Keep them Busy
My husband is out of town for a few days. He swears it is for work but he's in Orlando and from the photos his co-workers are posting, he is probably researching the best way to lounge by a pool in the sunshine. I'm joking, I'm sure it is a grueling conference...
My general plan when he is gone is to exhaust the kids as much as possible. Most of the time this just ends up with me exhausted and them some crazy combo of over-tired and over-stimulated. It does help the day go fast and we end up checking a bunch of fun stuff off our "We Should Do That Sometime" list. Today my mom joined us so we had more help and more input on what we could do.
We started off the day with L's last soccer game. Thank goodness it has been "unseasonably warm" as L would say. This crazy weather has really brought out her adult language skills. Its not a good as when she announced we should go somewhere "straight away," but the looks we get from folks when my 4 year old proclaims that it has been an "unseasonably warm Fall" cracks me up. I digress. L is not the most athletic of kids, but she tries hard and has made friends. Actually, her team played another team from her school today. The highlight of the game for me was when L and one of her friends on the opposing team stopped midfield to hug it out. I really wish I'd gotten a picture, both of the hug and of the coaches' faces.
After the game, we headed a delicious spot for lunch that has recently added Detroit Style pizza. (www.poranopasta.com) I'm honestly not sure what that is, but this is one of my favorite places to eat and M will not touch anything on the menu. The addition of pizza means we can move it to a normal rotation. It was a stellar plan except they don't serve pizza until after 4:00. The best laid plans... I'm being dramatic but seriously. L is happy with some high end mac and cheese. I tried to sell M on a cal-zone of sorts. We have tried, unsuccessfully, in the past to convince M that it is pizza without sauce. Today she fell for it! It is a deep fried dough pocket filled with fresh mozzarella and basil. Since the basil is fresh and green, I'm going to count it as a vegetable. As an added bonus they have the best gelato popsicle in the world and kids will eat almost anything to get one.
After a surprisingly successful lunch, we proceeded to the Butterfly House. The girls slept just long enough to be cranky when we got there. L was suddenly afraid of butterflies and M wanted to stay there forever because they are 3 and 4. We exhausted our options and headed to the adjacent playground to burn off any remaining energy. The 20 month age difference really shows up on the playground. L just has developed better coordination and climbing abilities lately. M has developed an overwhelming need to mimic everything her sister does. This leads to some fairly amusing playground antics as L tests her limits and M is mad at her for doing things she can't quite figure out.
Overall L handles the situation incredibly well. She has an immense about of patience with M until she doesn't, then it's really over. So far, today has been generally fantastic. Currently the girls are playing with the copious amounts of tiny little play-dohs we have left over from Halloween. Despite the Facebook warnings of Halloween being a rough holiday for all those kids with various food allergies, I guess they either don't live on our block or hate play-doh. Either way my kids are thrilled and busy.
I'm not sure how we will pass the day tomorrow, but we will have an extra hour since kids don't appreciate Falling Back for Day Light Saving Time like adults do. Whatever we chose I'm sure the kids will have stories for their newly tanned father when he returns from his work trip.
