Hug, Kiss, Hit or Shove

Dr. Bianchi's office called at 5:05PM to say that Sonora Quest did not send them the form. Apparently, the person at the main office of Sonora Quest never sent the form to the satellite office where we go for blood tests. And that was the only person in all of Sonora Quest who had access to this mysterious form.

I just wanted to offer a shout out to Liz the blood test worker from Sonora Quest for going out of her way to track down this form oh-so-diligently today and to the bureaucratic rules at Sonora Quest making it so that only one person in their entire operation had the ability to send out special forms. You've just ensured that a little girl could not get the blood tests until mid-July. Way to Go! Perhaps you all at Sonora Quest could add to this to your collection of B.S. motivational sayings that you have posted all over the walls of your offices.

Henry and Miss R didn't eat much at Grammy's today. They still have lots of drainage. Henry's voice has gone hoarse. Miss R seems OK other than her super snotty nose. Henry and Miss R played golf tonight. Henry's swing is looking pretty good. He was hitting the ball fairly firm and straight.

I witnessed a couple of hugs and kisses given today between Miss R and Henry. They were, however, followed by some hitting and shoving (not hard). Henry was very cute tonight. He kept offering Miss R her bottle saying "R's bottle." He wasn't pleased when she borrowed his golf club though, which he referred to as "mine."

I suspect that the kids will be staying home tomorrow...or at least Henry will b/c of his hoarse voice. Miss R seems pretty good, and I'd like her to stay in her routine as much as possible. Henry is waking up, so I'd better go attend to him.

Sick Again!

On Wednesday afternoon, we picked up the kids at school. Miss R was having a fun time in this really cool play area that they have off the main lobby. It is a mini-town with a grocery store (two grocery carts), a movie theater, emergency center (e.g., police, fire station), a bridge, all sorts of hats and gear that represent various occupations, a motorcycle trike, and a couple plastic cars (like the Flintstones). It was the first time that her class used the place, which was brand new.

We went to Sonora Quest at 4PM to get Miss R's second blood test. The doctor's nurses again didn't fax over the order. They again claimed that the parents (meaning us) said that we'd pick it up at their office...just like last week, which is utterly ridiculous. Why would we waste our time stopping by their office rather than having it faxed directly (which they ended up doing anyway)? Besides, again, Dr. Bianchi said that "they" would send the order over. I'm going to tell him that the nurses aren't following his directions and have messed it up every time. So they finally sent the order over. The blood test person looked in the computer and said that they needed to send an additional form. It was 4:30PM and they were closing at 5PM. I told her that she needed to call the nurses at Dr. Bianchi's again and ask about the form. The nurses said that they'd never heard of this form. The blood test person requested some third party to send her "the form." They didn't fax it to her by 4:55PM. By that time, it was unlikely to reach the doctor to sign and return it before the closing of the office. The blood test person reminded me for the billionth time that they closed at 5PM. So we wasted a good hour of our time with a toddler for nothing. Thanks for going out of your way, medical workers! Makes me just want to jump right on board the universal healthcare band wagon and see their behaviors become even more lazy and pathetic.

We dropped the kids off at Grammy and Poppy's house for a couple hours. When we returned, Henry and Miss R with sitting on Grammy watching Fantasia. Miss R was sound asleep. When we returned home, I put her into bed, but she woke up and insisted that I lay down with her. I had hoped to get some work done, but she screamed as soon as I left her.

I'm not exactly sure when Henry came to bed. At 3:45AM, Jeff woke up because Henry felt warm. We took his temperature. It was 100.1 under the arm, which means it was really 101.1. I took it a little later. It was 100.5 under the arm. We took off his shirt to let him cool off. He wasn't quite warm enough to give Tylenol. He was very snuffly. I was wide awake at that point. I hoped to get some work done, but again, Miss R's mommy sensors went off and she screamed until I held her. There is such a thing as too much together time.

This morning, I let the kids sleep until 7:40AM. Because Henry had had a fever, we couldn't take him to school. School policy says that the child's temperature has to be normal for 24 hours before they are allowed at school. And that policy does make sense from a public health stand point. Of course, that meant that we had to keep the kids home, which was a bit inconvenient to our work schedules. My mom, however, came at 10AM to pick up the kids, which we appreciate. Henry and Miss R were happy to see her.

The dumb[fill-in-the-blank] blood test worker was supposed to call me when she got the form so that we could take Miss R into the lab this afternoon. By 4PM, there was no call. So I called Dr. Bianchi's office. They returned the call at 4:30PM and said that they hadn't received the form. The nurse called Sonora Quest and was told that their main office had never sent them the form (and the lazy, dumb[fill-in-the-blank]es hadn't thought to follow-up). Sigh. It is now 4:53PM. If the form doesn't get into the doctor's hands in the next seven minutes, we'll have to postpone the bloodtest for when we get back from our trip to Oregon b/c the pediatrician's office is closed tomorrow. Double sigh.

Happy at Daycare

Henry and Miss R have been having a good time at daycare. On Monday, I picked them up in the afternoon. They were happy to see me. Unfortunately, they were not happy with the car ride home. I'd come straight from school and didn't have bottles for them. They let me know that they were displeased with my performance. We had a busy evening around the house. After their bath, I braided Miss R's hair because she was scheduled to have a bio parent visitation the following day.

On Tuesday morning, Henry did not want to be separated from Miss R when I dropped her off on the playground. He was very unhappy and yelled out for her "R! R!" He clung to me as we went to his classroom but not as tightly as before.

Miss R was scheduled to have a bio parent visitation. The CPS driving service picked her up at daycare. They were supposed to drop her off at home after the visit. The visits last from 11-1PM, so she usually gets back around 1:45PM or so. The driving service called me at 11:35AM. They had picked her up but after they arrived at the CPS office, they were told that the visitation was canceled (no reason given). They wanted to know if they should return her home or back to daycare. Jeff and I decided to try her back at daycare. She was happy when she returned, but she didn't nap; she just "rested quietly."

Grammy and Poppy picked the kids up in the afternoon. They want to spend time with them this week b/c we'll be gone next week to Oregon. The kids swam. Miss R is starting to like the water. Grammy was surprised that Henry ate some of the broccoli served at dinner.

Henry was asleep when they came home. Miss R was wide awake. She played in the kitchen as I made dinner (gazpacho soup). She climbed up onto the high chair all by herself. She was very pleased with herself, smiley and giggly. I pondered to Jeff if this is what it is like with most kids, them quietly entertaining themselves for brief snippets of the day so that parents can do things like cook, clean, go to the bathroom, maybe even shower. It's never been like that with Henry. If either of us were single parents with Henry, we'd never get anything done. I made the best gazpacho soup that I've ever tasted. Jeff said that it was good...for gazpacho soup which doesn't rank very high on his list of foods. Miss R loved it. She had several bites, even though she'd already had dinner at Grammy's house.

This morning, we had a late start. I got the kids to school at 8:20AM. Miss R didn't cry at all. She happily walked to her class on the playground. Henry didn't want to leave Miss R behind though and called for her again. He clung to me as we entered his class. He cried, but today it was his melodramatic fake sounding cry. I'm guessing that he was putting on a show to make me feel bad. Miss Lulu held him and told him to put on his happy face. He mustered a small smile for me as I left.

Grammy was going to pick up the kids today, but Jeff and I are going to pick them b/c we have to swing by SonoraQuest to get Miss R's blood drawn again. She is going to be an unhappy camper this afternoon. That's all for now.

The Zoo, A Party, A Swing, and Air Hockey

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at home so that we could get to the zoo while it wasn't quite so hot. We made it to the zoo, it wasn't hot temperature-wise, but it was humid. Yuck! We made it to the giraffe's pen in time for feeding. Henry did well feeding them. Miss R was timid this time for some reason. The kids had fun. Henry ran around like a wild man. Miss R loved watching the polar bears swim.

The big hit of the excursion was playing with a frog statue that spat out water when a button was pushed. They must have played with that for at least 10 minutes. Miss R also liked the baboons, who scared her last time but she liked them this time.







We went home. Took a nap. The kids had a late lunch. And then we got ready for Uncle Brian's birthday party. Miss R was fascinated by the dogs who were in the backyard at Erin and Brian's. Henry and Miss R enjoyed the steps up to the second floor. They could have easily spent the entire time on them. Henry also enjoyed playing with Aunt Erin's hungry, hungry hippos game. They made friends with at 1.5 year old named Sarah. We went over to the park next to Erin and Brian's house. There were two swings, the traditional kind with only a seat, no sides. Both Henry and Miss R took turns on it. I was impressed that Henry liked it. He hasn't liked swings that much in the past, but maybe he liked that he wasn't harnessed into this one.








Erin and Brian have a nice air hockey table. We put the kids on chairs at each end and taught them to hit the pucks to the other side. Miss R in particular got the hang of it. Once the kids learned that if the pucks went into the goals, they would travel down to pockets on the side of the table, they stopped hitting the pucks so much and started scoring on themselves so that they could retrieve the pucks from the slots. I'm not sure why that was so much fun, but it kept them entertained for awhile.

When we came home, Miss R was asleep. Henry stayed up and read books. As we put Henry to bed, Miss R screamed bloody murder. She refused to communicate what the problem was. Screamed and screamed. I ended up holding her for two hours on my lap while she slept. Every time I tried to get her off me, she was screaming bloody murder all over again. I'm not sure what gives.

This morning, I dropped of the kids. Miss R cried as I left her with Josie. Henry held onto me as I attempted to drop him off in his classroom. Miss Lulu was busy changing someone's diaper. I played with Henry in one of the centers. I got out two Fisher Price airplanes. Pretty soon, I had all of the kids (5 of them) minus the one being changed around me. I talked about the airplanes. Where was the pilot? Is this a passenger? Where do you think that this gal belongs? Can the truck take the passenger to the plane? The kids seemed to be hanging on my every word (much different from the college students that I teach). It was fun. I managed to slip out while Henry continued playing with his friends. By that time, Miss Lulu had come to the table where the kids were.

The Henry Alert

On Friday, Grammy and Poppy picked up Henry and Miss R. Henry's teachers told them that they had a bit of a scare with Henry. As the kids were rounded up on the playground during their water activities as it was "water day," Henry was missing. They had to sound a missing child alert and look around the school top to bottom to find him. Apparently, he had climbed onto the big kids playground equipment without them noticing and was laying down on a high platform, not easily seen. Other than that, both Henry and Miss R had good days. They ate all of their meals. Miss R enjoyed watching the water but didn't want to get wet.

On Saturday morning, Miss R was the first person up. That's a first. She got up at 6:30AM or so. I made the kids pancakes...very good ones if I do say so myself. We gave them a bath because Miss R's hair had been in braids. The braids were looking unkempt, so they had to come out. It just works out better if I condition her hair after the braid come out. While in the bath tub, I asked Henry about school and what he did yesterday. He talked about Miss Lulu and Miss Stephanie.

After his bath, he announced that he wanted to go shopping.

HENRY: Shopping.
KATE: You want to go shopping?
HENRY: Uh-huh.
KATE: What do you want to buy?
HENRY: New toys.
KATE: Well, we'll have to do that later. Today, we're going to the mountain.

As we packed the kids and Roger into the car, Jeff was holding a Trader Joe's bag of supplies. When Henry saw the bag which had "Trader Joe's" on it, he said the name. Again, this raises the question of whether or not he can read. We've only taken Henry there a couple times. And every time that I'm the one taking him there, I've forgotten the reusable bags (so that doesn't explain why he could clearly identify the bags).

We went to Grammy and Poppy's house to meet up with Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Erin. We caravaned up to Rose Canyon. The Twins were super loud and crazy in the car until we put in a lullaby CD. Then all was quiet. We may have to run it through a permanent loop in our home speaker system!

Rose Canyon was packed, but we walked around the lake. Henry got compliments on his eye lashes and monkey backpack/leash. Miss R insisted that I carry her most of the way, but then she had an inspired independent streak. She walked whichever direction she chose (ususally the opposite of where I wanted her to go) and if I tried to persuade her to head another way, I received a resounding "No!" response.








We headed up the mountain a couple more miles to some picnic spots after we walked around the lake at Rose Canyon. Rose Canyon was too packed to attempt to find an open grill. We found a nice spot near Loma Linda. We were all hungry by this point. Jeff got the grill started, and Carolyn grilled veggie hot dogs and Boca burgers. I brought vegan potato salad, which I made; Miss R liked it a lot. The kids had lots of dried strawberries. Henry enjoyed swinging from a branch of a tree near Erin. Miss R liked walking up and down hills and looking at pine needles.









On the way back down the mountain, Henry, Miss R, and I took short naps. When we got back home, the kids were again full of energy. They had a decent sized dinner. Henry really wanted pureed green beans from the cupboard. Not only did he eat all of his portion, but he also did an excellent job with his spoon. Miss R made a huge mess. We played in the playroom (formerly known as the dining room). We went for a walk around dusk and ran into our neighbors. When we returned home, we gave the kids another bath. Henry and Miss R had dirt on their bodies and faces. We read in the living room. Then, the kids went to bed. A very full day.

Tomorrow, we are probably going to Joel's for breakfast and to the zoo (which was a Henry request). In the late afternoon, we'll head over to Brian and Erin's for Brian's birthday bash.

Not So Bad Start to the Day

Jeff met my mom and Carolyn at the daycare center yesterday afternoon. He showed them to Miss R's classroom. Her class was on the playground, so he took them outside. When Miss R saw Aunt Carolyn, she opened up her arms and ran over to her.

Jeff showed them to Henry's classroom but didn't go inside. He figured that if Henry saw him, he'd want to come home with him. Jeff drove the car to the Circle K parking lot across the street so that he could observe how Henry was. Grammy reported that when Henry saw her, he smiled. He said, "Go home to Grammy's house." In the parking lot, Henry broke free from Grammy and ran around the car. Jeff called her on the cell phone to tell her Henry's location. Henry is a quick one. Grammy and Carolyn thought that Children's Learning Adventure was really neat. Grammy told Jeff that she almost felt guilty at the places that she sent us to daycare having seen how nice Henry and Miss R's daycare is.

Henry ate a lot for Grammy. Tons of potatoes. Some pancake. Rejected the fruit. When Jeff went to pick up the kids, Henry was outside of the pool gates upset that he wasn't allowed in the pool area. Grammy and Poppy were fishing out rocks from the pool that Henry had thrown.

When the kids got home, we decided to do some reading. Miss R really likes Thomas the Tank Engine. And I've noticed that she likes playing with trains. It is nice to see her play with a variety of tools (she likes her doll too). Henry is pretty much "all boy" when it comes to toys. However, he did feed Miss R's doll a bottle the other day. He also fed his penguin Rob the bottle too.



I slept in until 5:44AM this morning. Got out of bed and walked Roger. Fixed the kids their morning bottles and woke everyone up. Jeff got the kids fed (or at least put food in front of them which they often reject). It took us awhile to get the kids out of the house. Today is "water day" at school. The kids needed bathing suits and sunblock plus extra changes of clothes and towels. We put Miss R in Henry's Wall-E crocs. Those are the shoes that we plan on having bronzed at some point. But for now, they'll make good water shoes for today's festivities at school.

Dropping the kids off was the best yet. I took them to Henry's classroom first. Henry said "hold you" and "Daddy...go home...Daddy." He hates it when I explain that Daddy has to work. I'm quite sure that Daddy would prefer to be spending the day with Henry than working, but alas, working is necesary. Miss Lulu took Henry from me. Miss R cried when she thought I was leaving her in that classroom. Her tears stopped when I told her to come with me. By the time we were out the door and the door had closed, I looked through the window to find that Henry no longer had tears in his eyes. I took Miss R outside to her class. She transitioned to Josie without a peep. No tears whatsoever. Jeff said that the teachers yesterday reported that she is interacting a lot more with the other kids, which is great. Josie told me today that Miss R is going down for nap without struggle, which is also great. As I entered the lobby, I looked at the monitors and found Henry's room. It looked like Henry was walking around with a toy. That makes me happy to know that he is feeling less distressed about my departure.

Today should be a great day for the kids at school. Tomorrow, my sisters are going to join Jeff, the kids, and me for a trip to Mt. Lemmon for the day. I doubt that the kids will last the whole day, but we'll at least have lunch there, walk around the lake, and look at pine cones.

Signing off.

The Good and the Bad

Yesterday, we slept in until 6:40AM. My bad. I managed to get the kids to school by 8AM. Henry cried, but either it wasn't quite as intense as before or my heart is getting numb. I still hate leaving him. I'm not so concerned about Miss R. She cries but seems to adjust before I'm 30 feet away.

I picked them up at school at 3:40PM. I got Henry first. He flashed me a big smile and said "go home." Then, we went to get Miss R. She also gave me a big smile, said "Mommy!", and ran over to give me a big hug. It looked like Henry and Miss R ate their lunches and their afternoon snacks. Not surprising for Miss R of course, but I was very pleased that Henry had finally received a check mark next to "ate all" during a meal.

We played for a little bit at home. No TV. Jeff and I even discussed whether we should actually unplug the TV and move it to the garage for the next couple years. The biggest problem is me. As a communication research, I really should be watching more television than I do. My news consumption is almost exclusively through online newspapers, but I should be watching some of it on TV. We could get a small TV for my office and have the DirecTV line moved there.

We decided to take the kids to Borders to look at books. Uncle Jim gave Henry a Borders gift card for his birthday. Miss R found an Elmo stuffed toy. She carried it with her everywhere and noticed all of the Elmo books. We bought her one. Henry found a young girl (about 8-10 years old) and followed her around. She was doing some dance moves and Henry tried to copy her. We found some good books (Sponge Bob, Lady and the Tramp, Thomas the Tank Engine). We also go Miss R a book of Disney princess stories with a projector (they've progressed since the days of the View Master). It was hard looking for books and keeping tabs of the toddlers. The hardest part was when Jeff went to buy the books and I had to watch both at once. At that point, Henry made a break for it down one of the aisles. He is fast. Miss R was upset that we didn't get her the Elmo and had to leave it at the front desk (she already had an Elmo at home). All in all, the kids had a fabulous time.

We then headed to Jason's Deli, ordered our food, and walked over to Toys R Us. Neither Jeff nor I said the word "toys" but as soon as Henry saw that we were in the Toys R Us parking lot, he looked at the sign and said "Toys!" We were actually on the hunt for big boy and big girl underpants. We think that Henry might be more inclined to accelerate his potty training if (a) he feels the joys of being free from the massive padding of the diaper, and (b) he feels the discomfort of wet cloth when he urinates in his underpants. This contention is bolstered by the fact that Henry seemed confused when he peed in his swim diaper when he got out of the pool the other day. At least we suspect that the down pour was not pool water. As soon as we saw the down pour, Henry said "Change diadie!"

Alas, they didn't have any underpants in the baby/toddler section at Toys R Us. But they did have a Thomas the Tank Engine table that fascinated Henry and Miss R for 15 minutes. They would have stayed longer and protested our leaving the building, but we wanted to pick up the food and have some dinner. Henry was very cute at the Thomas table. He put several of the engines in the shed, closed the door, and said "Good night!" Miss R had a great time at the table too. She also seems to be intrigued with the Thomas books that we have at home.

On our way home, the kids fell asleep. We rolled into the garage at 7:47PM. They were out before they could get some dinner. We put them to bed. At 8:15PM, Jeff headed out the door to go to Trader Joe's because we only had a few ounces of milk (cow's or goat's) left in the house. He also had a prescription for Miss R to refill. At 8:18PM, Miss R started crying. I changed her diaper. She still cried. I gave her water. She continued to cry. I crawled into bed next to her. She wailed. I asked her if she had to go potty. "No!," she said. Henry woke up. He started crying for Daddy. For the next hour, all hell broke loose. Two wailing kids. Henry insisted on "Daddy!" Upon being told that Daddy was at the store, he sobbed louder. I finally figured out that Miss R would quiet down only if I let her lay directly on top of me, not next to me. But that didn't solve Henry sobbing. He wanted to wander the house looking for "Daddy!" I wouldn't let him. I tried everything that I'd read in The Happiest Toddler on the Block. I repeated his request for Daddy so that he knew that I understood what he wanted. But as soon as I told him that "Daddy is at the store" or "Daddy will be here in 10 minutes" (OK, that was a white lie; I knew Jeff wouldn't be back for a 1/2 hour at the very least), then Henry would sob uncontrollably. Miss R appeared to be asleep. When I tried to move her off me to comfort Henry (not that he wanted me), she'd wail again. And she's loud. Having attempted everything that I'd read, I decided to leave them in bed and see if they would cry it out. Seven minutes later, they were just as loud as before. So I moved them to the living room. Miss R quieted down as soon as she was in my arms. But Henry was still sobbing. I asked them if they wanted to eat, Henry said "Daddy!" and Miss R said "No!" I felt like the unhappiest mother on the block. I poured the last two ounces of milk into their bottles as the water didn't seem to be doing the trick. That quieted them for a couple minutes, as long as Miss R was directly on my chest. Then the milk ran out. Henry did take a little water, and then Jeff came home.

Henry wanted Jeff. Jeff got Henry to sleep within 10 minutes. He told Henry it was time for bed, and Henry listened. Then, Jeff pried a sleeping Miss R off my chest. She cried, but she obeyed him and went to bed.

I was frazzled and exhausted. I ended up watching 1.5 Law & Order and two Cold Case episodes. That felt nice. So much for getting rid of the television.

This morning, I got Henry to school around 8:15AM. He cried but I think that he is doing slightly better. I then took Miss R to get her blood tested. That took well over an hour. Dr. Bianchi's nurses didn't send the order over to the lab, which held things up. I was a little peeved that his nurses tried to pass the buck by telling the lab technician that the parents were supposed to pick up the form, which is complete and utter B.S. Dr. Bianchi specifically asked me which lab that I'd be using. I said that I'd be using SonoroQuest. He said that he'd have the order sent there. Thanks nurses for failing to accept responsibility and wasting my time. Sigh. Miss R was very good waiting for as long as she did with me in the waiting room. She cried when the needle was put in her arm and put up a very good fight. I was the lucky one who had to restrain her. She then wanted her bottle, which I couldn't giver her, because she'd thrown it on the floor. The nipple had touched the ground. I'm not a completed germophobe but I wasn't going to give her a nipple that had touched the ground in a medical facility (germ central!). Yuck! I returned her to school around 9:30AM. Her class was about to go outside. She cried when I left her but it wasn't as mournful a wail as some of her cries are. I peaked in on Henry. He wasn't crying. That was good.

And now, I'm working at home. My mom is going to pick up the kids today at daycare. I'm going to work this afternoon until 5:30PM. Jeff is going to go mattress shopping around 4PM.

Hopefully, the rest of today will be uneventful. I like uneventful. Boring is A-OK with me.

"Wake Up, R! Wake Up, R! R! R! R! Wake Up, R!"

Miss R had a visitation with bio parents today. The driving service refused to take Miss R's bag with her when she was picked up at daycare. We were originally told by the caseworker not to send anything b/c the bio parents are supposed to bring the things that the children would need during visits as a demonstration of their parenting skills. I sent the bag along b/c some visitations have been skipped by bio parents, and I didn't want Miss R to go hungry. When I talked with the person supervising the visit, she said, "We were surprised that she didn't have a bag and went hungry" as though it was our fault that Miss R didn't have a bag with her. I was irked: (1) we weren't supposed to be responsible for the bag in the first place, and (2) I had one ready but "their" driver refused to take it b/c he didn't want to be responsible for its transport. The situation is maddening. One the upside, I know that Miss R's caseworker is trying to sort through this bureaucratic craziness. She is going to talk with the driving service so that they take the bag next time.

When she came home, Miss R and I played in the living room and then laid down on the bed but didn't take a nap. She was dropped off at 1:50PM. Shortly after 2:30PM, Jeff took her to pick up Henry and then went to Grammy's house. The visit at Grammy's house was short. Henry wanted to "go home." Jeff said that both Erin and Carolyn were there, and Miss R was very fond of both of them.

In the car on the way home, Miss R fell asleep. Jeff said that Henry didn't want her to sleep. Upon seeing her sleep in the car seat, he said, "Wake up, R! Wake up, R! R! R! R! Wake up, R!" Miss R ignored him.

When they got home, we played in the living room. I tackled Henry. Miss R tackled me. They like rough housing. We watched the last third of The Sword and the Stone. We hadn't made it all the way through the movie yet, and I was tired of the first third. The last third is my favorite. It contains the famous dual between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim. Henry liked it when she turned into the dragon. During dinner, we also watched Sleeping Beauty, which I bought the other day. A nice thing about the old Disney films is that they are short. Henry also like the dragon scene in Sleeping Beauty. He wanted, but was not granted, the remote to see the dragon scene "again."

Around 7:15PM, we went for our walk. Miss R had some snot on her face. She tried to get it with her finger and I said, "Don't eat the boogie." So Henry repeated "Eat the boogie!" Amazing how he never hears the "don't" part of my sentences. It was dusk. We ran into Hal and his dogs Luke & Annie and two other neighbors with their dog Singhy. Miss R likes the dogs, although when all three gathered around her, she decided that it was safer to be in my arms. We didn't go the full length of our street. The sun was behind the Tucson Mountains, and we heard a rattling from somewhere ahead of us, caused by Roger getting to close to a snake. So we turned around and headed home.

I put on the book-on-CD of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for background. That prevented Henry asking for the TV. Both kids wanted their bottles. We started our effort to get them into bed some time after 8:15PM, but I don't think that they actually went to sleep until 9PM. They were both very tired.

I fell asleep next to Miss R but got up after being kicked several many times. I'm going to try to make my way to bed again, hopefully without getting a foot in the stomach. I can't wait for us working on the transition of them to their own beds. That will be so nice.

What Happened to the Living Room?

I had a lot of work to do Monday, so I got up at 1AM to start my day. I got a lot done while the house was quiet. I've been taking Roger for his walk at 5:15AM. That's been nice. An excellent way to start the day.

We got the kids up at 6AM, so that we could leave in time to get Henry to the playground to start his day. The hope was that he'd be so excited about the slides that he wouldn't miss my departure so much. It didn't work. Henry cried. Then Miss R cried. And that made me sad.

I went to my school. Got a lot done. Then I picked up the kids at 3:30PM. Henry was playing with play dough when I arrived. He gave me a hug and said "go home." We then went to Miss R's room. She was happy to see me and gave me a big hug too.

We got home. Played in the living room. By 5PM, I was dead tired. I went to lay down. That turned into a 3 hour nap. In my absence, Jeff took the kids for a walk. Miss R let Swanee hold her hand a good part of the way. That made our neighbor happy. We have very nice neighbors.

When I got up from my nap, it looked like a hurricane had taken place in my absence. There were alphabet flashcards (which we really haven't used yet) strewn all over the place. Books were everywhere. The place was a disaster.

The kids were taking their bath. We watched some of The Sword and the Stone before bed. I did Miss R's hair. It looked good, although it would have looked better if she hadn't moved so much while I was doing it. She wanted me to lay with her as she fell asleep. I ended up falling asleep. I guess that was around 9PM or so.

This morning, I got up at 5:30AM and took Roger for his walk. We didn't get the kids up until 6:15AM or so. Henry was hard to corral in the kitchen for breakfast. He was in the front hall doing what looked like yoga. Jeff had cleaned up the hurricane. I asked him if he knew if all the flashcards were still there. He looked at me, paused, and said, "Yes." I'm quite sure that my husband did not count them and just gave me a "yes" answer to satisfy my query. I said, "The place looked like a disaster last night." His response, "It did. But we had fun, and I cleaned it up." Fair enough.

I got the kids to school by 7:45AM. Henry's class was still on the playground. That was good. Henry cried. I'm trying not to feel his pain so much. It's hard. Then, I dropped Miss R off with Josie. Today is a bio parent visitation day. By now, CPS should have picked up Miss R at Children's Learning Adventure. They'll drop her off at home when it is over. I'm working from home today so that I'll be here when she returns.

Happy Father's Day!

I bought Henry and Miss R a neat puzzle yesterday. It contains various kinds of locks that one has to open to get to the pictures behind the locks. I pulled it out this morning. Both kids liked the toy. Jeff liked it too.

This morning, Jeff took the kids to Costco and met up with Grammy and Poppy. Grammy and Poppy took the kids in their cart. Poppy took them through the refrigerated veggie/fruit room five times b/c Henry requested "Cold, again, again!" The kids enjoyed the samples of bread and stuff.

Jeff took care of the kids while I edited chapters for the book. Deadline for the first draft is August 15, so we are trying to pull together the first seven or eight chapters by the end of the week. I'm supposed to complete my part by tomorrow morning for those sections.

The living room is a disaster area. At one point, I came out and realized that Miss R really needed to have her nose wiped. Before I could find the box, Henry found the Kleenex. He got a tissue that he was using to blow his own nose. That's a new development! And a very nice one, I might add. Miss R used my shirt as her Kleenex before I got a tissue in my hand.

Around 1:15PM, we were in the living room with the kids. Jeff was watching the U.S. Open, but Henry wanted to watch Lady and the Tramp or Monsters, Inc. He was annoyed that we were not responding to his requests. So he took a book from Miss R (one of his Thomas books) and claimed that he wanted to take it to Grammy's house right then and there. "Book to Grammy's house." I somehow think that the book taking to Grammy's house was just a ploy to get to a location where he'd be allowed to watch television, more specifically whichever Disney movie he wanted to watch.

I tried with limited success to get Miss R and Henry to color the cards for Poppy and Jeff. Miss R had the best motivation and focus for coloring but she didn't seem to push down on the crayons hard enough to get much result. Henry knows how to make color but was more interested in hording the crayons and putting them on the other side of the room from me and Miss R. Getting toddlers to do a simply and fun task is sometimes akin to herding cats.

Around 5PM, we were getting ready to leave for Grammy and Poppy's house. Henry was in my office. He looked on the floor and found the case for my Mamma Mia! DVD. He looked at it and picked it up, saying "Mamma Mia!" He's only seen a clip of it once before, that was several weeks ago when I returned from Florida. He has listened to the CD a couple times before. He likes the "Honey, Honey" song. Anyway, this is further support that the child knows how to read...when he wants to.

We went swimming. As Jeff skimmed the pool, Henry found bird poo to pick up and throw into the pool with his bare hands. Lovely. Henry didn't want to stay in the pool long. The big fish of the pool this evening was Miss R. She did extremely well. She floated on her back for me and did an excellent job kicking.

Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian arrived when we were getting out of the pool. The TV was off in the family room. Grammy told Henry that he wasn't allowed to watch it until after dinner. Henry grabbed the remote and showed it to Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian and said "DirecTV" as he pointed to the word "DirecTV" on the remote.

Henry and Miss R ate during dinner and were relatively quiet...for them anyway. After dinner, Henry listened to the "Honey, Honey" song on the Mamma Mia! DVD a couple times. Then, he wanted "Aladdin!" He fell asleep in Jeff's arms about 10 minutes into the movie. Miss R fell asleep in mine.

Jeff and Poppy opened their cards while the kids were asleep. Everyone appreciated all that the Dads in the family have done for them.

We didn't leave my parents' house until 10:15PM, but it felt more like 2:15AM to us. I guess that's a sign that we are getting old. It doesn't seem like that long ago when 9PM was a starting time for many get-togethers with friends when we were in Philly. On that tired note, I'm signing off to do some editing before bed.