weekend update

our thoughts are with my cousin pritesh who is in the hospital fighting a serious bacterial infection.

things around here have been hectic but manageable. the weekend was quite busy. r had a morning scan on saturday. the kids and i had plans. we thought we were going to make puppets/masks with gabe and natty but both older children balked so we ran around the park instead. r and gabe were moderately interested in each other and natty was torn between k and the big boys. k was also befriended by another child who really wanted to play with k. k was friendly for a while holding hands with her new friend down the slide. the kids were mostly parallel playing but it was still fun. we then headed out to auntie hot hot's for snacks and adventures. k was very proud to use the potty there. and then dad joined us for a short outdoor adventure. r really enjoyed his time with auntie hot hot. they had all kinds of discussions about plants and trees as they walked along. auntie hot hot is a good friend of both the kids and the parents.

k fell asleep in the car and had a nice nap upstairs. r hung out with me for a short time while dad worked on our malfunctioning toilet. we invited several of the kids over for playdates: mira was dropped off by her mom who has a book deadline. r and mira had fun hiding his animals and books for awhile. they got along well and reviewed the rules. they stretched them a little but were very cooperative in their play. k warmed up to mira nicely this time. at one point, mira and r wanted me to read a book with them. all three kids cuddled on the couch and we read together. k initiated hugs with mira and mira was very tickled by k's attention. managing the 3 kids was much less work as they mostly seemed to work things out among themselves.

natty and gabe arrived shortly after 5 and we began the process of ordering pizza and getting dinner on the table. tracey managed the kids while i did the food. dad finished working on the toilet about half way through dinner after another trip to the hardware store. r and gabe had some conflict. it was easy to note that r had quite a temper. he is not a mellow child when he does not get what he wants. both moms had to talk to their eldest sons about their behaviors. both also complied. at least, the center trains them well in terms of responsible interactions with each other. r came back to report that gabe smiled. he also went and volunteered some jokes. there was some nice demonstration of negotiation and consideration. the pizza and ice cream eating went well though our kids were clearly tired at the end and needed a bed time. so by 7:45 all the guests headed home and we headed upstairs shortly after. of course, it took a good bit of time to get everyone to sleep. but eventually little snores were heard.

in the morning, no one wanted to get up despite plans for an exciting day. there was snow on the ground. snow! in april! we managed to rouse ourselves and get out of the house in some kind of orderly fashion. for some reason, r had a horrible time trying to get dressed. but we made it. breakfast was in the car on the way to the birthday party at "pump it up" a kid's inflatable jumping indoor playground. we got there on time. and a good time was had by all. k was quite shy at first, despite the presence of her friend ella. r was exhibiting some of his unaware social skills with a friend again noted dad. his inability to read social cues to back off when a child wants it is troubling. not sure what to do with this. i just think he is not as advanced in his social development as some of his peers and he has trouble "getting it" with our explicit directions and assistance.

we made it home. after potty, lunch, and reading time, we headed out to our second big adventure, a performance of shadow puppets called circo luna at the children's theater. k was extremely tired but held up well. it was an italian duo who used shadow puppets of various animal characters. it was quite well done. dad said that r was enthralled. he loved the performance and seemed to be at the edge of his seat. k definitely liked it, was a little scare, and very tired. she is also coughing and has a runny nose. so it is clear that she is coming down with something. sigh. nevertheless, the 45 minute performance was perfect for the kids and a good time was had by all.

for dinner r insisted that we find a pancake restaurant as that has been his request all weekend long. it took mom a few minutes and one phone call to find a place that serves pancakes at 5:30 pm on a sunday. but find one we did. dad did a great job of keeping r on track despite it being the witching hour. both kids were happy and managed more or less to be on reasonable behavior at the restaurant considering how tired they were. much food was consumed by all: pancakes, eggs, bacon, english muffin, hash browns, and corn bread, as well as some risotto and salad for grown ups. plenty of left overs for tomorrow.

bath time went smoothly. k was exhausted. mom changed everyone's sheets. soon kids were pj'ed, teeth were brushed, and books were read. k was asleep by 8:45 after an exhausting day and despite some coughing seems to be doing well. r took forever. reading stopped around 8:30 or 8:40. but dad reports that kiddo was awake until about 10! yikes.

we do not have a school for next year and are on wait lists. i am not sure how this works but it sure will be an interesting ride. we have also heard of a few more families leaving the center because of all this crazy business. it is quite a mess...

by the way, there was much discussion of star wars with gabe and at the bday party as the cake had a luke skywalker and darth vader on it. r was very excited and wanted the figures but was reminded that he has some. he and gabe are excited about making lightsabers. mom suggested flashlights as a base. so there is certainly much evocation of rocky mama in all of these conversations. i think the other kids are jealous when r and k talk about how rocky mama knows a lot about star wars. and has star wars stuff too of course. there is some on going work on coloring pictures for rocky mama's bday cards too still.

additionally there was a phone call to the bacon fairy. both kids called their masee to request more treats and bacon. k added that she missed masee and gave her hugs and kisses. k also listed all the people who love her in her family:
mommy, daddy, r, masee, uncle tom, rocky mama, nana, nani, grandma sue, james, and grandma joyce. smart girl.