"I need a cookie!"

This morning, we took the kids to Tohono Chul Park's tearoom for breakfast. We sat outside. It started to sprinkle, so we ended up under an awning. Henry managed to grab a tsp of butter and stick the whole thing in his mouth before we could stop him. He seemed happy with it at first but then less enamored toward the final swallow. The kids were a little loud, singing Ring-Around-The-Rosie, but ate well. Jeff took Henry and Miss R to the back gardens where they joined a five year old girl and her little brother playing hide and seek. Henry enjoyed chasing the little girl.

We then headed to the park near CDO. We had a good time. We had a weird experience when we first got there though. Jeff kept close tabs on Henry. I was helping Miss R. There was a corkscrew slide on this particular equipment. There was a little girl Henry's age or maybe a couple months older taking FOREVER to get to the slide, so Henry went around her and went down the slide. She had a fit that Henry passed her and claimed that he'd pushed her. Jeff was watching and said that it wasn't true. The mom responded to the girl's fit by saying something like "Don't worry honey. You don't have to stay here. I'll take you to buy shoes instead" blah blah blah and completely catered to her whining and lying. Such a sad state when parents don't introduce a little bit of realism and responsibility into their child's life. So the mom decided to take the girl away. She left her other child, about 5 years old, with her aunt. The 5 year old was making sand piles near the equipment. At one point, she left her stuff to go play, and Henry went over and was fiddling with her shovel. Now, in our experience, all of the park parents are pretty cool with sharing toys if kids aren't using them. On several occasions, we've let other kids play with Henry's stuff and Henry has on occasion used other kids' stuff. I asked the aunt if it was OK if Henry used the shovel for a minute. She said that I had to ask the little five year old. The little five year old wasn't happy that someone would touch her stuff. So it didn't work out. Oh well. I took Henry back to other area to play with some things that we'd brought. I had to raise an eyebrow when the little girl was rejected from another group of kids who basically didn't want her to play with them. Perhaps it was b/c she had been instructing them on the proper way to build a sand castle. That's a sure way to become popular. Don't share, be selfish. And if you do "share," only do it under the condition that the other kids have to do everything your way. I know that there isn't a best way to parent, but I'm darn sure that there are wrong ways to parent. I didn't like Henry getting blamed for something he did not do by the little sister. I didn't like watching the older kid be selfish (although I know if it's not illegal, otherwise half of America would be behind bars) and not get called out on it. Frankly, the kid is going to be lonely as evidenced by other kids her own age already rejecting her. Had I not seen how she'd treated Henry, I probably would have felt sorry for her under the assumption that she'd been wronged. I do feel sorry for it but b/c her family obviously is spoiling these kids to the point where no one else is going to be able to stand them (unless they are fabulously rich, I suppose).

Well, Henry and Miss R had a wonderful time at the park. Miss R went down the corkscrew slide all by herself several times. I worried that it was too steep, but as Jeff pointed out, Miss R manages to go down slides slower than anyone would have thought possible by positioning her feet much like one does when when is trying to stop on skis.

The kids spent time on several different pieces of equipment. We met a very cute 20 month old named Brooke who was very nice. Henry watched some of the big kids climb across the monkey bars. He wanted to try them too. So I picked him up and let him grab one of the bars. I stood underneath him but let him do the work. He managed to let go of one hand and swing his body to the next bar and grab on. I was impressed. He then let go, and I caught him.

As we left the park, Henry had an accident. Jeff was holding his hand. Henry was running his other hand along the metal rope lining the side walk. He stuck his finger in the post holding up the rope, but Jeff didn't notice and pulled him. Henry's finger was scraped pretty good with some flesh having come off. I'm pretty sure that Jeff was more upset than Henry. We had planned a trip to Trader Joe's and then home, but instead, we went to Grammy's house to get some antiseptic on the wound. I washed Henry's hand with soap and water. My mom put some antibacterial ointment on it, and then put a band aid on it. Henry was interested in the band aid for a couple minutes but then wanted it off. My mom volunteered to keep the kids for the afternoon.

On the way to the bedroom for nap time around 2PM, Henry said to Grammy, "Take it off and put it in the garbage" in reference to the band aid.

So Jeff and I went to a movie, (500) Days of Summer. In our absence, the kids took a three hour nap at the grandparents' house. We joined them for dinner. Both kids were coughing and sneezing. Jeff's now coughing and sneezing too. He says that I've sneezed several times, I just seem not to have noticed. My head is feeling pressured at the moment. I can't believe we've acquired yet another illness. We are magnets.

We came back home after dinner. We gave the kids a much needed bath, after their day in the sand. We brushed the kids' teeth. Henry wanted a book, so we read. Then he announced "I need a cookie!" (thanks Grammy). We don't have any refined sugary treats in the house. He was adamant about it too. He settled for a Trader Joe's fruit bar. Then Miss R wanted some too. We ended up brushing their teeth again. After Miss R's last pediatric visit, I'm especially serious about making sure that she brushes her teeth after eating. No eating before bed w/o following up with a trip to the bathroom.

Grammy said that she'd take the kids tomorrow, but Jeff and I want a full day with the kids. We had some fun things planned, but it will depend on everyone's level of sickness. Henry was complaining about his ear tonight, so a trip to Urgent Care for an ear check may be in our future.