Yates Mill Pond

On Sunday, we all went to Yates Mill Pond for a little hike around the pond.  We went in reverse from how we normally go and started with the bridge, then walked through the woods around the pond, and ended up at the mill and then the education center.

If only there was a way to harness this child's energy, we could indeed mill a lot of corn.

Reptile & Amphibian Fair

On Saturday, the natural history museum was holding its annual reptile and amphibian fair, so we followed this Jurassic jeep downtown to the see the snakes.  Both kids enjoyed the hands-on exhibits, and Alice even got her first face painting done.

You can't really see it, but in the picture above, with Simon squatting in the dinosaur footprint, he's doing his version of the one of the crafts, and is coloring on a tongue depressor with a yellow marker.  When it was time to go, we said bye-bye to the yellow marker, but Simon was unprepared to part with his beloved marker, and kicked and screamed and threw a tantrum the whole way out of the museum--which consisted of an escalator ride, walking over a pedestrian bridge, down a flight of stairs, out into the courtyard, up a flight of stairs to the parking garage--and only then did he stop screaming and flailing for a few minutes.  But I feel like I got another parenting merit badge today, because you haven't really parented until you've had to carry a kicking and screaming child through a public place.  We're fortunate to have such good-natured (and well-managed) kids that this is a relatively rare occurrence in our life.

Apples and ears

On Friday, the kids stayed home from school (daycare was closed anyway) and spent the day with the grandparents while Zac and I went to work.  

Grandpa gave the kids some custom-made coloring pages.

They took the kids to the park near our house.

Alice and grandma enjoyed eating apples together. I wonder if that snake behind them had anything to do with it?

Both kids got some bunny ears.

And Simon smiled for a selfie.

Grandma and Grandpa are here!

In the week or so before their visit, Alice heard me talking to my parents on the phone when I said, "Alice is really looking forward to your visit!"  

A day or so later, Alice declared, "I'm facing forward to grandma and grandpa visiting!"

So on Thursday night, I took Alice with me to the airport to pick them up.  She was quite happy to have them read her the bed-night stories.

Children of the Mud

With the warmer weather, the kids have gone from playing in the snow to playing with mud.  Alice was very happy to help Zac mix up a big batch of mud to plant some trees in.  Now, whenever they play outside Alice mixes water with the dirt to make different concoctions.  Usually Simon gets to play with the leftovers.

Naughty Simon

Today, Simon threw his washcloth in the trashcan.

Then, when were on the porch, Simon ate a piece of cat food and said "Mmm" afterwards.

And he absolutely loves chalk, and gets it all over the place.

Before getting in the much-needed bath, he threw a toy in the potty.

He also throws tantrums a lot.

The shine's wearing off this kid!

Swamp Creature

Zac took Alice to the swamp in the woods by the park this morning.  And he even let her bring the new shovel.  Alice could not have been happier.

Simon was miserable, however, because we wouldn't put him down and let him walk around in the swamp. I soon took him back to the regular part of the park, where he could wander around freely.  He mainly just picks up sticks and pine cones.

Alice used her little shovel and bowl to make what she called "swamp cake."

After playing in the swamp for a long time, the swamp monsters emerged from the woods and tried to rejoin civilization. Zac changed Alice into dry socks and shoes, and she played on the playground for a long time too.

There were no nap-time challenges today.  In fact, Alice fell asleep while I was still scratching her neck, so I surreptitiously snapped a photo of this sleeping beauty and her glowing, musical seahorse.

ABC

Simon and I got back from the park before Zac and Alice, and since it was such a beautiful day, I let him play outside some more before lunch.  When he was making random lines with the chalk, he kept saying, "ABC."

Out of the mouths of babes...

One time, I was chopping up fresh broccoli to steam, and Simon must have been hungry because he started demanding broccoli.  I told him, "Simon, it's not ready yet, I have to cook it."

Then Simon started chanting, "Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!" while pointing at the cookie cupboard.

*****

"I'm giving you a hypothesis with my battle," said Alice, as she tapped my lap with a stalk of plastic celery.

*****

After successfully pulling the foil top off her applesauce cup, Alice declared, "I'm a good applesaucer peeler!"

*****

We were having roasted vegetables and pork chops for supper.  When I came out of the restroom to head to the kitchen, I saw Simon sitting in the time-out spot, crying his head off, with his bib on.  I got to the kitchen and asked what had happened.  Alice piped up, "Simon slapped daddy with a piece of food."

Dangit, I thought, I miss all the good stuff. I turned to Zac and asked, "Really?"

"No," he sighed. "Simon just picked up his food and threw it on the floor as soon as I put him in his chair."

So things were off to a rough start; this isn't a popular meal with the kids.  But we want them to evolve beyond eating spaghetti, macaroni, and pizza, so we often subject ourselves to miserable dinners for a higher purpose.

Zac was trying to convince Alice to voluntarily eat a piece of potato, and I was encouraging her too, by saying, "Alice, do you know who loves potatoes?  Peppa the pig loves potatoes!  Remember the episode where grandpa pig brought them a wheelbarrow full of roasted potatoes when they were stuck in the traffic jam?  They were all so happy to eat potatoes."

I then glanced at the pork chop on my plate, and gasped, "Alice, I think we're eating Peppa!"

Alice's eyes got big, and she said, "Is Peppa made of pork?!"

Let the record show that although she did not enthusiastically eat the pork chop, she did eat it.

*****

Alice has long associated Grandpa Shogren with teasing.  Although Zac and I do our fair share of teasing, I don't think Alice always realizes it as such.  Often, she'll catch on at some point and say, "You're just joking!" However, one time she became aware that I was teasing her and she said, with a look of deep betrayal, "You're teasing me just like Grandpa Shogren and daddy!"

In anticipation of Grandpa Shogren's visit, Alice has been making plans.  One time she said, "I will just say, 'Hello Grandpa-Simon-Teaser'".

I turned to Simon and warned, "Watch out Simon, she'll throw you under the bus in a heartbeat."

Simon looked around, confused, and said, "Bus?"

Another time, she said, "I will just tease grandpa back and say, 'Jelly airplane motorcycle dinosaur.'"  Then, after reflecting on the inadequacy of it, concluded, "I only have a little tease because I'm a little girl.  When I grow up, I will have a lot of tease."

Alice loves tire swings

Simon has a bad cold again, so I stayed home with him while Zac took Alice to Dragon Park, and then to Trader Joe's.  Her favorite thing at the park is the tire swing.

What to do with a bunch of packing paper

Follow the chalky brick road...

We had unseasonably warm temperatures today, so I picked the kids up early and we played outside until Zac got home from work.

Alice and Simon colored on the bricks with chalk.

Then Alice discovered that her bucket hanging from a string was full of water from the melted snow, and she whipped up a fresh batch of what she called "Caterpillar Soup."

Daycare playground

When I picked up the kids today, they were both out on the playground.  Simon was lording over the playground from his post on the little bridge, while Alice was winning at a game of chase with Izzy and her teacher.

Putting things in things

Alice loves to put things in things.  So one afternoon, she put her feet in her purple princess slipper-boots (hand-me-down), and put a bunch of junk in her backpack and another bag, and declared, "I'm heading to school now, Mom!"

As I said, Alice likes to put things in things.  Today she also put Percy in the fishtank.  She was genuinely distressed as he floated under the glass top and she was unable to retrieve him. She sounded the alarm: "Mom, Percy's swimming in the fishtank and I can't get him out!" We fished Percy out, gave Alice dire warnings about what would happen if she put anything in the fishtank again, and all was right in the world of little girls and little trains.

Winter watermelon

One of the side effects of taking Alice with me to the grocery store is that we usually come home with a watermelon. It would never occur to me to buy a watermelon in winter, but it seemed a suitable way to bring in the month of March: with hopes of warmer times ahead!

Passing time at the mall

Sunday consisted of freezing rain all day, so we headed to the mall with the munchkins.  It is about a five minute drive from our house, and they have a play area for kids, so it made a convenient way to pass some time, and we actually hardly ever go there with the kids. I ended up being on my own with Alice and Simon most of the time so that Zac could do a bit of clothes shopping.  He did magically appear when Simon had a poopy diaper, so that was nice.

After running around in the play area for a while, we headed towards the other end of the mall where there is a little train, a toy store, and an open area under skylights where they have a bungee trampoline.  The few times I've been here before with Alice, we always watched the jumpers, and rode the train. She'd asked to do the trampoline before, but I just told her no because I assumed she wasn't big enough or would chicken out at the last minute.  But today, she said she wanted to do it, and I told her to watch for a while to make sure she wasn't scared. It turned out the only requirement was that you have to weigh 20 pounds, and Alice weighs somewhere around 30 pounds these days.  She kept asking, and I kept delaying, to see if she really wanted to do it. Then I made her wait in line by herself, to further test her resolve. She passed all my tests, so I gave her the money so she could pay for it.

I was still worried she would chicken out, but she really did it. She was so happy the whole time.

It's a bit dizzying to watch, and I actually handed my phone over to a nearby parent  halfway through because I'd had the bright idea to put Simon down and he had wandered off and was headed into a shop.  So let's fast forward three minutes and watch the end of her bouncing.

After that, we headed to the carousel and watched it for a bit. I never let her ride because it costs $2.50 per person and the one in Pullen Park is only a dollar and the ride is much bigger and longer.  Then the kids played on the little things that move (but I don't put any money in them) for a while.  I'm convinced if I put the kids in the space shuttle often enough they'll end up being astronauts.  That's how it works, right?

Finally, we headed to the toy store.  I'd done this before with just Alice, which turned out to be a lot easier than keeping track of two kids.

Simon was thrilled when he found some stuffed Peppa Pigs.  We watch that show on YouTube a lot lately for their bedtime snack.

Zac finished his shopping and pulled the van around to pick us up at the entrance near the toy store.  The kids were sufficiently worn out and after a good lunch, they took good naps.