We’ve been trying to do more one-on-one time with the kids. So this morning Neko, Ellery and I went to the coffee shop. After we finished our drinks, I asked Neko what she wanted to do. She surprised me by requesting a walk, so we spent nearly an hour walking around campus and taking photos. I took some of her and she took some of Ellery and I.
Tom and Shep played music and took a trip out to purchase Guitar Hero. Since then, Shep has been wearing the “guitar” non-stop.
For the first time, all three kids took a bath together. Neko and Shep were thrilled with their new bath companion, and even kept the splashing to a minimum.
A neat comparison of Neko at almost exactly the same age.
So tonight Shep was running around like a maniac, and I was about to grab him to brush teeth, when he climbed up on the arm of the couch and flung his whole body backward onto the couch. Which, although not a sanctioned activity, would have been fine if my nose had not been in between him and the couch. The back of his head, powered by his full body weight, slammed into my nose.
Shep is fine. A few moments after the injury, he was bouncing around offering helpful suggestions like getting me a band aid or the Elmo ice pack.
However, after waiting for FOUR hours in the emergency room, we found out I have a slight fracture on the bridge of my nose. It’s not too swollen, but I’ve got a small surface wound on my nose at the point of impact and it’s a bit black and blue. Tom took this glamour shot right before I departed for the hospital.
I knew parenting was going to be challenging, but I had no idea it was going to this dangerous.
Tom and I with our coffee cups. Besides the fact that this exteremely lifelike in the representation of our real lives where we tote around our morning beverages, it makes my heart skip a beat when I notice she’s added steam to the tops of our cups.
Shep didn’t get a chance to pose with Cricket yesterday, so Neko happily donned the costume one more time so he could get a photo op.
I took Neko to an amusement park today. We took her last year when she was 3 years old, 36″ and a disaster by 1pm. This year she was 4 years old, 40″ and we pushed through from 10am until 5pm. All of you that have young kids and wonder when you’ll be able to do “real things” with your kids, the answer is age four. It’s awesome. They get that it’s a special event, they’re thrilled to be there, and when you don’t get a nap they don’t fall apart. As I walked past hoards of families pushing strollers full of screaming toddlers and babies, I knew we made the right decision to leave Shep and Ellery at home.
At 40″ you are catapulted into a whole new category of rides. You can finally ride the “big” roller coaster. Okay, it’s not really big, but it does have one really good hill. Neko? Loved it. I think we rode it 20 times. Thanks to the strangely empty park, we barely had to wait in line for anything. We rode almost everything she could ride, but we always ended up back on that roller coaster. By the end of the day she was telling eight-year-olds how they shoudln’t be scared because this ride was really not that scary.
Another highlight was the gift shop where she discovered stuffed versions of the Wonder Pets. I played the role of mean mother and told her we couldn’t get them and then immediately scribbled it down on the Xmas list.
But the thing she remembered most (other than the roller coaster) was meeting Blue from Blue’s Clues. We met her on the way out to the car so I could pump. All the way through the parking lot Neko was telling everyone, “Everyone! Blue is in the park! Blue! Right there in the park! You get to meet her!” It was like the preschool town cryer.
And then on the way home she drew this amazing picture of she and Blue (and Shep).
This is how I spent most of the day, at the wheel of a car in an absolute downpour. While I am very thankful that I am not in the midst of a hurricane, it was a pretty draining day, my five hour drive taking nearly eight instead. Quite often, the highways were like parking lots. Other times, I crawled along at a snail’s pace, barely able to see 20 feet in front of me because it was raining so hard. I am now nominating Ellery for sainthood, as she only cried for fifteen minutes of the whole journey.
But I made it home. I think each of the kids grew about four inches while I was gone. They each looked freakishly big, it’s really weird. As I was staring at Neko I was thinking there was something different about her hair, how she seemed to have some longish bangs just in front. Did Tom take them for haircuts? (No.) I ultimately dragged out of her that she got some blue tape caught in her hair and she decided to cut it out. I swear we have all the scissors hidden and Tom has no idea when this event occurred. We have obviously reached the sneaky age, and I am making a mental note to keep a much closer eye on her.
Then we all stayed up way too late, including me. After the kids went to bed, I unloaded the bags and tucked my kid purchases into hiding places to save for a rainy day or Xmas.
Which brings me back to this morning, before the torrential downpour. I went to the Land of Nod store, which ranks right up there with IKEA on the drool-inducing scale. I considered pitching a tent and moving in because everything was so very fun. Which, in retrospect, might have been a good idea, considering the eight hours I had ahead of me.
After reading Richard Louv’s book and seeing him speak, I’ve vowed to do more things with the kids in nature. I know, I know, we live on a farm, so we’re practically camping every night, but there’s something magical about an organized activity with friends. So this week we headed out for a “scavenger hunt” in the woods. We found a trail that was 6/10 of a mile long, and I had made up a picture list of things to look for. Each child took a list and a pen and we headed out on our hike.
The kids had a fabulous time. One by one we found most of the items, and with each one the kids came running and crowded around to see what had been discovered. Shep and Andrew pooped out a bit at the end, but they held in there like champs. I’m discovering that four is the magic age for these sorts of adventures, as none of the four-year-olds issued a single complaint about the distance or being tired.
I, of course, forgot my camera for the hike. But I took a few photos of the kids and the geese we ran into after we ate lunch, which was nowhere near as picturesque or charming, but I’ll take what I can get.
Today was one of those perfect weather days. Not too hot, not too cool, and zero humidity. Heaven. It seemed almost a crime to consider not going to the park.
Now part of this entry dates back to July 3rd. We had gone uptown to have dinner and attend the pre-4th festivities, when we decided it would be a good time to pick out Neko’s Big Kid Bike. My friend Jodi works at the bike shop, so Tom gave her the heads-up that we were coming. We had arranged ahead of time that she would move all the gender-neutral bikes to the front of the store so Neko could choose from them. Growing as fast as kids do, we thought a bike we could hand down to Shep would be a wise investment.
However, when we arrived with Neko at the store, she immediately developed tunnel-vision and barely even glanced at the red, green, and blue bikes Jodi had set out and immediately ran to the back of the store and stopped in front of the pink one with the flowers and basket and the tassels on the handlebars. “I want this one,” she gasped.
I’ll give Jodi credit, she tried to sell the other bikes by pointing out we could add baskets and tassels to them, but it was too late. Within the hour we were the proud owners of a pink, girlie bike. I try to remind myself we have another girl in the cue. And who’s to say Shep won’t want a pink bike with tassels and a basket?
Anyway, we took the bike to the park today, and she got it. You know, when the rhythm of the pedals magically clicks, and all of a sudden you can ride and stop and start with confidence. Soon she was zipping around the park, still with training wheels, but with the confidence of an experienced rider. She even made a few biking friends. And I noticed that every girl there had the same pink bike, and I suddenly felt a bit better about our decision. That bike must be some kind of rite of passage.
Poor Shep is still fighting a cold, and gave the tricycle a good try, but gave in to his exhaustion and happily climbed into the car to watch the Wiggles. While I fed Ellery and Shep sang along with Greg Wiggle, Tom gave Neko her first skateboarding lesson, which she adored.
We clearly need weather like this every day. Consider my request filed.
