Besides the birthday party and the birthday party aftermath, we:
- changed 30 or 40 diapers. Or 2 or 3 diapers 10 or 20 times.
Most of these belonged to "Elliott," K's birthday dolly, the anatomically correct boy baby who not only drinks from a bottle but also came with his own potty for peeing in.
Or not. He doesn't seem to want/need to pee. And I'm not convinced we're even feeding him correctly. In any case, the kid won't pee! (I picture a call to their technical support: "Our baby doll won't pee!" "Are you feeding him using the bottle?" "Of course, what kind of parents do you think we are!?!" "And is he taking the bottle?" "Uh... not really." "Why aren't you nursing him longer? He's just a few days old. Nursed babies are much healthier! It's common knowledge..." click!) Maybe he's got an enlarged prostate or kidney stones....
So, what to do? It's not that I mind him not peeing (frankly, it makes things easier), but there's this expectation that he *will* pee, and when he doesn't there's disappointment to be dealt with. (Oddly, if you'll allow me just one more parenthetical digression, the disappointment may actually be mostly mine. K seems to have adjusted her expectations and so spent yesterday evening using the bottle not to feed him but rather to squirt "medicine" on Elliott's naked body, creating a large puddle in the middle of the kitchen floor and an entirely different kind of issue for us to deal with.) - saddled and unsaddled Prancer 11ty-billion times.
Also took Lisa's helmet off and on approximately the same number of times.
Complications: Saddle "buckle" is quite delicate, being made of very thin rubber, and has already partly ripped. Helmet doesn't fit well over Lisa's very generous hair. L wants badly to play with both Prancer and Lisa and K mostly refuses to allow it.
- rode bikes!
And this is a biggie. K has been on the cusp of figuring out how to ride her two-wheeler (w/ training wheels). Our yard and driveway aren't suited for biking, especially inexperienced biking, and Sunday was one of the nicest days we've had this year, so I took the girls to the park while M went to work. Where K hopped on her bike and took off, riding around the flat pathway at least 3 times (and possible 4), distracted only by a pair of small boy babies who got successive diaper changes. She was cruising and pleased and I was nearly as proud as she was!
L got on her tricycle and managed a bit of peddling, though she's still short of actually understanding how to make the trike work. There was some frustration, but luckily there were also slides. And L is a maniacal slider, going down the high "curly slide" multiple times (and only hitting her head once).
She's also a maniacal climber and both she and K went up ladders I would have thought too high and scary. And by the end of our time she rode her trike about 1/2 way around the circular path while K did a final turn.
- had good, long naps after the park.
This is also a biggie because Saturday was a action-packed day of anticipation and sugar and presents and sharing struggles, so both girls were badly in need of recooperation. As was Daddy.
They slept! I cleaned a bit and rested a bit, just managing to hop up off the window seat and look distracted and busy as M was arriving home.
- set up and took down the bounce house 4 times.
Or was it 5? The weather, though nicer than it has been, was rather "spring-y" which meant clouds coming through and dropping just enough precipitation to make it necessary to pack up the bounce house. Also, K found it much less fun bouncing by herself on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, then with a few neighbor kids (Saturday morning). And L wanted nothing to do with the house. "Too 'cary." Ok, fair enough.
- opened and closed the new umbrella 12-15 crisptillion times
fought over the new umbrella 7 crisptillion times
L loves it.
But it's K's.
So.... L uses it when K is occupied with Elliott or Prancer.
Until K notices and rips it from L's grasp.
And then there are tears and recriminations and kleenex and discussions about sharing and using words not fists and we're on to other things.
Briefly.
- watched sweaty women run around.
Ok, we attended Aunt Amy's soccer game which was conveniently in our neighborhood and more importantly, gave the girls the opportunity to watch athletic women doing athletic things.
A role model in shorts
(Aunt Amy) - I have this hope that the girls will grow up believing they can do just about anything they want to do (how well they can do it is a different issue, but at this point it's an unimportant one).
Luckily they've got some great role models for athletics, starting with M who swims and runs and isn't afraid to get out into the garden and dig animal poop (ok, it's compost, but K is facinated by the idea that we take what used to be horse or cow poop and put it on our garden. I think there's this appalled fascination thing going with it). And there's cousin Maggie with Ohso, who is oh, so wonderful because he's a real horse! Then there's Amy who plays soccer but usually on the dreaded "east side" so we've not seen her before. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit, especially K who found herself wishing we'd brought her soccer ball, the ball she's not shown much interest in at all to this point. - Had reasonably reasonable bedtimes (no complaining, no multiple tuckins).
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