Big Kid Beds and B-Day Party

Last night Henry slept the whole night in his own bed! He woke up once around 2:45am but went to sleep again without too much trouble. Tonight we are trying both Miss R and Henry. So far they have both woken up once.

This morning I took the kids to the mall to play. It's a fun place to go in the summer when it is hot outside. I also like it because there is nothing too dangerous and it is pretty well enclosed. Those two qualities made me feel ok taking them there by myself. Kate had to work. It is probably cool enough in the morning to take them to a regular park but Henry would run and climb the highest piece of equipment and poor Miss R would have to be dragged in his wake. They can both have fun at the mall.

Henry did get knocked down a couple times. Nothing serious. Once I think he tried to take a girls cat doll away from her. When she left he reached toward her and called out, "My kitty, my kitty." The girl's mom smiled.

We also visited the pet store in the mall. The ferretts were very active, and we watched them for several minutes before checking out the puppies. We also rode up and down the escalator several times. The kids do a good job stepping on and off. Henry did try to get on without me once and nearly fell down, but I caught him.

In the afternoon they went to Grammy and Poppy's house for a couple hours. We picked them up around 5pm to go to a birthday party for one of the girls in Miss R's daycare class. They had worn out their grandparents in those 2 hours. Both seemed kind of tired and Henry was very non compliant (not unusual) while Miss R was crabby.

They both did well at the party. There was a bouncy castle, sprinkler toys on the grass, a swing and slide and toys. Henry loved the bouncy castle but still doesn't really jump. He seemed to have the most fun crawling in and out of it. Miss R took to the sprinkler toy. It was a garden hose hooked up to and inflatable elephant that squirted the water out its trunk. She took hold of the trunk and spent the time pointing it at everyone, including kids and parents. Henry got the brunt of it several times. They filled a small pool and he and some of the other kids played in that as well.

He loved the slide but was a wooden play structure and he didn't have any shoes on. We now need to pull several slivers out of his feet. Miss R loved the swing. She will sit on a swing for a long time, happy as can be.

The cake was wonderful. It had two tiers, one of confetti cake and one of chocolate. There was ice cream in between layers and rich frosting inside the outer frosting. Certainly ridiculous amounts of sugar but delicious. The kids both enjoyed it.

Henry distinguished himself while we were inside for the cake and presents. Of course he made several attempts to get at the wrapped presents until he finally decided the unwrapped ones were fine. He had fun doing high fives and bumping knuckles with the birthday girl's father. As we left he repeated "Happy birthday Harmoni" a few times to the delight of one of the other moms.

[Following text added Monday morning; Unfortunately, the dates on blog entries are calibrated to when you start the entry, not when you post it.]

They slept fairly well in their beds after a rough start. Henry woke up 4 times before I even went to bed while Miss R woke up once. So I decided to sleep on their floor. Miss R woke up around 5am but went back to sleep. The both ended up sleeping until around 7:30am which is pretty late for them. Miss R has been waking up on her own and being the first one up. That is very different from a few weeks ago when she was an absolute log in the morning, once even sleeping through Henry climbing over the top of her.

On Sunday I took them to a park that has a splash pad, different water works shooting water in creative ways. We have been there a couple times before. They did ok but weren't overly enthusiastic. Miss R eventually got up the courage to run under some misters. Henry slipped and fell a couple times and I think that curbed his enthusiasm.

After the water we played on some playground equipment. Henry had a great time on the slides, as usual. Miss R demanded my help on a ladder she had climbed 99% of the way. When I refused , trying to get her to do it herself, she sat there for about 10 minutes before finally going the last little bit. Henry wanted to play on the big slides but I didn't think I could watch both of them on a large structure by myself.

Henry is putting together more complex thoughts and sentences. While Miss R was protesting on the ladder, he sat at the top and said "Miss R, climb up, slide down." He wanted her to finish climbing the ladder and slide down the slides with him.

After a good nap, in their new beds, they went to Grammy and Poppy's house. They were in much better moods today than yesterday.

Last night they again slept in their beds. It didn't take them long to fall asleep. I again slept on their floor but probably didn't need to. They both did wake once each wanting a drink of water. It's almost 7am and they are still sleeping at this point. I might have to wake them up.