we were pleased to see him consume something other than starch this trip. We had a great time talking with Tony and Kaylynn. Kaylynn and I discussed the possibility of our families going to Disneyland together next year. That would be a lot of fun.













On Monday morning, the kids were in a mood. Both were clingy. I was desperately trying to send out my article reviews before we left for the zoo (I did it!). The kids did eat some pancakes for breakfast. Miss R said "yummy" as she ate them. Jeff and I are both coming down with whatever Miss R had a couple days ago and what Henry can't seem to shake. Every morning, he seems OK but then has a relapse by day's end. I think that Jeff is more stuffed up than I am. His voice began to change throughout dinner last night. I think that I'm actually having more allergy problems than anything. Needless to say, this hasn't exactly helped our moods...in addition to having two kids who scream when one of us isn't holding them. They don't seem to care that we might need to use the restroom or take a shower.

We went to the zoo today, hoping that the fresh air would distract Henry from wanting to go home. Portland has a fabulous zoo. And Henry did enjoy himself, but he did cling to Daddy the whole time. Jeff was getting tired at lugging around a 26 lb weight. Miss R had a fabulous time. She paid attention to the animals. She liked the fish. She enjoyed watching the penguins. She really liked running around on the grass and being silly. She shared my hummus plate. She ate some pita bread and, oddly enough, the lettuce. I didn't know that toddlers would actually eat lettuce. Turns out, at least one of them will. We had a good time in the lorakeets' aviary. Jennifer got us nectar to feed the birds. On the ride back home, the kids had a great time with cousin Wyatt. Jennifer bought Henry a toy Humboldt penguin, Miss R a giraffe, and Wyatt an owl. Miss R hugged her giraffe. She and Henry also took turns dropping their animals on the floor and saying "Uh-Oh!" and pointing at them for Wyatt to pick up. He was a good sport.

Once home, Henry was again clingy. Jeff was tired. Miss R needed a nap. On top of that, Jennifer, Charlie, and Wyatt had to leave to head back to Idaho, which was sad. I very much enjoyed talking with Jennifer about parenting. And, we loved seeing how handsome and kind Charlie and Wyatt are. They were so nice to The Twins during the trip, which we appreciate b/c our kids were in full-blown terrible two mode.

On Monday evening in the basement where we had set up Monsters, Inc. at Henry's request, Henry, after getting admonished for rifling through Grandpa Joe's things, stood up and said "Twinkle Twinkle Up Above" and had a little dance move to accompany his song. He was so cute. And as Jeff said, "That melted my heart." It was awfully sweet. Of course, the kids both then acted up. We decided that they needed to go to bed. They hadn't napped well. Jeff took Henry to the spare bedroom. I took Miss R to the usual room. Henry was almost asleep when Miss R had a major fit b/c I insisted on changing her very soggy diaper. Henry then got up and yelled out for "Miss R, Miss!" Jeff brought Henry into the room. We settled them into bed, where they fell asleep most unwillingly.

Well, that wraps up the first half of our "vacation." I can't say that it has been relaxing. We've been a little bit surprised by the amount of Henry's neediness. He really has been crying and whining more than we've ever seen him do so. To be fair, he isn't feeling his best. And we know that changes in routine are hard for him. But we had hoped to share more of the Happy Henry side of his personality to our family who don't get to see him often.

We are meeting our college friends Dave and BJ and their daughter Morganne tomorrow. Dave and BJ are our friends who set us up on our first date (blind date). We will be meeting them at The Enchanted Forest.