bring your kids to work and let them drive you crazy day

tuesday was ce creativity for kids day. pooka loves this event, and i enjoy most of it, too. i approached this year's event with much trepidation, however. bug is too big to be confined to a stroller all day (why bother bringing her, then?) but too rambunctious to not bring a stroller to confine her when (not if) necessary.

the day was a mixed bag. the morning was tough before the activities officially started. pooka was well engaged in the art project, but all bug wanted to do was deconstruct the one i was making on her behalf. (and doing a pretty neat job, and i say so myself. the making, not the unmaking.) finally we headed outside where the inflatable attractions were in full swing, despite the wind and threatening rain clouds.



the rain held off for the most part, but the wind was an issue all day long. at one point, the roof of the bounce house collapsed with my kids, among others, inside. the attendant quickly evacuated them, but bug was the last one and hanging back just out of reach of the tiny flap opening. during the whole process, she kept repeating, "not funny, not funny," which was, ironically, quite funny.



the wind was helpful when it came to the bubble blowing process, though. all you had to do was pull the wand out of the bottle and, whoosh, away they went. it prevented bug from getting bubble mix in her mouth, a little.



we ate lots of junk food, got tattoos, caricatures, and balloon animals. what more could you cram into one day?







bug was able to participate in more activities than i thought and she ran herself ragged. pooka was pretty beat, too, and i was done in well before either of the kids were. we returned to my desk to see if i had any actual work to do. unfortunately, i did need to complete an important task for my boss before i could leave. bug chose this time to have a complete meltdown. she went nuts running around the whole floor, getting into places she shouldn't. i buckled her into the stroller, obviously later than i should have done, and after 5 minutes of complaining, she fell asleep. at that point i figured i may as well see out the day. she slept for 45 minutes in the stroller, then slept again on the way home, as did pooka.

napoleon reincarnate

bug's speech has really been improving. so much so that we can now understand when she's giving us orders. and if we don't respond quickly enough, she adds, "right now!" but her little voice infused with imperiousness is so cute, we just end up laughing.

in the car last week, she gave me a time-out. and then gave one to kisu for laughing. at various other points in that drive, she admonished me to slow down and to keep both hands on the wheel.

she's just having fun, trying to see how far she can push it, i'm sure, as opposed to really wanting the things she's demanding. for example, she tells us to stop tickling her. seriously, what 2 year old doesn't really want to be tickled? coincidentally, she has stopped using "seriously" when yelling at us.

her current favorite phrase actually is, "knock it off."

if she starts walking around with one hand stuffed in her shirt, i'm gonna get really freaked out.

avian assassin

i think my truck doesn't like birds. maybe he's particularly sensitive about being pooped on, or maybe he's always been like that. usually he tolerates it, but last week, he reached a boiling point.

he claimed his third (and possibly fourth) victim(s).

on the drive to magee's, we took the scenic route through the countryside. this offers many views of birds, horses, fields, and other natural wonders. on this trip, it was not so wonderful for one tiny, brilliant yellow bird.

i registered his presence and dangerous proximity to the windshield just early enough to raise my hand encouraging him over the roof. alas, my jedi powers failed and he thumped, directly in front of me face. i jumped. i think everyone in the truck was aware of it, but only kisu found it funny (the bastard.) i continued on, speechless in shock for a moment. and then we started discussing zed's unhealthy history of bird bashing.

for the rest of the trip, i sustained a heightened awareness of the birds flying around us, and several times thought we would have another impact. kisu thought my paranoia was funny, until the bumper clipped another wing. i'm pretty sure that bird survived, but seriously! it's starting to freak me out.

kisu spent the whole weekend teasing me about it and made sure to tell everyone that i like to hit birds. but honestly, it's not me. i'm not a strong believer in demonic possession, especially in inanimate objects, but i've got to deflect blame here. i don't want to end up like tippie hedren.

independence day with attitude

we had a very nice holiday weekend. kisu and i both had friday off, so we got the yardwork and housework done before the big day. saturday morning, we ran around and picked up awesome dessert from the grand traverse pie company. (YUM!)

i even got to take a delicious, if unplanned, nap before the guests arrived.

we hung out, played cards, did some more impromptu yardwork, admired the garden, and then it was time for fire.

the first fire was the grill, of course, so that we could eat yummy food. which we did, in abundance. after some more play time, we enjoyed our cherry pie. *slurp* then there was more fire!



we opened the garage door and the rear door of zed for a place to contain bug and burnt stuff in the driveway. i wasn't sure how bug would react, but i knew pooka would love the colored sparklers i bought.



kisu, pooka, and dani had fun lobbing smoke bombs, until pooka almost launched one into daddy's defunt car.



at first, bug was content to sit on the deck and watch, but she overcame her timidity and wanted to throw snappers. poor kid is so small she couldn't even make them pop. of course, she mostly was arcing them instead of aiming straight at the ground. she finally got the hang of it and i had to stop her from throwing them directly at people, as the older girls were setting a bad example by doing.

bug even decided to try her hand at some sparklers and then, look out. she ran threw them so fast. again, it was some work to keep her from injuring other people with them, but she had a blast.



that's the most fun i can remember having on the fourth in a long time. i never did get to see any 'real' fireworks, but i'll take family fun anyday.

swim time!

summer trips to kevin and marianne's always mean swimming!

pooka was an eager beaver to get in the water and didn't care that it was cold (well, 78).

once i finally convinced myself that i should get in for bug's sake, i pulled her in with me. i think she would have much preferred it if i hadn't taken the trouble.



pooka stayed in for hours, as usual. bug and i were done pretty quickly, especially once she started screaming. (so i dunked her, big deal!) i was a little disappointed that she didn't take to the pool this year as much as she did last year, but i chalked it up to water temperature.

the next weekend was caleb's birthday, and this time there was a selection of swimming containers to choose from. bug was a lot more enthusiastic in the baby pool and downright ecstatic in the toddler pool, especially after kevin enacted my brainstorm to have the toddler slide land in the water.



she was even more photogenic after donning a suit i found at a local garage sale. can't go wrong for 50¢.



she spent hours in that mid-size pool, just splashing, climbing the slide, and just acting like a lunatic in general. we pulled her out occassionally for food and party activities, but she was drawn like light draws a, well, a bug.



in the evening when i was ready to put her to bed, she got away from me and squirmed out the back door. before i could grab her, she sprinted across the deck and did a fully laid-out, head-first dive into the baby pool. i wish i had managed to take a picture of it. it was amazing. she laughed like a loon. typical bug.



don't make them angry, you wouldn't like them angry. especially when they're hopped up on enough pinata candy to choke an elephant.

self-service

bug is generally a good sleeper. she willingly goes to her crib and always wakes up bright and cheerful (unlike another child who will not be named, but it rhymes with kooka). however, sometimes weekend naps are merely 'quiet time' with her books, as opposed to actual sleep.

bug is also well into the stage of "my do it, " although she is bizarrely selective. putting on her own diaper: yes; feeding herself: no.

this past saturday these two seemingly unrelated traits met for the first (and, please God, only) time.

when i put bug in the crib, she claimed to be poopy. after using the infallible sniff test to determine that she was not, in fact poopy, i put her down and closed the door. for the next hour i could hear her reading to herself or talking to her many cribmates. as i was starting to doze off, i heard her get a little more agitated. she was insisting again that she was poopy.

when i opened the door i could see her standing bare-bottomed with diaper in hand. recalling my sister's stories of her children painting walls with feces, i rushed in to find what looked like an empty diaper. and then and i looked at her feet.

she was standing on a giant turd, and getting more upset about it by the second. as i whisked her out of the crib, the blob came with her. i deposited her, and it, on the changing pad and tried to minimize her squirming, which was certain to maximize the smearing, while also grabbing a wipe to contain the offending matter.

i have to admit i did a pretty good job wrangling, which makes for a less entertaining story, i know, but i won't apologize for NOT having poop smeared on myself and the floor, as well as my child.

i enlisted pooka to get bug hosed down in the shower while i cleared out the crib contents and threw her clothes in the washer. afterward, bug was completely content to get back in her crib and return to reading.

pew. phew.