Afternoon at the Lake

Took the kids to Lake Temesacal yesterday. I hadn't done it by myself yet so I was little nervous. Everything went well until we had to leave. These days whenever we leave anywhere, the girls either run in opposite directions (elizabeth) or don't move at all (miranda). If I try to take their hand and walk them the correct direction, they fall to the ground thus risking either Elizabeth Nursemaid's elbow or my back. Neither of which is good.

So my technique is to say good bye to the girl or girls that are not getting with the program. This technique works like a charm every time even if I do have to take a couple steps away first. Unfortunately, it almost always freaks out Parker who thinks, and right fully so because I am damn good actress, that we are in fact leaving without them. He doesn't like that one bit.

It was especially hard yesterday since Elizabeth was naked and we were on sand. Sooner or later, I got them in the stroller and lugged them all back to the car.

Before we left, a family of ducks that we saw on our last visit there came to check us out. They literally walked across our feet and blanket. One even sat down on my towel to rest a while.

Giving Julia a Run for her Money

Spelling

Parker has been talking alot recently about some characters in a series of books he likes, Don, Rita, Eve, etc. Tonight, he took a stab at spelling Rita: Redu. I thought that was pretty good.

Quiet time

After going to sleep easy for nap today, Elizabeth woke up with a giant poop. I took care of it and after a few back and forths got her back to sleep. Then a noisy neighbor with noisy trashcans woke her back up again 15 minutes later. Now she is sitting in her room reading books while her sister sleeps.

I love this video monitor!

Last night

Well...after our long day yesterday, bedtime wasn't horrific. It took about 20 minutes to get them to sleep and there was some crying, but nothing too bad. So, by 7pm, all the kids were asleep and Michael and I got to relax.

Until 10pm when all hell broke loose. Miranda started screaming which woke up Elizabeth who started screaming. Which woke up Parker who started screaming. 10pm and everyone was screaming. We pulled Parker out of there fast and tried to get the girls back to sleep. No luck. So we let them scream. And scream they did. Miranda stood at the door banging on it, trying to open it for a good 20 minutes. Just when she gave up and went back to bed, Elizabeth got out of bed. It was like a finely timed ballet. So Elizabeth stood there screaming and banging on the door for 30 minutes until she finally gave up and went back to bed. Then they all slept until 6am. 7-10, and then 11-6. 10 hours with no naps? That pretty much sucks.

huh?

Parker told me that this (the easel with the numbers and letters) was his "math music".

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Name that toddler

extra credit if you can name the dog.

Numbers

I usually let Parker pick the number of books we read at bedtime, and tonight was no different. That is, until he gave me his answer, which was definitely a new one on me: "Two and a half."

Just keep moving...

My goal today was to keep the kids moving all day. No naps, no breaks.

We started out at Music class.
Then went to the steam trains at Tilden Park. Which were a big hit. BIG HIT.
Then to the merry go round which was closed. Damn them.
Then to Little Farm where Parker and Elizabeth fed all the sheeps, goats, and geese they came across.
Then a stop for lunch and running up and down the hill.
Then off to the Codornices Park in Berkekley for a little giant slide. There was a dad there with his two kids. He was pushing one on the baby swing and watching the other on the big swings. When the older one wanted a push, I said, "I'll push yours if you push mine" since Parker was on the big swings. The dad was all for it and he pushed Parker higher than he has ever gone on the big swings. He was in heaven.
Then we went to Studio Grow. It was twin tuesday and cheaper after 2.
Then, which was to be expected at this point, they all melted down upon departure and we went home.
Where we are now waiting patiently for daddy to come home and save us all.

Wouldn't you know it?

It's 1 o'clock in the morning and everyone is sleeping. Well, everyone except me.

Just shoot me.

Monday Co-op

Our Monday co-op has been going strong for a long time now. I feared it might end since Lincoln is going to Kindergarten and Parker to preschool making timing and logistics difficult. But...we figured out a way to keep it going on Tuesdays. We are all pretty damn happy about that.

Pac n Plays didn't last

When the girls didn't nap today, we knew bedtime would be a real fun time. After one warning, we put them in the pac n plays. About 4 minutes later, Miranda climbed right out. MIRANDA!

Michael and I went upstairs and just stood there looking at each other saying, "What the hell are we suppose to do????"

So we put them in their beds, sat down next to them and me, with my hand on Elizabeth and Michael with his hand on Miranda and we just stayed there like that. They both tried to get up, but we didn't let them. Then they started screaming. I asked Elizabeth, will you stay lying down if I move my hand. She said Yes and kept her word. We did the same with Miranda, but it took 2 or 3 times for it to actually sink in. Then, 5 minutes later, they were asleep. They both woke up at 10:30 and we gave in and gave them some milk (it was really hot up there).

Neither of us were thrilled about this solution, but it's the only thing that has worked in 2 weeks. With the girls only sleeping 8 hours at night and not having naps, they are a wreck. And so am I. It just can't go on. It can't.

Definitely not napping

Back to Square One

After two weeks of horrific evenings and nights (even the nights they went down without a full out fight they didn't stay asleep for long), we attempted (again) to do the putting them back in bed when they left it routine (a la super nanny). With Parker completely asleep in his bed (he had no nap today), the girls immediately got out of bed as soon as the door close. We went to put them back in about 10 times within about 3 minutes. After another 10 times, they started to jump on Parker's bed. We took Parker out and put him in our bed. They continued to play on his bed, thinking the whole "put the girls back in bed" was a game.

So...we got the pac n plays out, set them up and put them in them. For about 30 minutes, they thought that was pretty fun. Jumping around, trying to touch each other, playing peek a boo. Then they realized it was for real and they started screaming. That was 30 minutes ago and the screaming hasn't stopped. I went up once to return their lovies that were taken away much earlier and Miranda pointed to her bed and say, "EH! Eh!" I said, "Nope, you are sleeping in here tonight."

I'm betting they will be screaming for another hour.

Good times.

oh my god

After almost 2 years of blogging, I've finally hit my photo upload limit. Right in the middle of a big post about today's outing.

New storage space can be purchased, but takes a day to process. See you tomorrow!

Exploratorium

I took Parker to the Exploratorium in SF today (FRIDAY). I've been there a a bunch of times, but Parker had never. I kept thinking he was too young, which he probably still is. But he had fun, nonetheless.

First we made some music...


He didn't always understand what the exhibit was. Like on this, he just showed the wheel down the ramp.


This was his favorite. You drop this marble down this chute and it hits a small round platform and then bounces up at a certain angle. You try to get it to go through these holes. With lots of practice and the help of a very sweet 10 year old, we were successful.


I remember this one working in the past, but Parker could't hear a god damn word I was saying. I was sitting opposite him, about 50 feet away.


This one was actually very cool. You try to touch this tea cup, but your hand goes right through it. It's a light and mirror thing so the cup is actually below your hand. Parker was confused.


Not sure if you can see, but Parker is standing in this thing. I can't remember what it is suppose to teach us.


This exhibit has always been my all time favorite. It's a big white wall and every 30 seconds it flashes and your shadow is left on it. I have memories of doing this as a younger person, trying to jump up at the exact right moment. Parker didn't quite get it, but had fun looking at the clock counting down nonetheless. Unfortunately, the flash ruined all aspects of it.


This was pretty neat too and Parker actually got it. He waves a wand in front of a projector back and forth really fast and the movie plays in the space between waves.


There were lots of pretty lights in the lights section.


This wasn't actually an exhibit, just part of the pieces that made up this rainbow/light exhibit.


This was my favorite. It's a computer screen that had some basketball players on it. It had two teams. 3 players in white and 3 in black. The screen said, "Count the number of times the players in white bounce the ball." So I pressed start and counted. It was hard to count as they were bobbing and weaving in between each other, passing the ball in ways it was hard to see and the black team was doing the same, making it even harder to keep track of the white team. When it was done, I was very pleased that I got 12, which is what the screen said I should have gotten. Then it said, "Did you see anything strange?" I did not. It said, "Watch the video and don't count this time." So I pressed start again and watched it. I didn't see anything strange until about 1/2 way through when a guy in a large gorilla suit came out and stood directly in the middle of the screen for at least 2-3 seconds and then walked off. I cracked up since I didn't see it at all the first time.


This room was about cuteness. It had things that people thought were cute (babies, animals, things with big heads)and it had you adjust the cuteness factor to a point when it wasn't cute anymore.


Two identical beams, placed in different ways acted very differently.


Back to the marble game of course.


This was a table where you placed block shapes in different ways and then had the table vibrate to see what happened. Parker liked that.


The last thing was this air shute that kept a beach ball floating until someone covered the shoot. The kids loved it and Parker was no exception. He was trying to take turns, but other kids were being rude and just pushing in all while be watched the parents. I kept trying to say really loud, Some kids don't take turns Parker but that didn't keep him from having a melt down about it.

More Ponytails

New Blankets

We had such a hard time finding the perfect blankets for the girls. They are either too hot or too small or too rough or whatever. But, of course, Ikea had great ones. For cheap. I should have known. Duh. Even Parker wanted one.

Colorforms

Parker got these colorforms for christmas and they haven't got much use. I pulled them out and the kids played for a good long time.

Did you notice....

Eli's ponytail???? Too god damn cute.