What Goes Around Comes Around

On Sunday morning, the kids had an interesting fight over "the poop bag." What is the poop bag? It is a bag with a clear plastic front, green mesh sides, and blue suction cups so that it can stick to a bathtub wall and hold bath toys. I'm not sure why this bag has been dubbed "the poop bag." But this morning, the poop bag was a great prize to behold.

I took the toddlers on an excursion to give Jeff a break. We went to my work, so that I could get a file off my computer. The kids enjoyed climbing up two flights of stairs. After a couple minutes in my office, we headed over to the turtle pond, where we saw all sorts of turtles (and a couple baby turtles). Henry wanted me to carry him. At one point, I had both he and Miss R in my hold. They enjoyed the turtles.




I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch. Henry said, "I want pancakes at Joel's." We hadn't been to Joel's in a long time. We made our way back to my building to get the car. Amazing how slow one block can seem when trying to prod two toddlers.

We ate at Joel's. The kids had pancakes. Miss R had quite a few bites of scrambled eggs as well. The kids were getting very tired. Henry kicked off his shoes and laid across a couple chairs.

By the time we got into the car, they seemed to have rebounded. We went to Michaels and Target. I made the Michaels trip short b/c the kids wanted to touch everything. Then, we headed to Target, which is in the same shopping center. I found a shopping cart with a two toddler seat attachment. That was a good move b/c I was able to belt them into their seats.

When I was a child, I had a smart mouth. For example, my dad once took me to class with him while he lectured. At the end of the lecture, he asked the class if they had any questions. I raised my hand. He said, "Yes, Kate?" I said, "Don't you think you've kept these nice people here long enough?" I'm quite sure that Henry has inherited my temperment and mouth. I let the kids down for a brief spell to let Henry try on some new shoes as his croc are getting kind of small. Henry was upset when I would not let him take off the tags and explained that we had to pay for them first. He whined. I said, "Henry, if you don't stop whining, I'll put the shoes back. I'm serious." Henry shot back, "No. You are not serious." And that was accurate. He totally called my bluff. He has to have a pair of summer shoes and the crocs will no longer do. Lesson learned: No empty threats.

As we headed toward the parking lot exit, I looked back to find Henry with one of his crocs in his mouth, shaking it back and forth to Miss R's amusement. I was not happy with that. Talk about being unsanitary. Yuck!

The kids fell asleep on the way home. When we arrived, Baby A was up. I had thought that she'd nap, but she had other plans. Jeff said that she was very good. She played on his lap. She played on her mat. She played in her bouncy seat. But she only slept about a 1/2 hour while we were gone (and we'd been gone awhile). I gave her a bottle upon my return and she fell asleep on my chest.

That's all from the Wild Kingdom...

"I'm on a spaceship!"

On Saturday morning, Jeff took The Twins to the park. At the park, Henry actually had fun on the swings (he usually doesn't care for them). He proclaimed that he was on a spaceship. And he repeated his favorite Buzz Lightyear line "To infinity and beyond!" Because of the heat, they didn't stay there long. Jeff thought that Miss R was a little lethargic. We've been anticipating her getting sick. Once they got back home, however, she no longer seemed lethargic.

I made my way to the WIC office. I had to trade Baby A's formula checks for checks with Alimentum as the product (I had only used one check since enrolling her a couple weeks ago, but the checks are for Similac Sensitive, which she wasn't tolerating). Given Alimentum's high cost, they were only willing to give me a check for the powder not the ready made liquid...until I get a doctor's note saying that it must be the liquid form. The potential problem with that is that some kids have problems with the powder not the liquid, which is why we've been buying the liquid for the past 10 days. I hope that she tolerates it well. We've already made several formula switches to get it just right. And she is finally doing very well on the eating front. She's had bottles of 5 ozs in one sitting. And, she's gained about a pound over the past week.

The kids ate lunch and then napped. Jeff took a nap too. The Twins got up before Jeff and Baby A did. I offered to take them to the movie theater, but Henry threw a whiny fit because he wanted to watch Shrek on our TV (not the theater). How dare I suggest the theater. It was a nonsensical fit. I was irked at his tantrum (the tantrum not the request). I ended up letting him watch Shrek 2, however, because Miss R had requested it. She really wanted to see the dragon in it. So I felt as though I shouldn't penalize her for Henry acting up.

Toward the end of the movie, I let the kids have mini-cupcakes as a treat. We rarely have dessert in the house, but Henry had requested birthday cake the day before, so I got cupcakes on my way home from my outing. The timing of the cupcakes was strategic. Not only do we rarely give the kids sugary stuff, but we never give it right after dinner b/c sugar an hour or two before bedtime is a bad idea.

Henry got upset a second time after Shrek 2. He wanted to watch Sponge Bob but we said no. We put on the radio instead. Miss R and Baby A liked the music (80s). And Miss R got Jeff to do something that I haven't been able to get him to do with me for the past 17 years...dance! She wanted a dancing partner, and he obliged. They were very cute together.

We went on a family walk at 7PM and ran into Yvonne our neighbor. She mentioned that one of her dogs, Banjo, was sleeping and decided not to come on the walk. That lead Henry to request that we trek to Yvonne's house to find Banjo. So we did. Yvonne really likes the kids, and they like her. We can't walk past her house without Henry saying that he wants to stop by.

Jeff got The Twins dinner, while I fed Baby A. Baby A had been up and about before the walk. She was awake for about half of the walk. She made it clear that she wanted her bottle when we got home. After a diaper change and bottle, she went into the crib quite willingly and enjoyed the mobile before falling asleep.

Henry and Miss R did not go down for bed willingly. I think that Henry has at least stopped screaming (his happy, high pitched scream).

"Round Buttocks!"

Henry had a relaxing day at home. He played around. Had a little lunch. Took a nap in the mid-afternoon and didn't wake up until well after Miss R and Baby A came home. I managed to get some work done (planning for an edited book of which my publisher recently accepted the proposal) and some personal work done (ENT appointment for Miss R scheduled--check, WIC files for Baby A transferred to a closer office--check, car insurance paid--check, monthly paperwork filled out for Baby A and Miss R--check, check).

Jeff picked up Miss R and Baby A who had good days at school. While Henry was still napping, Jeff played with Miss R, and I took care of Baby A who was super smiley. I took her on a dog walk and she fell asleep in the Bjorn.

When I got back from the walk, Henry was finally up. Miss R had already eaten her dinner, so Jeff got Henry his. He didn't eat much. I convinced him to have a couple bites of rice and he said "Mmmm" after each bite, but I didn't push it with him. Jeff let the kids watch Shrek 2, which is the new favorite. It ranks up there for us too, along with Monsters, Inc., b/c of the witty dialogue. Jeff's and my favorite lines are: Pussy in Boot's line "That's not mine" when he gets busted by the knights and is found to have cat nip in his pocket, Shrek's line "That's some fine print for you!" during a fight with Fiona, and Pinocchio's line "He croaked" when the king turns into a frog.

So what's Henry's favorite line? "Round Buttocks" which is one of Shrek's lines when he is turned from an ogre to a human. He repeated it several times after the movie.

I took Baby A from the living room into the bedroom after the movie got started. Her body seems to have adjusted to a decent night sleep cycle. She gets fussy around 8PM or so. She's ready for less stimulation and sleep. She needs the quiet. She needs the dark. We're at the point where after her bottle, while she's awake but drowsy, I put her in the crib and she'll fall asleep on her own. A very good skill to have! Last night was the best sleep yet for her. She went down after 8PM. Had some bottle at 1:30AM. Woke up again at 4AM. Jeff put her pacifier in her mouth while I got the bottle. When I had returned to the bedroom, she was sound asleep. And she slept until 7AM. Then, she really wanted her bottle!

Miss R was cute during the movie. Both of The Twins like the "Hero" song that the Fairy Godmother sings. Miss R mouths the words (and this morning, she requested "Hero" on the way to school...fortunately, it is on the "Footloose" CD).

On a not-so-great note, Jeff thinks that Miss R is beginning to feel a little warm. So we'll have to check her throughout the night. We're heard from others that the stomach flu seems to pass through everyone in a family. Henry very much seems on the mend. I think that he could actually go back into big boy underwear, but we've decided to let him have his pull-up tonight. I asked him before bed, "Which do you like better? Diapers or big boy underwear?" Henry said, "Diapers" unabashedly.

Stomach Flu

On Friday, we decided to keep Henry home. Baby A and Miss R were fairly easy to get out of the house. And it is tons easier taking just two kids into daycare than keeping track of three.

I talked with Henry's teacher and she said that stomach flu was going around. She inquired about moving Miss R to an older 2 classroom, but said the staff don't want to move her b/c she'll "only" be in her current class for four more months before moving anyway. I said, "Well 4 months is one-third of her year. That's a lot of time." She agreed. I gather that she doesn't think the staff really understand what is best for the child from the teacher and parents' perspectives. It sounds like the staff don't respond to maternal requests but they respond to fathers. So, once Henry moves up to the 3s, Jeff is going to request that Miss R move to Henry's current classroom, which has mainly older 2s in it.

One of Henry's classmate's Aidan asked me "Where's Henry?" I told him that Henry had a tummy ache. When I got home, I found out from Jeff who found out from my mom that Aidan had hit Henry in the stomach yesterday. Maybe me saying that Henry is sick to his stomach will give Aidan a guilty conscience and he'll calm down on the hitting (yes, I'm jesting). Yesterday, Henry told my mom that Aidan hit him in the stomach. My mom asked, "Did you hit him back?" Henry said, "Yes." Henry usually doesn't start the hitting, but he certainly isn't going to just stand by and let himself be hit. Incidentally, his teacher said that hitting has gone down b/c several boys were transferred to the 3 year old room and girls took their places.

When I got home, Henry was reading with Jeff. Jeff went to work. I called my mom. While I was on the telephone with her, Henry had a gather messy accident that required a shower and tons of SpotBot action for the carpet. Poor guy. It would figure that the week he made the transition to "big boy" underwear, he'd come down with stomach flu.

From what I hear, it lasts 24 hrs. So hopefully by this evening, all will be well.

Fever and a Tummy Ache

On Thursday afternoon, Jeff called me at work to let me know that CPS cancelled tomorrow's scheduled visitation for Baby A. Yesterday, Baby A's caseworker had finally let me know that visitations would occur twice a week. Thursday morning visits were to be moved to Fridays, and they would get back to us on an additional afternoon visit. Today, someone working for the caseworker called to say that Fridays are now cancelled, there will only be one visit per week, and it will be Mondays from 3-5PM. Jeff doesn't think that we can necessarily count on that.

I picked up Baby A after work. Jeff left to run errands and then pick up The Twins at my parents' house. Baby A and I went for a walk with the dogs after some playtime together. She was great on the walk, but she got super fussy once we came back.

My parents picked up the "big" kids after school. It would figure that Henry started to show signs of illness on the day he visited Grammy. When Jeff picked him up, Henry felt warm and said his tummy hurt. We're wondering if yesterday's Hep A shot was causing the problem. Henry kept saying that his tummy hurt. At home, he eventually ate two waffles, so perhaps he was confusing hurt with hunger. He is a little warm but isn't hot enough for medication.

Because Henry wanted a waffle, Miss R wanted food too. She was pretty funny at the table. I taught her a couple lines to the song "I Love Rock N Roll!" She belted it out.

Henry has been very into the Berenstain Bears. Known in our house as the Steen Bears. Tonight, when Jeff put Henry to bed, Henry said he wanted "Junk Food." That made Jeff smile. This was the kid who rejected ice cream 45 minutes before going to bed. Junk Food is a Berenstain Bears book that Henry has been reading.

"I want to go to Costco with R."

On Wednesday morning, Miss R and Henry were in uber-toddler mode. They got on each other's nerves and had fits. Then, they started tattle telling on one another. Usually, it is Miss R who tattles on Henry for incidental things that he's done. She is completely the Little Girl Who Cried Henry! Henry got in on the action. "R hit me!" Jeff was vexed. He sent them to separate rooms.

We started Baby A on a reflux medication. We think that will make her a little bit more comfortable after meals. She had a bio parent visitation. In the morning, Baby A's caseworker called and apologized for Friday's screw up. Turns out that the Thursday visits are now Fridays and an afternoon visit will be added. Yesterday, it was an afternoon visit but not necessarily the permanent time.

We had a weight check for Miss R and nurse visit for Henry in the late afternoon. With the appetite stimulant, Miss R has put on 2 lbs in the past couple months. She is now 26 lbs. Henry also got weighed b/c he insisted on it. With his shoes and clothes on, he was 31 lbs. Dr. Bianchi was pleased with Miss R's weight gain. Henry requested again to have his ears checked, which again amused Dr. Bianchi so he obliged. Henry resisted the shot. He told us "No!" And unfortunately, it was a bleeder. By far, the worst shot experience he's ever had. Miss R created a HUGE fuss at the end of the visit when I'd only let her take one sticker, not two. She had a major tantrum. Perhaps I should get her on that "Toddlers & Tiaras" show. Her tantrum was certain pageant worthy!

We stopped by Grammy's house and visited for a short spell. I knew that CPS would be getting Baby A to the daycare late, so I didn't want to go there right away. Turns out I was right. They didn't bring her back until 5PM. At Grammy's, the newly acquired pinball machine is pretty darn cool. The kids don't quite get it, but I know it is going to be a hit as they get older. It is 1/2 sized, but still tall though where the kids have to stand on a stool. When we arrived at Grammy's house, Henry spotted a coyote. And when we put the kids in the car to go get Baby A, we spotted a bob cat. It was wild life central. To go along with the wild life theme, both Henry and Miss R had tantrums again. Henry didn't want to leave Grammy's house. And Miss R had a tantrum b/c Henry was having a tantrum. She likes to keep up with the Joneses.

When we got home, we painted rocks as a project. Then, we had dinner. After Henry got down from the table, he went into the pantry and peed, having had no accidents the entire day at school in his underwear. He was upset. I made him stand off to the side in his wet outfit while I cleaned up the floor. I really want him to be upset about it, and I'm sure that the feel of peed-on-clothes isn't great. He took a shower and got into his Superman outfit.

Baby A was sleep. Jeff took Henry on a dogwalk. They ran into Yvonne who took a lot of pictures of Super Henry. Jeff said that Henry was posing for her.

Meanwhile, Miss R had a shower, and I put her in her favorite (very girly) pink nightgown. Then, we sat on the couch and I redid some of her braids.

When Henry returned, he found me and Miss R looking at my laptop. I played a video from last July (my very favorite video of the kids), which has Henry and Miss R dancing in their diapers. Once we adopt Miss R, I'll post it b/c it is the cutest video on the planet. Henry and Miss R were inspired by the video, so they requested music and wanted to dance. Between Henry in his Superman outfit and Miss R in her nightgown, they looked like Superman and Lois Lane. At one point, Henry wanted to stop and hug. But Miss R said, "No! Let's dance!"

On Thursday morning, I woke up to find Miss R in the bed next to me, but no Jeff. Then, Henry came into bed too. Henry is a morning person and wanted Miss R to get up and play. Miss R is much more like me, and it takes her awhile to put on a happy face in the morning. I'm pretty sure that she found Henry's perkiness annoying. As I'm his mom, I found him quite cute, but I tried to get him to give Miss R some space.

Henry is often the leader and Miss R tends to be the follower. This isn't a good thing as Henry's ideas of fun often involve something dangerous or messy. There are times, like this morning, when Henry will follow Miss R around. This morning, Miss R said, "Let's run!" And they did. Then, they had the following conversation:

MISS R: I'm going to Costco. [As she pushes her shopping cart.]
HENRY: I want to go to Costco with R.
MISS R: It's over there!
HENRY: Costco's over there? [With high inflection on the word "there."]
MISS R: No, Arizona's over there. [Said matter of factly.]

The kids were pretty good on the drop off. The plan today is for The Twins to visit Grammy and Poppy after school. They seem pretty healthy right now (knock on wood). I'll pick up Baby A after work.

Macualay Culkin

Today was one of those days. Miss R has been super whiny. She threw a fit in the car b/c she dropped her "cell phone." Then, when we got to school, she refused to walk forward. I was carrying the Monday load of clean blankets and sheets per usual, plus Baby's milk, and Baby A. And I didn't want to cater to her whiny refusal to move so I grabbed her by the arm and tugged her along. She tried to do the toddler drop, but that didn't stop me from moving forward. Henry was of course way ahead of us.

Today was moving day for the students. Students who had birthdays were to move up to the next level. So I was surprised when Henry was still in his usual classroom. The brain trust in the front office (yes, I am being condescending) didn't move Henry b/c when C attacked Henry last month, I said that I didn't want them in the same room. I was told by the "coordinator" that C would be moved. She lied and didn't do it. Now that it was moving time, in her infinite wisdom decided to move C up and kept Henry where he was b/c they are both still potty training and there is only one 3 year old classroom that takes those who aren't completely potty trained. So rather than talk to me, she decided to keep the "smart" kid in the 2 year old room and the kid with several incident reports on his report (I shouldn't know that information but one of the teachers told me that C is a problem) into the 3 year old room. Does that seem fair? Hold back the smart kid back. The "coordinator" should consider going into public education as her logic is as *** backward as the policies coming out of Tucson's public schools. Penalize talent, reward mediocrity and/or pre-criminality. I realize that last word is a tad hyperbolic, but I think that anyone who saw how aggressive C was toward Henry would realize that there is something seriously wrong with that kid.

I talked with Henry's teacher Miss Valerie and she said that Henry's ready to move up. He knows the answers to questions the teachers pose to the class. She said a couple times that Henry's very "smart," which of course we already know. Henry is a very quick kid.

Melanie, one of the daycare staff, said that she finally realized who Henry reminded her of...Macualay Culkin. Jeff doesn't like that comparison.







The day just got better when I got home with the kids to find a message from the incompetents at CPS. They have scheduled a visit for Baby A tomorrow from 2-4PM. Have her at daycare. And she'll have a visit with bio mom on Fridays from 9-11AM, so have her at daycare. OK. These demands pretty much fall under the category "What the Hell?" First, they are supposed to give us 24 hours notice at a minimum. Leaving a message late in the afternoon isn't quite 24 hours and it gives us no opportunity to respond. What if she had a doctor's appointment? We pick up the kids at 4:30PM, but the likelihood of Baby A making it back to daycare by then is slim. Not to mention that I prefer her to be picked up at our place so we can be assured that the drivers have a legally required rear facing car seat. Second, we have to make baby available, but they should picking her up at our house if we so choose. Her caseworker is trying to dictate where the child gets picked up. We don't take the kids to daycare until 9AM. For baby to make it to a 9AM visit with mom, we'll now have to leave our house at 7:45AM. I've already been through this with the caseworker before. She doesn't seem to get that our lives don't center around her whims. I think that she may be one of those God-complex caseworkers. But if we piss her off, will she use her godly powers to screw up our set up with Baby A? It happens all of the time unfortunately. You have some social workers who try to do good work. Then you have those who are simply stupid and incompetent. And then you have the nut jobs mixed in. I'd better stop writing b/c it makes me so mad just thinking about it.

Henry was unhappy at dinner b/c there was some fat on his ham. Very fitting the that skinny kid refuses to eat anything but super lean meat.

Baby A vomited all over me as Jeff arrived home. He had been doing errands and bought the Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine. It is now at Grammy and Poppy's house. They are willing to house it for us until we get an addition built onto the house...whenever that happens.

Jeff watched a little bit of Shrek 2 with Henry before bed. The kids didn't look sleepy as of 10PM, but they finally crashed. They stayed up way too late, but I just didn't have the energy to wrestle them to bed.

I'm really exhausted. To be exposed to so much stupidity in a short period of time is simply toxic to my system.

The kids are in bed. I have to write a response to Baby A's mom. She sent along some questions after the last visit. Jeff and I need to talk about the responses. Then, I'm heading to bed myself.

To Grammy and Poppy's House We Go

This afternoon, I took Miss R to Borders while Henry took his nap. I think that Miss R enjoyed the one-on-one time. I bought her a cookie and chocolate milk after we picked out some books. She ended up eating my rice crispy treat before eating her cookie. She looked happy. And very cute in her new braids.

Early this evening, we went over to Grammy and Poppy's house for dinner and swimming. We took the dogs with us.



We hadn't seen my parents in a couple weeks. My mom had an infection last week that prevented her third taxol treatment and kept her quarantined to her house. She's made a recovery and "gets" to resume chemo tomorrow. As the kids, Jeff, and I were healthy, we got to visit, which was fantastic.

Henry, especially, has been missing Grammy and Poppy. In fact, Jeff told me that this afternooon, Henry was looking at a block that we pulled out for Baby A. It has pictures of family members on each of the faces. It was a block that Jeff made for Henry when he was a baby. Anyway, Henry looked at the block and saw a picture of Poppy. Then, he suddenly look sad. Jeff said he went off to the side. Henry didn't cry, but Jeff said it was like he needed "a moment" to gather himself.

The kids weren't shy about the pool. They plopped onto the first step without any inhibitions. My mom held Baby A and rocked her on a poolside bench, while my dad and Jeff took the kids into the water. I was in a swim suit but pretty much just dangled my feet into the water and took pictures of everyone. Henry did very well, but once again, his lack of body fat meant that he got the chills relatively quickly. Miss R stayed in the pool for about 10-15 minutes longer than Henry did. She really enjoyed it when Jeff and Poppy pushed her around in her pink dolphin.

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Here's a picture of my parent's cute dog Winston:
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And here's a picture that I took of Poppy:
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I think that Jeff was disappointed because our dogs showed absolutely no interest in the water. He was hoping that Lily would show some lab initiative. Lily behaved herself during the entire visit.

It was really nice being with my parents. Unfortunately, we aren't going to be able to resume grandparent pickups from daycare in the afternoons for awhile. My mom really needs to make it through her chemo treatments before we do those again. The kids (especially because they are in daycare) pose some risks, which would be careless to take. My mom's current situation isn't unlike the situation we were in when Henry came home from the NICU. I know that being quarantined isn't fun for my mom. At least when Henry came home, he wasn't missing things that he hadn't yet experienced. I'm hoping that we can get a video camera set up at my mom's computer so that we can teleconference with her. That way, Henry would get to see and not just hear her every day.

In a random bit of news, this afternoon, I came across a craigslist posting for a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine. It is a 1/2 size machine. The poster claims it doesn't take up too much room and is in great working condition. I really wanted it, but Jeff came me the "Where are we going to put it?" line along with the "there my wife goes again with her crazy ideas" eye roll. Anyway, I mentioned it to my mom and she said we could put it at their place. So I contacted the poster via email and her husband will be calling me tomorrow! I'm really excited over this future purchase.

That's about it from here. Everyone is asleep, which is where I'm heading.

The Yellow Waterfall

In the late afternoon on Sunday, I took Henry and Miss R to see Shrek Forever After. The kids were great and they enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it too, but I assume that the whole alternate life plot would have been a bit confusing for the kids to understand. The theme of the movie is that time gets altered and Shrek gets to see what his life was like if he hadn't saved Princess Fiona.

On Monday morning, Jeff was taking care of Baby A. He'd actually fallen asleep with her on the couch. I got up when I heard Henry having a nightmare. He calmed down when I got into bed with him and snuggled. He shouts and cries during his dreams. He wanted his Daddy but I was glad that he was willing to use me as a substitute!

I put Henry in big boy underwear. I should have sent him to the potty every hour. Yesterday, I wrote "...Henry actually used the toilet. Maybe he will get toilet trained by summer's end. Hope I didn't just jinx us by writing that." Yes indeed. I had jinxed myself. Mid-morning, he decided to pee at the top of the slide in the living room. The top landing of the slide caught most of it, but part of it did run down the slide like a water fall. I told Henry not to move, while I got paper towels and disinfectant wipes from the kitchen. In my absence, Henry decided to stomp in his puddle, which made a bit of a splatter. I was a tad vexed.

So Henry and Miss R got showers mid-morning. Then, I did Miss R's hair. I made my first earnest attempt at cornrows, not just a couple braids. 14 braids in an hour and a half. Miss R fell asleep during the last part of the braiding.

Henry stayed up while Miss R slept. Jeff made him a peanut butter and jelly bagel. Henry announced that he wanted the Charlie Brown peanut butter. Jeff had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out that there is a tiny Charlie Brown figure on the label of Skippy peanut butter. Henry sometimes pays attention to details.

Spending the Summer Holiday at the Splash Pad

This morning, the kids got up early. I wish that they'd get up so easily on days when we truly need to get them out the door. I made them pancakes. Henry had four of them. Miss R wasn't that keen on them; she picked at hers. Later in the morning, they fought over a non-existent cup of coffee. It is amazing how they can convince themselves that imaginary objects are real (or close to real).

Fortunately, the fight over the "coffee" was broken up when I announced that we needed to head out the door to go to the Splash Pad to meet Adelyn and her family. When we arrived at the Splash Pad, Henry and Miss R were very cute holding hands. They played on the slides for awhile. Once Adelyn arrived, we made our way to the Splash Pad.

I pretty sure that I ended up getting more wet than the kids. I was trying to take pictures of them and a couple buckets came down near me. We probably didn't splash around for more than 20 minutes. Henry's lack of padding makes it very easy for him to get the chills. Darn 6.8 BMI. Miss R had a good time, but once she saw that Henry wanted a towel, she wanted one too. After drying off, the kids headed back to the playsets for a spell. They were very entertained by the wood chips around the equipment and pretended that they were sausage. For some reason, they decided that they wanted to make sausage.





















Baby A pretty much slept the entire time as she seems to do whenever we are outside. Right before we left the park, she woke up and wanted a bottle. As Jeff took the toddlers to the car and changed them, I sat on the ground and gave her the bottle, which she sucked down in about 5-7 minutes. She actually drank the whole thing, which is fabulous.

After our time at the park, we took the kids to Village Inn. As Jeff put it, there weren't as badly behaved as he would have expected. Henry found a little nook that he called a timeout chair. He tried to send Jeff to it once. He also announced during the meal that he had to pee. His timing is impeccable. Much to Jeff's surprise, Henry actually used the toilet. Maybe he will get toilet trained by summer's end. Hope I didn't just jinx us by writing that.