Truckin' in less than 1000 square feet

Last Christmas it was hard to believe you'd ever figure out how to navigate your little cars (or fire truck and princess wagon - for back of a better description).

You have.
Mama sometimes even puts you in a dress to do so, Zoe.




Vroom!

simple pleasures

Last night Zoe really didn't want to go to bed, which is a switch. Normally little Miss goes thru the nigh-nigh routine fairly well. Blanket in hand, thumb firmly planted in mouth...maybe a book tucked in strategically with that blanket. She says nigh nigh to the tv if she's just been watching it (Min-Min Tuck!), or lately to Daddy's drawing of Bert and Ernie on the whiteboard in the hall (not so long ago we used it to keep track of who had their bottle and when).

At any rate after a good 20 minutes of screaming, crying and a heart breaking repetition of "momma!", I went to take a look. Nothing really out of sorts (except Roman wasn't crying as well, just watching Zoe). I got Zoe up, then Roman (to be fair - one sibling out = get out of jail free card). I stayed in the room but shut the door. I let them wiggle, climb, disassemble and re-sort the nicely stacked stuffed animals. Zoe still wasn't happy, but it was the I'm-so-tired-no-matter-what-you-do-I'm-going-to-scream kind of thing. So I let her. But at some point she settled on my lap. She even let her brother come on up. Upside down world: normally she doesn't go for sharing a lap. But she did (well to be truthful, this was about time #20 up on my lap in the last 20-30 minutes).

We had the windows open - the first time in I don't know how many weeks. It's been hot, or sticky or the double whammy hot and sticky. But yesterday was pretty nice. I started asking them if they heard any of the noises outside. Birds. Cars and buses too. Pretty soon the crickets started. Roman was calmly staring out the window, Zoe was laying across my arm. Relaxed. We did it! We took a messy, noisy path getting there, but we got to the calm nigh nigh place.

Very often I go check on you two before bed and I think of how angelic you look when you sleep. It's the calm quiet I think (butts in the air is just funny). But this moment, sitting on a chair in your room, peering out the window and listening for all the sounds that we normally miss, this was one of those moments I love. It's sometimes hard to get there. I started thinking about that living in the moment philosophy again. I think I've forgotten it. Gotta get back there. I love you guys.
I promise to attempt to be calm, loving and patient. You deserve it.

Airplane rides in the backyard

Zealous Zoe and Rockin' Roman

Zealous:



Overzealous:




Yeah, that was an accident, but it turned out okay. Good thing your Daddy's got a quick shutter finger.
Meanwhile Roman played with his rocks.

more from the Saints game

After trying to "control" you two in a stadium (small, yes, but still a public place) it was nice to sit on the grass and let you run around a bit.

Even if it did invovle the "I push you down" game.

Is it wrong to put the kids to bed before or 8 because they "look" tired? Or because I want some time to update the blog AND read or watch some tv (the latest we're streaming off netflix: The IT Crowd)?

I hear them in their bedroom now, talking, nay, yelling at each other. They're not yet climbing out of their cribs, so we do still have that "jail", but Zoe apparently now can open doors. She got into our room while Daddy was in the shower the other day. Dad had left a glass of soda on his desk (Pop! it's called pop!) and it took a dive as she explored. Apparently she emptied the drawers as well - credit cards all over the place. Not the last time she'll go after those, Daddy. Ah, just the beginning!

I guess I did get to an overload point not too long ago, but not so much that I felt dreadfully overwhelmed (as has been the case at earlier times in my life). Instead it was time to strip away some of the responsibilities. Clean house? Nah. You know how you have snippets of conversations that bounce up to the surface now and then? I recall a teacher at St Kate's talking about how her mom was coming to visit and having to deal with her mom's complaints about the cleanliness of her house. Or, maybe more realistically about KNOWING her mom thought she wasn't a "good" housekeeper even if she didn't say it out loud. And what the teacher said was "too bad". She couldn't do it all (job, kids, ETC) and something had to give. I understand that. Then I think about someone else in a magazine who said she hadn't cleaned her kitchen floor in months - that's what the dog was for. And after having (and losing) Sam (he was a dog at heart, despite the feline DNa) I understand this. I didn't realize it at the time, but he did his share of the housework!

The last week or two has allowed me to get back into reading. I'm totally indulging it and don't feel guilty one bit (well, except that little bit that is prompting me to check in here).

I do want to update your blog, kids.
I might wander, but I won't disappear. Onward.

Don't you two look thrilled?

Spectator sports with beer involved: not for toddlers.

buzzz

Mudonna

Trepidation:



(St Paul Saints baseball mascot).

We lasted about 3 innings. Roman lost his shoe over the back of the bleachers (we were seated right above the entrance, hopefully no one got the ol' shoe in the face), Zoe made Incredible Hulk like maneuvers with her juice box (sorry man in front of Zoe) and mama stressed. Sorry Shawn, Mike and Katie. We were hoping to make it to the fireworks (there's optimism!)

We did let the kids run free a bit out in front of the stadium on a patch of white picket lined well manicured grass...I did get some good shots there: the golden hour (sun setting makes for good light). As soon as I take a closer look and get 'em cropped and resized they'll be up! Crop and drop em?

4th kickoff

Okay, now.
Mama took last Friday off to make for a nice, long 4 day weekend over the 4th....We started off with time at the beach, a short boat ride {nap}
Then off for a quick stop at Jannie and Gordon's house. The location of your parent's nuptials, kids. Someday that will mean something to you.

Now it just means LOTS of things to see and try to touch.
Jannie pointed out some fishies in the water feature (my pictures don't do it justice).



And TWO dogs, one of which (Shaka, right) learned pretty quickly to keep his distance!



Matisse was right there though, helping out. (and later getting kisses from Ra Ra).



I mean isn't this awesome?


Thanks Jannie for your hospitality.

Next we went to the car show that goes on every Friday night in North St Paul.



Zoe could kick back.



I think the lesson might be that we can do these things, but not for any long duration of time.

What's Going to Work?

Team- work!
I've calculated we've heard that lyric a good hundred times in the last few weeks.
(Wonder Pets - you two l-o-v-e it, to the point of Zoe crying for it to be on the tv). Yes. It's true "Min Min....Min Min", aka Ming Ming, the duck.

And I think we have our winner for the kids parade in a few weeks. Your ride transformed to the wonderpets flyboat...

This afternoon

Revitalized me. Sitting in the backyard watching you two made me straighten out my priorities again (in a meaningful way). For now.
Keep it simple.

Lesson learned...

...from the 4th weekend: You guys are almost TWO, which means we (I) shouldn't pack the weekend with activities. Not yet. You don't need the big, bombastic experiences. Even though we're excited to share them with you. Lots of time for that. Better go back to the stay at home mantra (yeah, right).

Would a 4th weekend be complete...

...without a trip to the beach?

The first trip to the beach. Grandpa Jon took us to Square Lake for a boat ride, but we spent more time at the beach. The perfect place for you guys - shallow water and lots and lots of sand to get messy in.







And of course I continue to learn that all this will be more fun for us all (I think, I hope!) in a couple of years. It's a lot of work to bring you two out. And watch you. And...oy.