We joined in a friend's birthday party where I spent a few minutes with their grandparents who are visiting from Oklahoma. After a few comments about chicken and dumplings, then drinking some fresh sweet tea, I'm in the mood for a big, "Howdy!"
The twins love singing happy birthday no matter who is the recipient. Singing is fun for them and they learned it is the precursor to birthday cake.
Saturday was Mommy's day out with her friend April. I've been waiting all week to spend some quantity (and quality) time with the twins. I had them to myself all day until 3:00 this afternoon.
Craigslist is the most awesome tool ever invented by the internet. After seeing Layla's bike riding skills at the bike shop I felt it was time to get her on two wheels. I found a Mongoose bike for $40 (retail is $155) on Craigslist. After two text messages we met at the mall. I gave it once-over inspection, gave them $40, then squeezed it into my trunk without Layla ever seeing it.
Next stop was the Weeeeee-bump park for some sand play time and a picnic lunch. A fellow father at the park agreed to take a picture of us. I was happy to be in a picture instead of just the guy behind the camera all of the time.
While conversing with the Dad I learned he had a 6 year old boy and twin 4 year old girls. We swapped war stories and glorious successes in parenting. I love talking to guys who have twins + more kids because it keeps me humble to consider how things could be more challenging.
We headed home from the park, but Layla called me out on my promise to get slurpees together. I agreed and we went to the QT because they have kid-sized cups and bendable straws. Easton said he wanted a hot lava slurpee so I poured him the red flavor. He spent the next several minutes on the car ride home telling me about how his hot lava slurpee was really, really cold.
We played games and colored at home for another hour until quiet time. By then Easton was lying on the floor with his blanket, pillow, and thumb wedged firmly in his mouth. Only took him a couple of minutes to fade off into sleepy time. Layla repeatedly denied being tired and she read books to herself for 30 minutes until I told her it was ok to come out.
Kendra arrived home with stories of how much money she saved us. She really is a thrifty shopper. Easton finally woke up so we gave Layla her new bike and off she rode.
Her reaction is priceless. The baby in the front was her idea. I guess the thought of having a sweet basket with nothing in it seemed incorrect for her. :)
Easton was happy for Layla, but didn't want anything to do with her bike or the boys bikes at the sporting goods store. He is content with his tricycle and we are in no hurry to force him onto two wheels. He gets around just fine on his green machine.
Easton asked me to join the two of them for bike riding. I asked myself the same question I always ask when they make a request, "why not?" If I don't have a good reason to deny their request then my default answer is, "yes!" I hopped on my bike and immediately Layla said, "where is your helmet?" Uhh... hmmm... The concept of "do as I say, not as I do" doesn't fly at ALL with kids. I had no choice but to thank her for noticing and then I put on my helmet!
I took a break to assist as Layla worked on starting and stopping while avoiding falling over. Her knees took a beating that day, but she is a real trooper when it comes to getting back on the (iron) horse.
When Easton says, "I want to go back and forth" he means, "please connect the camera to the TV for a live feed so I can see myself running around". Once again, I had no reason to disagree so we hooked it up and played silly for about 20 minutes. This time I threw in a twist where I would take a still shot occasionally and then it would display on the TV for 5 seconds before reverting to the live feed again. At first they were slightly apprehensive.
Then they both laid down while still giggling and looking at the live feed. I jumped in with them and set a timer for us to get a still shot together.
After that they were off to the races dancing around acting silly.
Easton pulled off an unintended air guitar move.
Then it got really out of control with Easton pretending to be a dinosaur stomping around and Layla pretending to be a chicken.
One last humorous note I just have to share... While outside playing in the front yard Easton asked me to draw him an Orca whale. I started drawing with the chalk and he recognized my whale was a hump back, not an Orca. He called me on it and asked me to start over. Once the whale was finished Easton said, "Where is his uvula? Please draw the uvula, Daddy." I have no idea where that came from, but I did my best to improvise a uvula in the whale's mouth. It doesn't matter that whale's don't have a uvula, I was impressed he knew what one is and that the whale's was missing! What a smart boy.
Next week will have several exciting developments for us. The one thing I'm looking forward to the most is the possibility of date night with Kendra some evening. It all hinges on finding an available baby sitter, as always.
See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment