Best Day Ever

This morning I got up early and finished my daily word count so I wouldn't have to ignore my kids all day to complete it.  I wanted to get the kids out of the house to avoid anymore ketchup or yogurt messes, but the morning sky looked grey.  So I invited my friend Becca over for a playdate instead.  William and Aedan have literally known each other since they were infants and they were very excited to get this opportunity to play.  After a nice chat, lunch, and cuddling of baby Amelia, Becca and family had to be on their way.

Once they had gone, I realized that the grey sky had turned a beautiful blue. So I got William and Jadzia outside on their bikes.  At first William didn't want to go downhill because he was afraid to go too fast (he is my son, after all), but he soon conquered his fear.  He raced down the steepest portion of sidewalk again and again, a proud grin glued on his face.

When the hill became tiresome we biked to the park.  By this time my youngest was getting tired (partly from the excitement and partly because she insists on lifting and dragging her trike instead of using the pedals).  After a short time both whined at my inadequate swing pushing, so I bribed them home with the promise of chocolate chip cookies.

As always, the kids helped me get all the ingredients together and mix them.  For those who are interested, I always use this recipe but modify it based on my mood and what I have in my cupboards.  Today I made the following modifications:  omitted the cocoa, put half brown sugar and half white, added a cup of oatmeal, a cup of chocolate chips, and some coconut. I cooked them for 11 minutes, left them in a turned off oven for 5 minutes, and let them cool on the cookie sheets for 5 more minutes.  Holy Q, they were perfect; melty chocolate chips, soft chewy consistency, subtle coconut taste.

Of course none of this avoided food mess.  I left the cookies on the stove too long and my daughter helped herself.  I was finding half-eaten cookies all over the house for hours afterwards.  Of course I saved them.  Cookies this delicious should not be wasted.

Today.

I took this picture today, because William asked me to. "Take a picture Mommy," he said. I had to run to the car to get my camera. Surprisingly, when I got back they were both still standing in the same place, posing.

In the picture, William is holding one of the cookies we just made together. He is without a shirt because, while we were making cookies, he poured an entire bottle of vanilla on himself. I handed him the vanilla when I was getting ingredients out, thinking it was a fairly safe ingredient for him to carry to the table (plastic bottle, cap won't come off if dropped). As I was reaching for the sugar, I heard William's little voice say "Mommy, I got vanilla on my shirt." Indeed, it was not only on his shirt, but all over the table, on the chair, and on the floor. The only place that was completely free of vanilla, was inside the vanilla bottle.

Did I mention that I was already exhausted by this point? My daughter is allegedly getting a new tooth, and got me to share in her misery by keeping me up all night. Jadzia was playing the scream-until-Mommy-holds-me game at 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 5, 5:30, and 6. I think it was teething because when I gave her Advil, she went longer before screaming again (just long enough for the meds to wear off), but she could just as easily have been messing with me.

My husband was kind enough to let me sleep in all the way to 9:30! Still, I was looking forward to a nap (for William, of course, not me). We didn't go out in the morning, partly because of my late start, partly because I was feeling lazy, so I guess it's not surprising that he refused to go to sleep. I fed him lunch, I read him stories, I tucked him in, I hugged and kissed him and his stuffies. He just kept getting up, screaming when I put him back in his room. Finally I gave up and said "Let's make cookies!"

A little while after the picture was taken, I decided that I needed to get out of the house. I remembered that there was an Early Years Centre drop-in on Monday evenings that I never go to (because it's on Monday evenings). It was just before 5, and Adam had messaged me to say he wouldn't be leaving work until 6. Far too long to be cooped up in the house any longer.

On the way I was stuck behind an extremely slow truck, carrying a mini-backho (or maybe a bulldozer). Then, as I got to the intersection just left of where I needed to be there was an accident by the side of the road. No decapitations or anything, just a fender bender, and a cop talking to the drivers. No rubber-necking needed, people. I couldn't weasel my way around them either, because there was a cop there. I tried going around the block using a side street, but it turned out to be one of those curvy roads that takes you right back where you started from. I tried taking a short-cut through the McDonald's parking lot but the lots didn't connect.

The lot was littered with signs that said "McDonald's customer parking only." Still, only meters from my destination, I decided I would park there. I pulled into a spot, turned off the engine, opened the door to let my son out, and found that both my children were asleep. Just as well, thought I, with the way the day was going I'm sure Ronald McDonald would tow my car if I parked there.

I looked at my watch to see if it was worth going anymore. My watch said that it was 1 am, on January 1st. "Liar!" I thought and threw it on the floor of the car.

I was going to go home, I was on my way, but instead at the last minute, I went around the block (when I say "block" I mean the block that is half of Burlington) and went to the Early Years after all. I woke the kids up, but they didn't mind (and if they did who cares). I had fun. And my husband made spaghetti when he got home. So it wasn't so bad a day.

Status Update

Seeing as I haven't blogged since the weekend, I thought I'd give a few updates. I'd like you to imagine this as one of those newsreels scrolling along the bottom of your screen.

William is currently in his Snugli strapped to me. Adam wants to get a different brand because this one fits kind of awkwardly (with baby often leaning out the side). Becca and Drew have the Baby Bjorn, which seems to work better.

It's very sunny out today and if yesterday was any indication it's very warm too. Yesterday we walked to the Early Years Centre and saw a talk on switching to solids. William was the youngest there (which makes sense because it's way too early to even think about solid feeding.) He was in a fabulous mood until halfway through the talk when he decided to test his vocal chords. I walked him around the room and by the second lap he fell asleep.

An old lady thought William was a girl yesterday. "Oh isn't she a darling. She's such a doll. ... She... She ... She." Now I know that without checking genitalia it's difficult to guess at gender with babies, but at the time he had a blue blanket wrapped around him and was wearing a onesie that said "William" across the front of it. I don't even bother correcting at that point.

I went to put on a onesie yesterday that he's warn before and found it no longer fit. My little boy is growing up.

We have lots of instant oatmeal in our cupboard, so today I'm going to try and make cookies out of it.