Some more iPhone pics, these from the recent party in Sacramento we attended for Val's kids. A bunch of older kids were climbing the tree, which Parker watched pretty intently, and when he got his chance he went for it. And of course the girls had to get in on that action as well.
I finally got around to downloading various pics from my iPhone, which were taken over the past several months. Here are some from when we went to the Academy of Science recently, and the kids goofed around in the kid zone.
I drove to LA with the kids yesterday. It was a long drive with traffic and lots of stops, but the kids did really well as usual. We joined the Marcus family for Passover dinner but only made it to the Matzo ball soup before I had to flee the scene with my three. They all crashed within minutes of their heads hitting the pillow.
Today, after Grammy picked up Parker for his day at Knotts Berry Farm, we went off to meet up with Erin and her twins, Paul and Imogen. We met at local park where the kids...
ran up and down the hill...
played in the sand...
got grumpy...
and had some snacks...
Stefani, the woman who told me about the playschool Miranda and Elizabeth go to, had to work at the preschool today. So she dropped off her two kids, Riley and Liam, and took Parker to school. Then I took all four to playschool. The kids were all quite happy to be hanging out and with the exception of a little screeching by little Liam, it all went very well.
Riley will be going to preschool with the girls and I think they all get along pretty well already.
We did the reverse for the pick up and they all wanted to hang on the porch swing back at our house.
Miranda and Elizabeth made these eggs at daycare the other day. Both Michael and I got guessed correctly who did which one. Can you?
After a brief lesson from Susan while I was picking up my car from the shop, Parker has now mastered algebra.
A few minutes after Miranda woke up from her nap, Parker came up to me and said, "Why does Miranda always cry after naps?"
That, my son, is the million dollar question.
My parents were visiting Pacific Grove this weekend so my dad could golf at the ultra nice Pebble Beach (a gift from his colleagues at UCLA). We had all planned to go down as a family for a day trip, but when Michael's back went out and he couldn't even walk and then my car needed a sensor replaced, I figured the trip was off and even called them to tell them such.
But then the thought of being home all day on Sunday taking care of kids and Michael made me physically ill, so I decided to go with just the girls. So by 10:15 we were at Asilomar and the girls were happy to see Grandma Judy.
We first went to the beach near the hotel and climbed on rocks, threw stones in the water and generally hung out. The girls loved it. We then had brunch at a small golf course which was delicious. Then we explored a light house. The girls liked the stairs and this miniature lighthouse light. My mom got them each a tiny lighthouse that they had to carry with them the rest of the day (and the next day).
Then we went to a local playground where they did things that made my mom very nervous. We tried a bouncy house at a local fair, but there were too many kids and the girls were overwhelmed. Since we were past nap time, they were kinda losing it, so we went back to the hotel for a nice bath in the big tub. I even joined them.
We headed out again to another beach, but it was too windy so we went to look for butterflies. The place was famous for having tons of butterflies during certain months of the year, but we only saw a few. We did, however, see a bunch of deers, very close up. That was super fun and the girls loved it.
It was getting close to time to go, so we swung by a thai place to get some food, ate it back at the hotel room where we met up with my dad. Then the girls read him a golf brochure and Pacific Grove dining brochure and we left. Elizabeth fell asleep pretty fast, but it took Miranda a bit longer to crash.
About 10 minutes from home, they both woke up and started crying. Back at home, I put Elizabeth in bed and she went back to sleep. Miranda on the other hand, started screaming crazily like she was possessed by satan. It was very strange even for her. this kept up for, no kidding around, an hour. Every time we got her calm, she started up again. It was seriously freaky. She finally crashed.
I forgot my camera, but took some with my dad's so hopefully I'll post some here soon.
I've needed to take my car to have service for a while. I'm not great about doing that and with our trip to LA coming up, I thought I'd better get it done. I specifically scheduled it on a Saturday and switched cars with my friend Susan (who has a minivan) to ensure adequate transportation to and from and the ability to leave the house today (Michael's car only fits 2 kids).
So, today, Michael's back goes out. He can't walk. He can barely sit. There was no way he could drive. So I was just going to take the bus back after dropping the car off, but the kids are jumping all over Michael causing him much pain and couldn't deal with them anyway. So, I took them with me. I kept them in the car until we were all checked in and then we made our way to the bus stop.
We waited about 10 minutes and then it came. A few blocks later, we tranferred to another bus. The kids loved it. Parked loved knowing that he was on a 51 bus. Elizabeth liked sitting backwards and Miranda just liked sitting up high and seeing things she recognized out the window. We then all walked the three blocks home. All in all, it was only an hour trip and the kids all did great. I was very impressed.
I had to do the opposite to pick up the car, but decided to leave the kids home that time. Turns out the car, which was only in for 90k service needed all manner of work and I have to bring it back on Tuesday to get it finished. So I get to do the whole thing again at 7am. Oh joy.
For the last several weeks, Parker has been napping less and less. If he naps at all, it's for about one hour. I let him decide most days if he is going to nap or have quiet time. He doesn't quite get (or doesn't care if he does get) that quiet time does not mean come downstairs every five minutes to ask mommy a question or tell her what time it is or how old his cousins are. But, he's pretty quiet, so I can't complain.
So, today, I planned a play date with a twin mom who lives near by. It turns out she went to Santa Monica High School the same year Michael did and they have bunch of friends in common.
And of course, Parker decided this would be a good day to catch up on all his lost sleep. He has been sleeping for over 3 hours with no end in sight. I would wake him up except if he is sleeping this much, he most really need it. Oh well.
I thought my april fools joke was fairly successful considering it made my dad and mother in law actually ask me if it was true. Amity's reaction was also pretty good and hearing Amy was even fooled for a moment was nice.
But today when Shari called me to 'freak out' about the news, I was quite satisfied. As all my friends know, I never talk to anyone on the phone to anyone so when she called me, I cracked up. Hard.
Thanks Shari. You made my day!
Miranda loves to tuck in her babies and animals for naps. On this occasion she did hers and then Elizabeth's.
When I picked up Parker at school yesterday, his teacher said quietly to me, "Wait to you see what he drew today."
When I opened the easel size paper, I saw numbers and a clock and thought, "nothing new here," but then I really looked at it and it was a whole story. He told me a bit about it. He said it was his sisters waking up early (6:15) and him telling them to go back to sleep until 7. He added in the AM and PM, since he just recently learned what that meant. It was quite a picture and Michael and I spent a good deal of time looking at it last night. I just wonder how long it took him to do it.
The other day, Elizabeth and Miranda were playing nicely together. Then something happened and a big fight ensued that ended with Elizabeth throwing Miranda on the ground. I'm not sure what really happened before that, but I'm pretty sure nothing Miranda did called for any wrestling moves. So, off to a time out for Elizabeth who was none to happy about that. Miranda recovered well considering and I sent her off to the room to play with the shopping cart and stuffed animals (both which had something to do with the fight I think.)
After Elizabeth stopped screaming and finished her time out, she said she wanted her baby (who was in the shopping cart). I took her into the room and told her to ask Miranda if she could have the baby. Miranda said, while handing over the baby, "Thanks for asking."
I must have been an incredibly bad person in a previous life because someone is surely punishing me. Despite infertility and a tubal ligation, I am now, once again, pregnant. Can you believe it? Only one this time, thank the lord. I realize this news is not best received via a blog, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell anyone in person or on the phone. And yes, I'm already getting the morning sickness I got the last two times. Michael is in for a world of hurt for the next 7 months.
I suppose I'll be studied by scientists for years for this one and that my friends, is the only silver lining on this right now.
The kids and I found ourselves in the back house today. Parker likes to play with the sliding door to the bathroom. He goes in the bathroom and then closes the door and says it's an elevator. Today he said, "I'm gonna go to the 9th floor and when I get there, there is going to be a lady there who looks like you, wearing the same clothes as you, sitting in a chair like you." He closed the door and then came out a few minutes later, announcing, "I'm here on the 9th floor now!" Then he got back in the bathroom, said he was going to go down to 1 and then home and slid the door closed. When he 'arrived' back on 1, he said, "Hi Mommy! I saw a lady that looks just like you on the 9th floor!"
I love shit like this. It reminds me that he isn't just a math freak. Something that is hard to do when he is multiplying numbers on the fridge all day long.
Yesterday afternoon, I had thought we would just stick around the house since everyone was pretty snotty and coughing. But then Parker asked to go to the park. So after a lot of crying (about whatever) and getting dressed, we were off. After an hour or so there, it was time to leave. This particular park is right off a very busy, very fast moving street. (One time, we saw another friend's kid ride his tricycle down the walkway into the street. Scary!) So as we were walking down, I asked the kids to walk slowly. Elizabeth took this to mean run fast. Miranda took Elizabeth running to mean run with her. I stopped and told them to freeze and then come back to me so we could walk slowly down. After thinking about this for a few minutes, they returned. We all started walking slowly, but soon enough Elizabeth and then Miranda were running. I yelled. They stopped. Returned. Started again. We went through this a few times before they got it (or before they decided to just walk slowly). Just at that time, Parker, who had been getting water and walking slowly, started to run. He runs in these little circles. I started to tell him to slow down to just walk to stop running. While I was saying these things, he fell. Scraped his arm up pretty bad and scared the crap out of himself.
This little story, which took no more than 7 minutes total, is a good example of the struggle I continue to have with these kids. As I was telling them to slow down, I felt bad that I was "restricting" them or trying to control them unnecessarily (I mean, they probably weren't going to just run into the street as they have never done that before). But as my daily goal continues to be "to avoid the emergency room", I kept at it, feeling guilty the whole time. Then Parker gets hurt and instead of feeling bad for him and being sympathetic, I just got annoyed and my inner voice said, "I told you so." Like Parker gives a crap about my inner voice. Sure, I was right, but who really cares?
I have no idea what the "fix" is for this kind of thing. I could have held their hands as we walked down, but then other issues would have popped up like Elizabeth's nursemaid's elbow or who got to be in front and who in back (two have to hold one hand). Perhaps the fix was staying home, which is what I wanted to do to begin with.
Ah, sigh.
Lori and I took the kids to the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Weather was great, crowds weren't bad, and kids did very well most of the time. There was a new exhibit up of things that made noise. Parker loved this room, but it was too noisy for me and I went outside with the girls where they dressed up like a bee and a skunk. I was also able to let them paint today, an activity I usually avoid, since it's hard to manage on my own. They didn't like painting as much as they liked cleaning it up with the spray bottles and squeegees. Who knew?
