Play Dates

 

Wednesday was the start of school. The first day went okay - I  like the building the class is in (same as my office location and it actually has parking), the room, which has lovely windows, plus I've taught the class twice before including last semester, and I have a few familiar faces. Still, I just felt 'off.' I think the break has made me enjoy just being home - Lord, please don't let me get lazy! I do appreciate having a job, and this is a great one to have. I must count my blessings. It also made me appreciate my husband who willingly goes to work and sacrifices for our family every day.

 

On Thursday, I took the boys grocery shopping for a few things I needed to make a casserole for a girl from MOPS who had experienced her second miscarriage in just a few short months. I also bought a dozen apples to make two homemade apple pies. It took me most of the afternoon to make the meals for us and for them, but I thought they turned out well. As I was peeling & slicing apples, I remembered my Grandma Moore who used to do that one-handed after her stroke. I realized I shouldn't be complaining in my head about it. At least God gave me two good hands/arms! Shawn didn't seem all that impressed with my efforts. But, he doesn't complain if I do something simple like sandwiches or salads, so I guess I can't have it both ways. :)

The kiddos have kept me smiling. Joshua got dressed almost all by himself (for the most part) yesterday. I wasn't as impressed that he could do it by himself as I was that he actually wanted to. Normally, he says "No! You do it!" and refuses to try. But, he's starting to want to do things more by himself. He put on his undies and pants by himself with no problems, he got his shirt most of the way on but then I helped give it a small tug over his head when he started to panic. Then he even put his socks on by himself (but I helped adjust them to be straight on his toes once they were on). He was really proud of himself, and I was too! Great job, my Bean!

Caleb has been really interested in the potty. He keeps pulling down his pants by himself, something Joshua didn't do at that age. (Caleb does it all the time, though, which can drive me a little crazy.) He tells us when he's gone, and one time this week he asked me to go potty. I took off his diaper and he sat down and tooted. He grinned, said "tooters," and got back up immediately. He has yet to do anything there, but I'm thrilled that he's at least not fearful of the potty. I'm always at a loss of how to get started with the potty training.

Thankfully we're almost there with Joshua! This week he stopped holding it and has actually went in the potty for us a few times, letting us know that he has to go and sitting there long enough to get the job done. He then said "now I can watch my Cars movie." Yes, that's right! He had success twice this week and had two accidents after we put on his night-time pull-up, but I'm more than thrilled that he's stopped holding it since that can cause major problems for his body. I think we've turned a corner. He also hasn't had a wet accident in a looong time. I took him out all day yesterday in his big boy undies and we stayed clean and dry with no worries. I think we're there. Praise God! I know this isn't a typical subject that people talk about, but again, this blog is for their memories so I want to mark the dates when they start having success. :)

Yesterday morning, I took them to the Calvary Preschool Open Gym again. I saw Renee, the mom in charge of it, got re-introduced (since I'm terrible with names!) to another mom who helps run it named Jen [easy enough since that's my sister's name] and another woman introduced herself to me again and her name was Becky [my other sister!]. I was literally sitting between Jen and Becky. So, I knew I was meant to be there. Haaa!!! Anyway, it was interesting hearing the other mom's stories. One mom is completely into organic everything, another is a photographer, one has twins and we heard the story of her finding out the 'news,' another is due in a couple days, etc. It was an interesting morning. But, most of all, I enjoy having a wide-open space that the kids can run and play. I was really proud (not sure that's the best word, but not sure what else to call it? Excited, maybe?) at how well my boys behaved in the group. They were gentle with other kids, shared, listened to me, etc. We had a really good morning. So, when we left there, we met Daddy for lunch, which is always a treat.

Caleb was one of four or five 18-month-olds there, and I think he was the only one talking. He really is saying a lot, and I think sometimes I take it for granted. Shawn said he must have at least 50 words or more that we've heard him say, and he's saying two words together now, too.

 

Joshua is all personality (he is so much like his momma it's scary!). He told us the other night, "first, we're going to get jammies on, then we're going to get snacks, then I'm going to get a treatment and watch Sesame Street and then it will be time for night-night," and then after pausing for a moment he emphasized, "And that's the ONLY plan!" Shawn & I looked at each other and cracked up. What a silly Bean! I think he was tired and ready for bed, but that is our typical routine for him. Haaaa!!! He also said the other day after I punished him, "Momma has to stay at our house now while we got out" (talking to Daddy). We both laughed.

Caleb likes to dig through the baby boxes in his room, and every once in awhile I'll let him just explore. He found this pacifier, which amused me since neither of my boys ever took to a nook. Well, Joshua liked them until his surgery at CHOP but then he acted like we were trying to kill him thereafter when we'd try to put one in his mouth. Caleb never liked one. I always wanted my boys to like them because I had friends that simply popped one in their baby's mouth and the baby would be calm and quiet. We didn't have that luxury. But, now I'm sort of glad because I'm not breaking my kids of them where as I have friends with babies much too old for pacifiers still giving in because it's hard to take them away. Anyway, Caleb decided that morning to give it a try. I didn't take it away because it's not an addiction. He was just enjoying the new 'toy.' He was biting away on it, which I think was somewhat soothing the side of his mouth where he's getting another new tooth. I had to snap a few pictures, of course.

 

Last night, we decided to try Park City again for the kids to run in their playground. The boys really like it there, and we invited our friends Chris & Lisa and their daughter Isabella to join us there since they're always good about inviting us places. First we ate dinner together, but the boys were anxious to go play. So, Daddy went into the play area with the boys while our friends finished up eating. I heard Joshua cry so I whirled around and saw Daddy picking up the Bean, and by the look on his face, I knew Joshua had been pushed or something. But, Shawn said it was okay, so I let it go. We all went into the play area at that point, and our kids and Isabella were having so much fun! They took turns going down the slide and climbing on the bed area, along with the duck, the blocks, the toothbrush, the hockey stick and the soccer ball. They were running around and having a blast, climbing and happily playing. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera. A couple sitting in the corner whose son was playing with Joshua said to me, "You can't deny him - he looks just like you." I told them that normally people tell us that he's the spitting image of Shawn, but they said "oh no, he looks just like you." I told them I'd take that as a compliment and the guy said "oh yes, he's very cute" in such a way that made me feel a little awkward, so we moved away. He was just being friendly and later asked Shawn about Joshua's name.

Then, as Caleb was playing on the bed, a boy much too big to be in that area gave him a little nudge. I was right there and was going to say something but it was over pretty quick, so I let it go. Caleb scowled at the boy. Then the boy went to grab him, and I loudly told the boy "No! He's a baby! Absolutely not!" I figured if the parent was there, they should be watching their son. But, I have a hunch that some parents go off and shop and let their kids wander aimlessly in this play area, which is against the rules. They also have rules on the height of kids allowed to be in there, which I notice many parents ignore, which is probably why the one slide is broken. 

 

Soon, the play area started filling up and another couple of rough, extremely large boys came in and the place was getting full of mostly bigger kids. It went from nice and calm to chaos. Children were jumping from toy to toy and running around and knocking each other over. Shawn gave me the look, and I gave the boys a two-minute warning that we were going to leave. Joshua climbed up the slide and three larger boys jumped on it (two twins and the rougher one from earlier) and went down several times. Finally, I said "let's take turns." Joshua patiently waited and finally got to go down, only for the kid that had pushed Caleb earlier to go down after him and land on him, literally crushing his hand. I had had it. My momma bear came out in full force. I was trying to control my tongue. I told the boy that he needed to be more careful if he was going to play in the smaller children area. Then I scooped my bawling Joshua up and went to get on his shoes. A woman came up to me and said "I'm sorry. Did my son hurt yours? You know, I really try... " I was fuming, but I thought it was nice of her to come up. I replied, "I think he's okay" but then thinking about it more, I said in a not-very-nice tone "You know, there is a sign there with the rules, which includes height restrictions. You might want to check it out." And I walked away.

As I was putting the boys' shoes on, Lisa & Chris were getting Isabella's on. I felt bad that we had invited friends there and the place was getting out of hand. They told us they were going to go look at books at Kohl's. Then the boy who had hurt Joshua came up with his mom. And it was a different woman than I had scolded earlier. Ugh! I had the wrong one! When the woman had come up to me, I just assumed she had seen her son. Here it wasn't even her kid. I would have apologized to her, but I think they had already left. I looked and didn't see her again. Shocked that this was the mom of the rough kid, I didn't say anything to her. Joshua moved away from the little boy in fright and she said and I quote "I really hate this place" and they left. She had an arm full of packages, so Shawn thought maybe she hadn't been there. He also told me later that this same little boy had shoved Joshua off the slide when he was crying. I'm glad I didn't know that before he crushed the Bean's hand, or I may have said a little more. I left there feeling guilty for not being nicer to the woman who originally came up to me. How do you stand up for your kids and yet still have grace for others? It's something I have to learn. Shawn said he thought I did well given the situation. He could tell I was angry but I didn't say anything regrettable. I asked later if he thought I had made it awkward for our friends and he said no. What made it awful was the unsupervised bigger kids coming in and little kids getting knocked around. We were leaving anyway, he reminded me. Moral of the story? Follow the rules. And don't mess with a momma bear and her cubs. And give grace to people who are trying to do the right thing.

So, that was the end of our Friday night. We got home, put the boys in jammies, gave them a snack, played for a little while and then tucked them in bed.