busy days are better days!

*okay, i had pictures to share, i swear, but i can't find the cord for the camera. they are really cute, though!

anyway, the past couple days have been crazy! on tuesday, it was raining, so our walking group met at the mall instead of the park. then we let the kids play at the play town area there while we had our adult mom time. i really enjoy this group because it's fun for the girls and me and it gets us out of the house for half of the day, which is always more fun. after lunch with cynthia and olivia, we headed home for nap time. it was still raining out when the girls woke up, so i let them play on their own and got some cleaning done. after a while, it cleared up enough to take them to the play ground. here, i discovered that it's not a good idea to take them to the play ground after school lets out. there was a group of middle schoolers there goofing off. first, noe finds some of their gum (i know it was theirs because i'd seen them chewing it, the same bright green, over by the monkey bars, which is where she found it). someone had stretched it out and wrapped it around one of the poles, which is where she found it. she got it all over her hands, hair, and shoes before i could get to her (she's one fast kid!). then those kids start playing tag (aren't they a little old for that?) and almost knock her over a few times. so i take her over to the other side of the play ground. but they spread out. and then they start yelling at each other while they're playing, using words that i really don't want noe using...and she started repeating them (of course). they weren't cuss words, thank goodness, or i would have had no problem saying something to them about it. but they were calling each other "stupid" and "idiot" and whatnot, which i still don't want noe saying. so we left. guess we'll find some other activity for the later part of the day from now on. the rest of the day was taken up by the usual chaos of dinner, bath and bed time.

wednesday was noe's first PAT activity where she got to do crafts and play with paints and such. she really enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool full of beans. she got to use glue and play dough and paint for the first time, which she really enjoyed. she learned about different smells and textures (this is rough, this is smooth), and she made a couple of friends. then, as we're getting ready to leave, she tells me she has to potty...and then she did! on the potty in public! this is really great since i could never get her to sit on the potty without her potty seat on it, and she hasn't really been succeeding on the potty lately at home, either. break through! woo hoo! so we went home and had a big lunch of ravioli and made up a new game...get noe to eat. it's very messy and silly, but, hey, it works! i have pictures of just how messy it got that i will eventually share with you! after nap time (which took a lot longer than usual because noe was still so excited from the activity, i think), i was going to take them and wang cai to the dog park, but it got to be too late and daddy needed an early dinner so he could get to church on time for the young men's activity. then, because daddy was going to be gone and we'd finished dinner so early, the girls and i decided we needed ice cream! hey, any excuse, right? then it was the usual bath and bed time for the girls and i got the house cleaned before daddy got home so we could just relax together.

today, we went walking again, at the park this time, and the girls played on the play ground until lunch time. noe was really whiney all day, so i almost decided not to take them out this morning, but then thought it would be better out of the house where she could get some energy burnt and be distracted from whatever it is that has her so whiney rather than be holed up in the house with her like that all morning! it's better for all if we go! we got home and had lunch, then the girls played in their room for a while so mommy could get a shower. i've started doing this in the middle of the day and it's really gone well. they like that time to play before nap time, and i like having my showing in the afternoons after walking rather than waiting until just before bed. i'll shut the bed room door and leave the bathroom door open so i can hear them. well, about ten minutes into my shower, with shampoo sudsed up in my hair, little finger pull back the curtain and noe sticks her head in and says "hi!". surprise, surprise! those little fingers have figured out how to turn the door knob!! i'm so glad she's able to do so much now, but couldn't that part have waited a few more years? will i ever get a peaceful shower again? and how long until she starts doing it at night, showing up in my bedroom at whatever hour pleases her? anyway, then we napped (we all needed it because mali was up three times last night and noe had played pretty hard this morning). after a solid, uninterrupted two hours (very rare. even the dog didn't bark!), we went to the library to pick up some things i had put holds on and then took wang cai to the dog park. fun was had by all! then we ate dinner at long johns (mmmm) and it was time for mali's first PAT activity. daddy came and took noe to the play group and mommy stayed with mali for the baby exercise class. while most of the exercises were to prepare the babies for things that mali could generally all ready do, it wasn't very helpful, but she did get to hang out with babies her own age, which she never gets to do at the other play group which has kids mostly noe's age or older. she had a good time, though. and noe was having so much fun in the play group that we had to litterally drag her away to come home. even the bribe of ice cream didn't work! we had it anyway, though, and then wiped the girls down (skipped bath because it was already so late) and put them to bed. daddy went to bed, too, because he's been having some allergic reaction all day that has his top lip swollen to about four times its regular size, so he took some benedryl and is now sleeping like a baby...well, probably better than a baby, since mali is a baby and has woken up a couple times to protest crib captivity.

tomorrow is going to be another busy day. in the morning, the girls are going to another PAT activity. noe will be in play group and mali is doing a class called "up, down and all around" that uses parachutes, bean bags, slides, balls and who knows what else. i'm pretty excited about this one, myself! then i will probably take them out somewhere to burn some more energy after their nap so that daddy will have no problem with bed time tomorrow night since i'll be at the writers group. i usually don't get home from there until midnight, so i'm going to be pretty tired, myself!

my new strategy is to take the kids out as much as possible during the day. that way, they have fun, get tired, and sleep really well for naps and at night; and also because my house stays a lot cleaner!! this will be a lot easier once we move because we'll be right across from the play ground and we'll have a fenced in yard that they can run in as much as they want! i've been employing this strategy for about a week and have to say that we're all pretty happy with it. the girls are in good moods and seem to be learning a lot from it (social skills and more). noe is really picking up on a lot and has started telling me that clouds or shapes in the grass or something resemble other things, like dolphins or horses. it's amazing.

mali update: she's pulling up on everything and standing really well now. walking is not far off. i thought she'd be a lot later because she's so much bigger than noe was at this age (noe was walking by 9 months...mali is 8 1/2 months now), but apparently she won't be much later.

noe update: she's becoming afraid of everything!! her new thing is that "shadow hurt you" or "water hurt you" or even "light hurt you". it's kind of sad, actually, because she was really afraid of her shadow the other day and it's not like i can get rid of it for her like i can a bug! this took some major soothing and distraction until she was okay again. i read that this is due to her developing imagination (which is also why she will occassionally have nightmares) but there's really nothing i can do about it other than reassure her and comfort her. i can't just say "bugs won't hurt you" because that's not always true. there are some bugs that can hurt her (bees, for example, which is what she was pointing to). i can't tell her that water can't hurt her because some water can (deep water, hot water, etc.). i did tell her that shadows and light can't hurt her, but it didn't help anyway. apparently, she's just going to have to learn how this will all work on her own?