I took the kids to adventure playground in between gym camp and swim class. Not enough time to really enjoy it, but they seemed to have fun. Miranda didn't want to do the slide at first, but then was yelling, "I knew I would like it!"
We've been spending a lot of time riding bikes lately. Today we met up with Ebba's kids and there was some traffic jams with all the riders!
When I asked the girls what they wanted to take to daycare today, Elizabeth said Pink Baby. She went to look for her, dumping out all the baby and stuffed animal baskets. No luck. I thought, Oh Wait, we took her yesterday so she must be in the car. No luck. I thought and thought and then remembered Elizabeth took her to the park yesterday. I specifically remember her putting her down on the sand and me thinking, "Not a good idea." I even said, "if you put her down, someone will take her." Elizabeth ignored me.
So this morning, we drove to the park and I looked for her. She was gone. I told Elizabeth that Pink Baby was living with another kid now and she was loved and cared for. I stated how nice it had been to have her for so long and now it was time for another kid to play with her. Elizabeth seemed to accept this immediately. Parker, on the other hand, who is the actual owner of Pink Baby but who never plays with her, was distressed. Miranda seemed more concerned about the big bad wolf that was in her purse.
I can't tell you how happy I am that Pink Baby is out of our life. Sure we could have thrown her away or hidden her, but to have her disappear like this is really the best solution. It wasn't my fault. I didn't have to lie (too much) about it. And I didn't have to go buy some other stupid pink baby.
Have a good life Pink Baby!
Why is it when you have an early swim class to get to, the kids sleep forever and I have to wake them up but when the very same swim class is an hour and a half later, they wake up an hour earlier than the day before?
Miranda loves animals and little things so when I found myself at Lakeshore Learning (always dangerous) and saw a container of hundreds of tiny animals grossly reduced from their normal outrageous prices, I bought it.
And I was right, the kids love them. Love. Them. So much so that they play with them everyday. Today they were making pizza with them and cooking with them. ("Oh mommy, look at the tiny animal soup!")
Which is great and I'm pleased it was a good idea. That being said, we find tiny animals everywhere. All the time. You think you've found them all and then sure enough, ooops another tiny tiger. Got them all? Nope, here is a tiny gorilla. Got on your hands and knees to look for more? Missed the tiny rhino and tiny zebra.
I want to throw them all away and it really makes me rethink the possible Kapla blocks I was coveting at Amy's house.
Although Michael and I try to keep branded crap out of our house, we do have a couple things that have brands on them. Some Cars and Thomas the Train sippy cups (that we have promised to ditch when the girls turn 3), some actual Thomas the train trains and a couple other small things. I'm not sure why I hate branded stuff so much, but I do and Michael hates them even more than I do. (You don't know how hard it is to find toddler bike helmet without brands on them."
With the Thomas the train items, the kids called them "trains" as in "I want the train cup!" Or "Can you hand me the blue train?" But now, after a couple viewings of the Thomas the Train shows on Roku/Netflix, it's all come crashing down. Elizabeth this morning said, "Can I have a Thomas the Train cup?" And Miranda said, "I'd like a Thomas the Train cup AND cereal bowl."
Then they all needed to play with an actual Thomas the Train this morning. Other trains of different colors were unacceptable.
I suppose it is our fault, but it makes me really reconsider my thoughts about letting them watch Dora the Explorer or Blue's Clues.
Miranda likes to sing songs about the general goings on of daily life. Amy reminded me that she used to do this, so I guess it is in the genes.
Here is her song from yesterday. She sang this after I told her to go pee (when Elizabeth was already on the toilet).
Parker took a nice spill on his big bike this afternoon. I wasn't there and Michael didn't see the actual fall, but his chin and cheek and lip were all pretty beaten up. He was pretty sad about it the rest of the day and wanted a bandaid for his lip. He got all sorts of special treatment for being hurt.
After the girls were put to bed, they both got up to tell me that their "chin hurt". Eli says she bonked it on the bed and Miranda said she hit hers on the doll house. Neither was actually true, but god bless them for trying.
Parker's new bike had arrived (well...dad picked it up) when we got home yesterday. He immediately wanted to ride it so we went to the school where he hopped on and rode off. He looked great on it and rode it like a pro. So much better than the tiny thing we were making him ride. Elizabeth then hopped on his old bike (with training wheels) and did great. She had some trouble braking and not braking, but in general did super. Miranda, still figuring out the tricycle pedals, also did pretty damn good. We went out again to ride and all three did even better than yesterday. Sure...Eli had to crash into the wall a couple times when she forgot about braking, and Parker had his worst fall yet ("I just wanted to go over that bump next to that pole, mom!"), but they all did wonderful.
Awww, mannn! when I couldn't get the ROKU to work.
This was followed by, "Come on Dude!" She explained that "Come on Dude" is what you say when you are stuck in traffic.
That girls does not miss a thing!!!!
Parker called me from LA last night, because he wanted to chat. We talked for about 15 minutes and covered a wide range of topics. He told me about going to a play place with "the lady who is your mother" and which slide was the biggest slide (the blue one) and which was the small one (the green one), and about the boy who cried at the top of the blue slide, which may or may not have been because the little girl was bugging him and wouldn't go away. But Parker didn't cry and he went down the slide, which goes around the corners really fast. He also let me know that he didn't want to go in for books in the boys' room that night because there was a very scary picture on the wall there and he didn't want to see it. Apparently it was a piece of art that had been added to the boys' collection just that day, and Parker was having no part of it. I asked him where he was going to sleep, and he told me that he was going to sleep on the floor around the corner from the stairs. He didn't seem concerned about the possibility of someone stepping on him in the night while going to the bathroom, but he did remind me of that time that Elizabeth was screaming at the door of their bedroom in the middle of the night, and he needed to get out of the bedroom so he could sleep somewhere else, but Elizabeth was in his way. I knew exactly the night he was talking about. He also told me about the ginger bread men they had made that day, some of them in playdough, and some of them with real dough. There were big gingerbread men and little gingerbread men, and everyone got to eat them. I asked him if he'd offered to swim the ginger bread man across the river on his back, and he was pretty amused by that. But he assured me that the gingerbread man hadn't run away because they had all the doors shut when they got him out of the oven, and gingerbread men can't open doors because the doorknobs are too high. He did point out that if there was a jumpy house in front of the door the gingerbread man would be able to reach the door, but conceded that it would be difficult to actually open the door with a jumpy house in front of it. We talked for a good 15 minutes before he had to go read books for bed. All in all, it was probably the best phone conversation I've ever had in my life.
Amy had the brilliant idea of eating outside this evening. And it would have actually been brilliant had Julia liked flies, Miranda liked anything, and Parker liked the dinner. After dinner, we all hung out for a long while looking at a butterfly that had lost a wing. Julia kept saying, "It's a butterfly!. With one wing!" Like every 4 minutes as if this was new news. At some point, Miranda plopped down in Eran's lap. Julia and Amy tried to get in on the action, but never got quite as comfy as Miranda was.
Then Amy played the hilarious game of "Oh, I'm going to lie down on this comfy chair. Oh wait, it's all bumpy! Why is it so bumpy? Oh, look it's an Elizabeth!" Cracks the girls up every time. Then Parker got in on the fun.
Miranda hasn't taken a nap in what seems like forever. Sure, it's only been 4 days, but in my world, that is forever.
Monday: we drove down to LA so no nap. In fact, no one slept at all until the last 10 minutes where Eli passed out.
Tuesday:Put them down for naps in Amy's bed. Eli was asleep in minutes. Miranda never feel asleep but stayed there for a long time.
Wednesday: Miranda stayed at home with Julia and Amy while I took Eli and Parker to pool with Grammy and Ginny. Eli feel asleep on way home. Put Miranda down for naps in Oliver's bed with Julia. Although they stayed in their beds, no napping was had.
Thursday: We went to kidspace. No sleeping even on hot long car ride home.
So, today, I was really worried as 3 days tends to make a pattern (and habit). We hung around the house all morning with only a little trip to the park before lunch. I just put them down in their beds (in the playroom as the boys are all out or will be). Both were asleep before the end of walking cane.
I realize for non parents to Miranda this information is exceptionally dull. But to me, it was fantastic! If she was giving up naps, I was going to have to poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick.
Tropical lid, a cadillac I port.
Avid as a diva.
Dental floss is sol-flat, Ned.
Slang is signals.
Was a kayak a saw?
He has many, many more.
Amy and I took the kids to kidspace today, a museum in Pasadena for kids. With only a couple minor issues, everyone did great and had a good time.
These giant climbing structures went completely up to the ceiling. The girls did one of them, but that was enough for them.
They have this nice track outside for trike riding. Parker stopped at every stop sign which annoyed all the other kids.
They have a little river there that the kids can go in. So they all did.
Snack time came early and often.
After the museum, we had ice cream and played in a little playground before leaving.
Miranda was just goofing off and I caught the tail end of it.
Elizabeth has a thing for Peter. She thinks he is just great. First they played together on the bench and then Peter started being silly and the girls loved it. Coming to LA can be a real drag with the long drive, single parenting, and not ideal sleep for them or the other kids in the house, but when the kids do things like this, it reminds me why I do it. And why I will keep doing it as long as Amy and Eran will allow me to.
I took the boys bowling this afternoon. Parker was a bit hesitant for the first game, but for the second game (where Oliver and him came within one point of each other), he had a grand time. The air hockey and ice cream probably helped. :)
