It's Ready!

We are pleased to report to the bambini's adoring fans everywhere that bedtime shenanigans were kept to a minimum tonight, which meant that Giraffe-y escaped frustrated assault.  We heard the two of them in there yucking it up though as we were waiting for our dinner to finish cooking.  When the timer went off, all was quiet, and then we heard Joe call out, "It's ready!"  And then Birdie, "It ready!"

Thank goodness they were still up, right?

Birdie's Bedtime Battles, the Giraffe-y Skirmish

So Birdie's new bedtime schtick is to remove her blankets after being covered up and ask to be covered up again, and again and again and again. . .Sometimes though she'll mix it up and when one approaches to acquiesce to her demands, she'll bellow, "I do it!" and wail if you come any closer.  Oh it's the perfect chaser to the dinner-bath-and-bed extravaganza.  We should also mention that of late, Birdie likes to be covered up with not only her blanket, but the "mattress", "pillow," and blanket that came with a baby doll bed she received on her birthday.  Also, that the players in crib menagerie are not constant.  You know what they in Toy Land, "One day you're in, and the next day you're out."  Biride delivers her bedtime edicts in a whine that quickly escalates to a cry if one does not fall in line because, oh we don't know, like, maybe one didn't understand the whiny edicts?  Inevitably, if one attempts to leave the room and retaliate with the old cry it out strategy, Joe will begin to wail because "Clara is waking [him] up!" or "It's loud!"  This is if he isn't wanting to conduct The Late Late Show With Joe Ekkers for his little sister.  (This is all to say that bedtimes can be difficult when one's children share a room.  It ain't all flashlights under the covers and giggles about the crazy 'rents yet, Fans, and until then, we're makin' it up as we go along.)

Things devolved rather quickly tonight.  Julie will admit with downcast eyes that she pitched Giraffe-y rather callously into the basket, thinking Clara wanted Giraffe-y out of her bed.  Giraffe-y's eyes might have hit the doors on the cupboard under which the animal basket is housed, and made a sound like a gunshot, which caused Birdie to wail like her arm was being torn off.  That's when Joe helpful offered over the din that he thought Clara wanted Giraffe-y in the bed.*  So Julie then pitched--placed rather roughly?--Giraffe-y in the baby bed that resides next to Clara's bed.  (You'll recall that its linens are a permanent-for-now fixture in Clara's crib, so the baby doll bed is rather like prison digs.)  Giraffe-y's feet hit this thing sounding, if not like more gunshots, than rather loud, which prompted Clara to wail like her other arm was being torn off.  If she wanted Girafee-y out of the bed (read: her crib--emphasis added and the distinction from which some of the confusion stemmed), well, that was all forgotten.  Never leave a Giraffe-y on the field of battle.  It wasn't long after that Julie took her leave to do her own bawling at the dining room table.  Later she told Ted that she was feeling awful about losing her cool over Giraffe-y and Ted chuckled and said that he'd had discussions regarding Giraffe-y, too, and it is true that when Ted left the room, Clara was still bawling, and specifically for "Mama," which is when Julie cried like her heart was being torn out.  (Giraffe-y was in the crib though.)

If it isn't bedtime, it's long about this time in a tantrum that Clara might find the source of her torment, and take its hand, while she murmurs through tears what sounds like "Mo ma hand.  Mo ma hand." [Hold my hand.] and press it up to her cheek.  It's long about that time that one's heart melts and head shakes back and forth in love and wonder at this sweet and COMPLETELY CRAZY-MAKING girl, Our Birdie.

Clara and fellow patriots, including Giraffe-y, an innocent, caught in the crossfire.

Joe, having sought refuge with Neaky.

Baptism Outtakes

Yesterday afternoon, Joe's good buddy Marco's baby sister, Liliana, was baptized.  The ceremony fell during nap time so Ted stayed home with the napping bambini while Julie went to the ceremony to see the deed done.  But there was an after party!  The bambini got all dressed up to go and it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, so naturally we tried to take their pictures, together.  We got some choice shots, don't you think?  At one point, Joe whined, "It's really hard to hug my sister."  Why, Joe?  "She moves around a lot."  (Said the pot to the kettle.)

Whatever you do, don't.  Look. At. The. Camera. 

This sucks.

(I might get this whole picture taking thing more than my brother.) 

Shakin' Their Things on a Saturday Afternoon

"Nah nah nah nah NAH!!!!!"

This picture is representative of our Saturday afternoon.  Let's just say that Joe went to the McDonald's drive-thru in his underwear.  We perhaps need go no further, but we will.

After Birdie went down for her nap, Ted headed outside to paint the garage door and the window box that hangs on the side of the garage, and Julie went upstairs to patter and read.  She ended up reading on the big bed, which is where she was when she heard the pitter patter of little feet dashing all about downstairs before padding up the stairs and then suddenly, there Our Hero was, stripped down to only his underwear.  He burst out with, "Can we go to McDonald's for a shake?????" and frankly, Fans, it was all just too hilarious and charming to refuse.  Julie is a fan of the cheap, everyday, or pick-me-up treat anyway.  It wasn't long before she realized that Joe was covered in hunter green paint, the result of his help with painting the window box.  While he helped, he apparently chanted, "Paintin' in my underwear, paintin' in my underwear."  When Joe asked, at the car door, if he had to put on clothes, Julie said "Well, we're not getting out of the car."  You only go around once, Fans, right?

Once Julie and Joe got home, they sat out on the front walk and drank their shakes while Ted finished scraping the railing by the steps midway up the walk.  (We're on a home improvement tear, it's true.) 

"I'm Lovin' It!"

After a bit, Joe announced that we'd be working hard and was going to take a nap.  No, he didn't need help putting what remained of his shake in the fridge.

Three minutes later, he was back, giving new meaning to the phrase "power nap."  Joe consulted with Ted on the railing--or looked like he was anyway from the stoop where this reporter sat.

Consulting

Mostly though, Our Hero rolled about in the grass.  He allowed that Julie could as well, but noted that she really needed to do it in her underwear, and her shoes (by now Joe had donned his "cozy Crocs," which is what the winter Crocs have been dubbed).  Julie demurred.  Oh Joe also went around with the handheld vacuum, "hair blowing" various things, including Julie's hair when she had it bowed over her Nook.  (The distinction between the vacuum and the hair dryer was impressed upon him.)

Hair Drying

Eventually, Clara woke up.  The way she ended up in her underwear was hearing Joe asked to be sprayed with the hose and deciding right then and there that she was not about to be left out of that fun. But first, Julie hauled Joe and Clara off on an Underwear Wagon Ride.  Yes, we are nothing if not classy here at Raleigh House.  After the wagon ride, the underwear came off and the hose came out.  (So did our neighbor!  Boy did she get an eyeful!  But she offered us some lettuce from her garden and has put up with Berenice going ape every time she comes out to her house to throw something on the grill, so all signs point to her being nonplussed by the fine pair of bottoms she saw.)

Eventually, the mosquitos started coming out so the bambini were herded inside to the porch, where they quickly got into the winter gear bins.  Nothing compliments underwear like a pair of Princess Leia-esque ear muffs or a full gator.

"Help me Obi Wan Kenobi.  You're my only hope."

That's the blood pressure cuff from the doctor's kit he's holding.

Needless to say, the bambini were filthy after their adventures and also exhausted.  They were put to bed at 6:53pm, and Joe was asleep by 7pm when Julie went in to extinguish whatever plot to pitch a fit for God knows how long Clara was hatching.  Clara fell asleep not long after, too, but then woke a bit before ten.  That's unusual so Julie went in, and Clara said, "Cover.  Me.  Up!!!!!"  Well!  So Julie did, and by the time she had, Clara was back asleep.

Color Me Bigger

Clara, for her part, has really got the colors nailed down, save brown and black, which aren't in heavy rotation in your children's literature, and red and green which she mixes up, just like Joe used to do!  Last night, she picked out this book called Counting Colors to read.  Counting Colors is a color themed seek-and-find counting book.  So, for example, the green page might have one green lizard, two green frogs, three green toy boats, four tractors, and so on, all jumbled together.  Julie asked Clara what color each page was, and after Clara had pointed out about six things on each page, would then deign to respond.  Yellow is still "lel-low" (this was her first color), and blue is "loo!"  (Loo always seems to have an exclamation mark after it.)  White was a color she had pretty early on after yellow, which always surprised Julie at least, but then, there is a lot of white out there in the world, so maybe it's not too surprising.

We also discovered, while reading this book last night, that Clara has some sense of the relative size of things, and how to talk about those sizes, because on the red page, after Julie had asked Clara where the red shoes were, Clara busied herself finding strawberries, and identified one as "bigger" that the last at which she pointed--and it was!

Kind of like our little girl getting bigger every day.

To the End of the Counting, and Beyond!

The Hair Cut Game is back, Fans, or at least it was last night.  We'll see if it is back for an extended engagement tonight.  As a reminder, in the Hair Cut Game, one does not cut hair, or pretend to anyway.  Instead, one pretends to wash all manner of hilarious things from one's fellow player's hair--e.g. a monkey eating a pancake, or 50 purple popsicles.  As it turns out, last night Julie had a horse in her hair, but Joe quickly amended it to horses, "to the end of the counting."  "To the end of the counting" is one of the new concepts with which he is toying.  We've told him that the word for "the end of the counting" is infinity, and made reference to it being like when Buzz Lightyear says, "To infinity, and beyond!" but apparently, Buzz might as well say "To the end of the counting, and beyond!" so far as Joe is concerned, because there's no end to "the end of the counting."  But this is an example of the precious verbal gymnastics Joe (and soon enough Clara, we suppose!) engages in as he tries to express what he's thinking with the words he's got, and it really is just too sweet.  It's fleeting, too, of course.  We remember when he was saying geeses, and now it's goose and geese.  He's sorting out the verb tenses, too, and using them with more fluency.  It's only a matter of time before infinity is adopted, and he's beyond "the end of the counting."

Ready, Set, Tantrum!

Ted is back from California!  Clara Jane treated him to an extra special tantrum this morning.  Welcome home, Daddy!  It all began when Clara was not permitted to wipe her own bottom with the toddler wipes.  Now Bird Nation, before you all start thinking, "What's the harm in that?!" we would tell you that Clara loves--LOVES--to pull her a wipe out of a container, or a tissue out of a box.  Tissues aren't terribly pricey so we've sacrificed a box or two, but toddler wipes area bit more dear.  More than that though, tissues won't stop up the trash, but a handful of toddler wipes will sure stop up the potty (and as our longtime Fans know, we've only got the one here at Raleigh House).  Curiously, Clara is not so very into unrolling the toilet paper.  Rather, she prefers to tear off about a quarter of one square with which to wipe.  Or, she likes to tear off  a few squares, but wad them up into a tight little ball before wiping with it.  Who knows what she's thinking?  But we know you can't tell her anything.  This penchant is Reason Number 89 Why We Wash Hands After Using the Potty.

So there Clara was, wailing away on the potty, and--bare bottomed--off the potty in the kitchen by Julie's feet as Julie did the dishes.  We would like to say that she'd been wiped at this point, over her vociferous protests.  So we were just waiting for her to simmer down before getting her dressed for the day.  Eventually, she did, and said her signature line ("I ready."), but she wasn't really: she meant she was ready to go back to the potty and be given another go at the previously identified as Mommy-Daddy-only toddler wipes.  Hooray!  Round two!  Round two featured, oddly (given how Clara likes to roll--ha ha!--with her toilet paper), a length of toilet paper which was manhandled with passion in the kitchen at Julie's feet by the wailing Birdie.

In time, Birdie really was ready, so she isn't still tearing about in her pajama shirt and nothing else.

Happy Father's Day

***Special to California Dreamin' from Missing You in Minnesota***

So it was, as Joe would say, "Happy Father's Day" on Sunday, and Ted said that he did, indeed, have a happy Father's Day, which is good because he makes his family happy every day.  It is therefore with some dismay that this reporter regrets to admit that Ted made his own breakfast!  Mercifully, he requested eggs, bacon, and English muffins, and Julie prides herself on her scrambled eggs, at least, so she was set to do it.  But as the eggs broke, if you will, Ted made breakfast as he always does.*  He did no other cooking that day though, and Julie made him a buckle, or "summer cake" as we've taken to calling it around here.  We otherwise pattered about the day doing mostly a whole lot of nothing.

We should also say that the bambini made Ted Happy Father's Day cards at school.  Joe's included two Hershey's kisses: one "striped," and one traditional.  Guess who kept very close tabs on those kisses?  Eventually, they were unwrapped, and shared, with Ted taking the striped, and Joe the traditional.  Later Joe said that next time, he'd really like the striped.  Maybe on Happy Fabulous Son Day.

*See also: makes his family happy every day.

Birdie, Late Morning

The pots by the front stoop have double impatients in them these days, of which the spent blooms fall to the ground, especially during a heavy rain or storm.  Birdie will almost always stop to examine them and remark, "Flowers fall down!"

The Parktacular

Fans, today was the St. Louis Park Parktacular!  The Parktacular is a community celebration that the city has been hosting since the early 1900's, when it was once, apparently, dubbed the "biggest jubilee celebration ever."  Fans, the jubilee has only gotten bigger in the past 100 years.  It now boasts a parade, water slides and inflatables, various musical groups, a Taste of SLP, and--of note for us--canoe and kayak rides, a family fishing activity, a petting zoo, and pony rides.  It doesn't get much better than that, especially if you are almost four.  Which is why it was such a bummer when we woke up and the weather was so craptacular on Parktacular Day.  Thankfully, the rain moved out and the clouds parted just after lunch.  The boys headed out to catch the tail end of the parade before diving into the Parktacular's delights, while the Birds stayed home so the Little Bird could nap.  Julie was writing some notes on the porch and got regular updates on her phone, like "Canoe!!!!!  He didn't hesitate for a second!  Awesome."

Our Pennsylvania Fans will realize what a big deal Joe's boarding of a canoe without a moment's hesitation is, since he wanted nothing--nothing!--to do with the pontoon boat that was at the lake house we rented for a week last summer.  When Julie saw him later and told him how proud she was that he'd ridden in a canoe, Joe informed her that he'd ridden in a boat.  Whatever.  He was in a vessel, that was in the water.

He also caught a fish!

At first, Our Hero wasn't quite ready to ride a pony, so he petted some animals.

But then the Buckaroo was like, "Pony.  Bring it."

And there's more.  (We know, right?!)  The Little Gym was there with the Air Track, AND it was being supervised by Teacher Kayla!  Teacher Kayla remembered Joe, and Joe remembered Teacher Kayla.  Ted reports that Joe went down the Air Track a couple times, making moon eyes at Teacher Kayla all the while.

Somewhere in there, back at the ranch, Birdie woke up.  She had her snack on the porch with Ms. Barks A Lot, and then the Birds were off to the Parktacular, too.

By the time they got there, it had gotten pretty hot, and Joe had been going hard all afternoon.  So Joe was pretty tired, and ready to go home.  Birdie was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing, so after she'd gathered up some wood chips at Wolfe Park, and run around it a bit, she was ready to go, too.

Fans, Joe went to bed at 6:17pm.  !!!!!   This after an hour-long nap right when we got home!  Clara sacked out early, too.  It's 7:44pm as this reporter files this dispatch, and they are both sound asleep.  We call that spectacular.

That's Entertainment!

The house across the alley from us that was up for sale recently was purchased by a contractor who is flipping it.  On of the first orders of business was tearing down and replacing the garage which was listing a bit, and had broken windows.  Shortly after it was knocked down, all the overgrown brush and some trees along the alley were taken down.  (We're really glad that we decided to paint our garage the same color as our house, because frankly, the alley just got a lot spiffier.)  So it's been a real beehive of activity: dumpsters, mini loaders, lots of things making lots of noise, lots of construction workers doing lots of things.  We've been keeping very close tabs on the progress.

This is how the bambini were found Thursday morning when they were sent out to make their way to the car to go to school.

The Birds Drop By While the Boys Drop Off

When the boys got back from the Mini U.S. Open, Julie was baking cookies.  Joe settled in for quiet time upstairs, while Ted headed off to Whole Foods for the last of the groceries, including Sunday evening's fish.  Clara was napping.  Here, we pause to note that when the kitchen timer goes off here at Raleigh House, it is quickly following by shouts of, "Daddy!  I think it's ready!"  One must respond or this second timer will keep chirping, "Daddy!  I think it's ready!"  Julie knows this and thus, really should have been watching the kitchen timer, rather than listening for it, because no sooner had it gone off, then Joe hollered--hollered--from upstairs, "Daddy!  I think it's ready!  [beat] DADDY!  I THINK I. . ."  That's where Julie hissed from the foot of the stairs, "Joe.  I got it."  Joe no doubt settled back thinking, "My work here is done," as Clara began to cry.  Sigh.

So Clara got up, Ted came home, and we had cookies for afternoon snack before everyone scattered about the house.  Julie had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and packing up some cookies to take over to Graham and Connor's when she happened upon this scene:

Baby Doll (# Unknown); Ted on Thomas Pillow Pet; Joe, on Duck Pillow Pet

So Julie rounded up Clara, and took her on a late afternoon Midwestern drop-by while the boys dropped off.

Starry Birdie

Fore!

Our park district hosts a myriad of activities throughout the year, especially the summer, but the kid activities tend to be for the grade school set.  As we were perusing the catalog we noticed a small entry for "Mini US Open" which was golf for 3-5 year olds.  Eureka!  Ted roped in a few of Joe's friends' parents and registered for our first park event!  Our "tee time" was at 1pm Sunday.  We were given a score card which had a map of the 9-hole course, a set of 2 plastic golf clubs, and an oversized plastic golf ball (Ted was Joe's caddy).  We headed out to the first hole and teed off....34 strokes later we had made it to the flag about 50 yards away. There was no hole, just the flag, but the kids didn't care.  After 5 holes and several hundred swings later, the kids asked to be all done, to which the dads quickly agreed. We went back into the "clubhouse" where each kid got to hold the winner's trophy and pose in front of the leader board.  They had fun, and it helped they were playing together.  It also helped that there was a huge playground that they got to play on afterwards.

Good form!  Head down, eye on the ball!

Three amigos: Joe, Darby and Marco

Everyone's a winner! Golfers may note some odd scorekeeping.

Split! Splat!

So Clara is, for the first time ever really, fixated on a book.  Prior to the past two weeks or so, she went from book to book, and really, the only common thread among them that Julie could discern was that Clara seemed to like books with relatively more intricate illustrations.  The book that she is fixated on is one Julie got in honor of spring called Split!  Splat!  It's about a girl who plays in a rainy, then muddy, then sunny day and includes lots of nonsense words (like "mucha-mucha-chucka-wucka splish splash sploosh!") among the words that take the reader through the rain and mud and sun.  The illustrations look like watercolor paintings, incidentally.  It's pretty, and fun, and the rain is shot through with easy sunshine so you know, the book is quite a bit like Our Girl.

Clara Potty Watch: Day 4

We will soon cease with these daily potty updates.  But we thought Birdie's Brigade, near and far, would like to know that again, today, she was accident-free at school.  Moreover, she kicked this success off at home where she not only pooped, but also peed on the potty.  Perhaps most exciting was this: in the middle of dinner, she announced that she had to use the potty.  Off she went.  Brigade.  Indeed, she did have to use the potty!  She peed.  So this marked the first time that Birdie said she needed to use the potty,  held on to her pee until she reached the potty, and then released it.  She came on out to the space between the dining and living rooms when she was done and did a little dance grinning, and bare-bottomed.

Of Snuggling and Growing

Julie met Sara (also known as Graham and Connor's mommy) out for dinner tonight.  When she got home, she went into the bambini's room.  Clara was asleep, but Joe was still awake--just barely.  He asked if Julie was going to snuggle with him.  Julie said, "Do you want me to?", and Joe said yes and scooted on over.  Then, he was suddenly upright and a beehive activity, finally presenting Julie with Sheepie.  (Everyone needs an animal if it's to be a proper snuggle.)  Joe relayed that he'd heard a llama mama when he went to bed.  At least, that's what it sounded like to Julie who had her good ear pressed practically to Joe's lips--for once, he was whispering.  Finally, she doped out that he'd heard the lawn mower when he went to bed, and as Ted was showering when Julie arrived home, she put two and two together and realized Ted must have mowed the lawn tonight.

Then Joe asked if Julie had gone to dinner with Sara-and-Emily* Sara, or Graham's-mommy Sara.  Julie said Graham's-mommy Sara, and then pattered on about how long she and Sara had been friends--since college!--and Joe quickly broke in and said, "And me, too!" and added, "I like Aunt Sara because she plays hide-n-seek with me."  (He's conflating some things.  But suffice it to say, all the Sara's in his life not only to not spell their names with an H, they are also the bomb.)  And so there Julie was, thinking about how even though she likes her bed and pillows, and Ted is, after all pretty great, she could stay in Joe's "cozy little bed" with Joe, snuggled up like puppies all night, when Joe turned to her and said, "Mommy?  When are you going to go to your bed?"  Julie asked if he wanted her to go to her bed, and he said yes.  Sigh.  He did allow that there could be one more hug.

So Julie padded out to find Ted on the couch and after she'd relayed all of this, Ted said that he'd had a discussion with Joe about the relative merits of school versus work.  Ted said that he didn't get to play outside at work.  Joe, trying to be encouraging, said "You get to have morning snack, and lunch, and afternoon snack."  Ted did admit that this was true.  Then Joe asked if Joe got to paint.  Ted said that he did not get to paint; that there were no arts and crafts at work--just e-mails and meetings, just work.  That' when Joe told Ted "Maybe when you grow down you can maybe go to Ms. Kristin's room."

*Celebrity demi-goddess sitters.

Clara Potty Watch: Day. . .3?

We'll call it Day 3 as today was Birdie's third full day in unnerwear.  When we arrived at KinderCare this evening, Julie grabbed a bag figuring we'd be loading it up with plastic bags of wet clothes to take home and wash.  You can imagine her surprise when, upon sliding Clara's cubby out, she found but one bag of clothes.  The spare pair of shoes was still there, too!  Clara's daily doings report relayed that she'd done great with the potty.  She sat on it every hour, and had no accidents so presumably, she peed when she needed to!  She'd spilled water on her clothes; hence, the bag of wet clothes.  Tonight, when we got home, Clara sat on the potty after Julie, and tinkled.  So still, we've yet to see her realize she needs to pee and get herself to the potty, but all the pee she peed today went into a potty.

Clara poops on ANOTHER potty!!!!!

Despite the fact that Clara clearly--clearly--does not have the timing down for peeing in the potty, she has now pooped on not only the potty at school, but also the potty at home!  And--AND!--she did so after realizing she needed to do it, and getting herself there in time.  Tonight, after bath, she was tearing about like a wild thing.  Ted and Joe headed outside to water the tomatoes and carrot and marigold seeds they planted a few weeks ago and Julie stayed inside to continue ignoring Clara's antics.  No sooner had Julie ostentatiously settled down with the latest issue of the Northwestern alumni magazine than Clara announced "I poop."  Julie said, "You poop?!  Well, let's go!  Let's get in there!"  Birdie was kinda of making to squat all "I gots to go!  I just do it here!"  No.  Birdie got there, sat down, and pooped a healthy amount.  We mention this last so that you know, Readers, this was no toot or dribble.  This was the real deal.  Julie naturally made a big fuss, but Birdie just looked at her with that "I'm pooping" grimace.

Afterward, it was hugs all around, before the indignity and ordeal of the pink eye drops administration.  But then Birdie was carted outside to share her big news with the Boys, and got two high fives from her brother for her number two, in.  The.  Pot-TY!

Daddy Day

Clara Jane woke up with a case of pink eye today, and while it would have been nice to figure that out before getting dressed in a suit, it wasn't too tough getting back into shorts and a t-shirt for what became Daddy Day!  We had a busy day, and it went something like this:
1. A trip to the post office to mail a couple packages for Daddy and to provide all the details about her nearly naked doll to the stranger behind us for Clara.
2. Back home.  Try the potty.  Nothing.
3. Put the laundry in.  Clara finds Froggy in basement and claims it "mine."  Drags Froggy hither and yon upstairs.
4. Snack Time!  "I 'ant 'oot snacks."  Fruit Snacks it is!
5. Meet people at door buying an old baby gate from us.  Sit on front steps looking cute (Daddy was there too).  Play on slide for a few minutes.
6. Try the potty.  Nothing.
7. Off to see Dr. Harrington.  Brought Baby with us.  No kittens found in ears, but pink eye confirmed and medicine prescribed.  Daddy: "Baby wears a diaper.  What does Clara wear?" Clara with big grin to Dr. H.: "Unnerware!"  Dr. H is very proud and excited for CJ.
8. Stop in bathroom.  Success!!!!! A little dribble of pee and a smiling Clara and Daddy!
9. To Target for meds. . ."It will be 20 minutes."  (Daddy in head: "It's always 20 minutes, even though it's called ahead, and I clearly have a two-year-old with me, and it's about 5 ml of fluid in a tiny bottle. . .How long can that take?  No one else is at the pharmacy waiting. . .I can make dinner for a family of four with two of them hanging on to my legs in 20 minutes. . .Argh!)  Walked around Target (no cart!), picked up some pictures for daycare, checked out the kids' books, bought new straw cups for kids, pulled off anything on a peg or shelf within two feet of floor.  Got meds and blew that popsicle stand.
10. McDonald's drive thru.  Hey, it's a sick day.  You gotta go for fun confort food.
11.  Eat together on picnic table in backyard.  Halfway thru "I peed" (Clara not Daddy).  Pick up all food so animals won't steal it, rush to sit on potty (still don't understand this need, but all the books say to do it).  Finish eating on porch. . .linger forever like I know its nap time.
12. Hear wood chipper start up across alley where house (and yard) being gutted...perfect timing, thanks!
13. Read Split! Splat! and off to nap.
14. Daddy do work emails, phone calls, book work travel, schedule handyman to install garage door, and paint another side of garage to the tuneful hum of the woodchipper about 50 feet away.  Oh, and the chainsaw again. . .that is even louder, thanks!
15. Check on Clara Jane.  Still asleep.  Prep snack.  Change out of painting clothes.
16. Wake up Clara Jane after 2.5 hours napping. (Daddy nervous she is lying in pool of pee, or will be soon.)  She is dry!  Rush her to potty. . .nothing.  Nothing?  "I all done."
17.  Eat snack.  Text Mommy that she was dry through nap. . ."I peed."  Ugh, girl sitting in pool of pee.  Off to the bathroom for the requisite visit.  New underwear.  Scream at Daddy for the pants he chose.  Daddy clean booster seat.  Finish Snack.  Drinks lots of water. . .hmmmmm.
18.  To the basement to put in laundry.  Discover Fire Fighter outfit, Minnie Mouse ears, buckets, and many other toys.
19.  Try the potty again.  Nothing.
20.  To Daddy's bike to go get Joe!  Clara sitting on towel just in case.
21.  Arrive at school, go use potty in Joe's room (kids outside).  Nothing.
22.  Collect Joe, back on bike, through the park, over the pond, across the RR tracks, past the beach, past the Bird (sculpture by a school), and home.
23. Kids in backyard doing bubbles.  Daddy making dinner.  Mommy arrives home (changes clothes), goes to see kids.  Beat.  Mommy carries a very wet CJ into house. . .(oh yeah. . .I was gonna say she probably needs to pee. . .bad Daddy!)
24.  Family all back together.  Eating dinner.  Eating a cookie for dessert. . .and. . .scene.

3. Froggy

9. Target.  A nice little seat, thank you!

11.  Finishing lunch on porch.

18. Fire Fighter Clara Jane!

18.  Minnie Mouse driving a truck on Halloween.

18.  Helping with laundry.

20. Off to get Joe!  (Holding Walrus)

Like a Rainbow

The caterpillars have been out in full force here in Minnesota.  There was some local news story about this phenomenon, but as is sometimes the way of local news, the story was long on obvious observation, and short on explanation.  In any case, when Joe finds one, he picks it up gently, and in cupped hands, carts it off to "a safe place."  The other morning, while Julie was brushing her teeth and washing her face, Joe padded into the bathroom to pee.  While he was getting that done, he started talking to Julie about the caterpillars (that first pee of the day of his is pretty lengthy).  Julie was, admittedly, not listening especially closely.  She was thinking about whether Joe's--stream, if you will--would drift in the midst of his caterpillar chatter (it didn't), and then whether he pull his underwear and pajama bottoms up on his own, or if she would need to remind him (she did).  She was also, after all, trying to brush her teeth and wash her face.  That's when, just before Joe padded back to the breakfast table, quite literally as he breezed on out of the bathroom, she heard him say something about caterpillars--or inchworms--"yeah, just movin' like a rainbow."  Well, good morning, Starshine!

Stay-Home-Day Fashions

Joe requested a stay-at-home pajama day this morning, which worked out well since we weren't wanting to go far with Clara anyway, and we figured after the first (probably inevitable) accident, she could just motor around in her pajama top and underwear.  Despite the fact that it was a perfect eighty-something degree day, Joe wanted to wear "cozy" pajamas, by which he meant those with fleece pants and a long-sleeved shirt.  Clara did in fact motor around most of the day in her pajama shirt and undies (and ponies), but when we biked to Whole Foods after her nap, we put her in some biker shorts.  So that's how they came to be in these fashion-forward get-ups, which is what they were wearing to greet our backyard dinner guests, Marco and Lily and their handlers.

Thighmaster, Baby.

Keep dreaming, boys.

Slave to fleece.

We are under the table.  Naturally.

Joe: It's tough.  Being this cute.  Isn't it?
Clara: It really is.  It really, really is.

Potty Progress Report

Well, Brigade, Our Birdie has been in Big Girl Underpants since after music class and nap on Saturday.  She has had countless accidents.  But--but!--she tinkled on the potty once.  It was this afternoon when she--amazingly!--woke up from her nap dry and clean.  Julie took Birdie to the potty, where Birdie sat, and then was suddenly audibly peeing.  Brigade, you should have seen the face that turned toward Julie.  Oh!  She was SO proud.  Julie was, too.

Our sense is she understands that peeing and pooping are things that are meant to happen on the potty, but that she doesn't quite have it figured out that she herself is the master of the impulse, the slight hold, and the release.  All of which, to be fair, are tricky.  But that's o-kay.  We've got time, and plenty of underwear.

But it'll be pretty great to see that I'm-peeing-in-the-potty! smile again.

BIRDIE POOPS ON A POTTY!!!!!

Birdie.  BRIGADE!!!!!  Are you sitting down?  Because that's what Our Girl did at KinderCare at approximately 5:30pm, on the potty, where she POOPED!!!!!  That's right, Birdie Brigade!  Here you are looking at the face of a girl who took care of business.  The hair style alone, with its single, almost-a-side-pony, with the almost-a-mullet hanging down says "Today was tough, but I am tougher.  And I pooped.  On the potty."

So!  We arrived at KinderCare at about quarter to six.  Clara was already in the consolidated pick-up room.  Ms. Emily (one of the toddler teachers) was headed out and immediately said, "Clara pooped on the potty.  At about five-thirty. . ." and this is where this reporter lost track of what Ms. Emily was saying because Birdie was at the door and we were all acting like crazy dopes talking about poop and potties and what all with Clara and Ms. Katie (one of Clara's toddler teachers) and Ms. Emily.

So Brigade, oh we're gonna get all crazy excited about this and take it to mean that Birdie is saying, "Get your game faces on.  Because I'm gonna bring it.  To the potty."  In plain English, what we're saying is that after music class this weekend, we're puttin' the Birdie in undies and seein' where we go.