So lately Jonathan and I have been basically alternating weeks where work is CRAZYBUSYHOWWILLIGETEVERYTHINGDONE. It's worked out well and we'll just hope that these weeks continue to not overlap for the next five months or so (that's when a big project I have at work will be wrapping up a bit). Anyhow, all that to say that today Jonathan needed to get some work done, so the kids and I headed out for some adventuring.
Today began bright and early. Like 6 AM early, when Evelyn poked her sweet little head out of her door to yell, "MOMMY! MOOOOOOOOMYYYYYY! I need to go potty!" To which I, of course, yelled back, "Then go!" and quickly clarified with, "Go ON THE POTTY." Aaaah, potty training. Such fun. We've been working on staying dry through the night, which seems to be pretty hit or miss. For a while, the reward for staying dry was that she got to watch a TV show (current favorites are Franny's Feet and Curious George), but she started getting the TV rage (ridiculous meltdowns when TV time is over), so she's off TV for a week and we went back the old standby... sugar. Word on the street last night was that if she stayed dry all night, she would get 5 starbursts. FIVE! Well, it worked. The only downside was that everyone in the house was up at 6 AM to celebrate this accomplishment.
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| Olive was not impressed. |
So after playing indoors for a bit, we loaded up. I was going to play Park Roulette again, but I've really been wanting to check out the parks in Pittsboro, so that's what we did. I had it in my mind that PBO was really far away, but it turned out to be a 30-40 minute drive from our house - which is pretty much what I expect when I go anywhere, so it was fine.
We started out at the Kiwanis Park, because I read a review of it
here and I was prepared to be blown away. It was okay... but... hm. I got the impression that perhaps it hasn't really had any maintenance in the 2.5 years since that review was written? I wouldn't say I'm a park snob. I mean, I seek out wood and metal structures over boring plastic things any day. And this little park had a good mix of both of those things, but things just didn't seem to be really cared for. The sand pits could have been really cool, being sort of "nature-ish" if that makes sense (more free-form in shape and a bit hidden, big log benches around them), but instead they were muddy pits full of sticks. There were many broken plastic toys strewn about the little house area of the playground, and the music instrument playground elements didn't work the way they're supposed to work. Oh, but before I forget, we did have a major event occur at this park when we were all three in the port-a-potty and Evelyn managed to pee and poop while I held her over the hole - and Gideon didn't reach or dive into said hole! I count that as a pretty major win, right there. Also a win for Mouse, who typically needs complete privacy. And while we're at it, a win for my quads and my gag reflex for hanging in there and fighting the good fight during the longest minutes ever holding her in that port-a-potty.
But as I was saying, the park... meh. Luckily PBO is small and I had two other parks up my sleeve.
Off we went to Mary Hayes Barber Holmes Park. Could the name be any longer? This park was a definite win.
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| Holmes Park big swings and standing teeter-totter |
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| Holmes Park twisted trees for climbing on/hiding under |
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| Mr. Wormy |
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| Introducing Gideon to Mr. Wormy |
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| Checking out the bucket swings |
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| Lots of logs and such for climbing. |
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| So serious |
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| She was very proud of herself once she made it across all the stumps. |
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| Little GOB taking a blueberry break in the shade. |
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| GOB at the Kiwanis Playground |
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| Mouse driving the car at the Kiwanis Playground |
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| Cool wood spring truck at the Kiwanis Playground. The whale seems a little out of place. |
In other news... summer! Whew! I was all excited thinking that the laid-back "summer camp" session of preschool would mean I could totally slack. Turns out it's the opposite. The kids have splash days (water play) twice a week, but of course their classrooms are on different schedules so every day I have to remember who needs what for school. In addition to that, every week has a theme requiring us to bring or dress the kids in all sorts of things. I'm sure it's fun but man, the pressure is on every morning and I still forget whatever I'm supposed to be doing/bringing. Also, they don't have to wear uniforms in the summer and I'm reminded when Evelyn has her morning meltdown over some element of her outfit (which she can choose, but I usually have to alter/amend in some small way) that THIS IS WHY UNIFORMS ARE BRILLIANT. We never had to think or talk or argue about school clothes until now. Whew.
And in Gideon news, the kid is teensy! He's pretty happy and meeting his milestones and so on and so forth, but he's just itsy bitsy. Not yet 20 lb. and he's coming up on 18 months. We've paid multiple hundreds of dollars to have many blood tests and so far we know it's not Celiac and it's not Cystic Fibrosis. Of course, the doc said that it probably wasn't either of those things before the blood was even taken, but I guess those are the first suspects when a kid is tiny. I'm not sure if they've looked at growth hormones yet, but my pediatrician friend said that's probably the next step if they haven't. Wooo. In the meantime, he's still eating like normal. Downed two slices of pizza while we were playing with friends at the pool yesterday, eats blueberries by the handful, and demands spoonfuls of peanut butter pretty much all the time. So I'm trying not to be worried, but also really hoping it's not a growth hormone deficiency because that means injections and drug side effects and all kinds of not fun things. Perhaps he's just a little guy! And by the way, high deductible insurance plans are probably great for people who just happen to have stacks of money sitting around waiting to be spent... I miss the days of $100 annual out-of-pocket and 10% copay grad student health insurance. Those were the days.
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