Darby started the day strong by proving that her grasp of the English language is stronger than most grown adults in this country. In conversation with me she said "It don't matter", followed immediately by the correction "...doesn't". I was so proud.
She followed that up by swimming almost the length of the pool using the noodle (see video) - captured here by what is presumedly the paparazzi hiding behind a tree...
In the evening she charmed the tile reps at ProSource and then filmed an epic message for Daddy (see video).
For his part, Dalton just blew the lid off the world of cute.
Little man had another rough night Sunday night. He woke up screaming about 2 and even after rocking and talking wouldn't let me put him back in the crib. So, I ended up taking him back to my bed. He tossed and turned and tested every square inch of the bed, and eventually fell asleep on my arm. I was vaguely concerned I was going to have to gnaw my arm off this morning to avoid waking him when it was time to get up.
In the evening the kids were plenty fired up. There was plenty of squabbling and screaming but no actual blood shed.
Upsides were blueberry chocolate chip pancakes w/ patriotic sprinkles for dinner, a rousing reading of "Bear Hunt" before bed and a new piggy bank for Dalton.
Darby was obsessed all day with asking if I was going to be married. I would tell her I was already married, but that answer did not seem to phase her. She had some interesting thoughts when it came to being married herself (see video).
As for Dalton, he will apparently be focusing on his education. He loaded up Darby's Dora backpack with books and wore it around the house for quite a while. He also practiced his balloon ball skills (see video).
When Lee and Carol babysat a few weeks ago, Lee taught Darby a useful phrase. I was shocked to hear that she still remembers it. While she was serving me "birthday cake" she asked which piece I wanted, but when I told her, she told me that was her piece. When I protested, she pulled out this little gem (see video).
In the evening the Bridges and most of the Westbrooks came over to swim and grill hot dogs. I got Darby a floatie suit to help with the dearth of parental supervision and she loved the freedom it gave - although she was never out of our sight.
Dalton is a little daredevil. He loves to jump in and I let him go completely underwater and then swim back up above water before I grab him. Darby would never let us do that. Doesn't phase him at all though. There's no panic, no sputtering, no swallowing of water. He just pops up and is then ready to swim over and do it again. Little man.
It was a quiet day after the chaos that was yesterday. The kids - luckily - slept in after being up until 10 last night...oh wait...my mistake... that's right, they both got up at 6:53!!! There is no rest for the weary - and by that I mean Mommy.
Shel had sent us home with donuts yesterday, so that was a treat this morning. Although I let them eat at the kids table in the playroom - big mistake - which meant Dalton got up after every bite and spread sticky blue icing from his sticky blue hands all over EVERYTHING...
Then we hit the craft store - which is apparently their new favorite place in the world. Full of grapes apparently, because they kept pointing them out everywhere. The first ones were actually fake grapes, but then they were beads, dimpled bowls, whatever with bumps - didn't matter. They actually really didn't want to leave. I think I've found a new rainy day field trip. Could get expensive - but totally worth it.
That afternoon we went swimming at Nana and Pa's. Dalton is just fearless. He is obsessed with jumping in.
Bedtime with Pa
When it came time for bed, Dalton made it clear that he wanted to sleep in the regular bed. I lay in it
with him for about an hour thinking he might be able to do it. He was
soooo close, but in the end I ended up having to put him back in the
crib. He's almost ready though, and he wants it so badly.
The day started out pretty rough at 3:30am. Dalton was coughing so we gave him his breathing treatment. Unfortunately that wires him up pretty good, so he bounced off the walls until 5:45. That gave me just enough time to clean the poop out of my bed - a little gift from Stella - before Darby woke up at 6...
About 10 we went to visit Shel to watch the Sparkman 4th of July parade. On the way there I had this conversation with Darby:
Darby - Mom this is Horrible!! Julie- What's horrible? Darby - The road! Julie- yes Darby, this is 635.
When we got to Shel's she had donuts for us. I don't know if the kids have ever had donuts before - but they were pretty happy to try them out (see attached video). On the way there I had to prep Darby that we weren't going to have candy for breakfast - for some reason she calls Lifesavers donuts. She told me I was silly though. Apparently she does know the difference. I should have known.
After donuts we went and watched the parade. The kids loved collecting the candy that people threw. Dalton decided he was going to taste test all the lollipops. Sucking on them for a few minutes and then demanding another. He got 3 and then we put the kibosh on that. Glad they enjoyed collecting it. Now it's just going to sit in the cabinet with last year's Halloween candy which they never got to eat. I suppose some day they're going to start demanding that they get to eat that stuff... Mean Mommy.
On the way home from the parade Dalton wanted water so we stopped at McDonald's. I decided to get them lunch as well - kind of a historic meal - their first non-breakfast meal from McDonald's.
About 5 we headed over to the Castle Hills 4th of July festival. All of Darby's best friends were there. Darby was actually quite adventurous for her. She was loving on the bounce houses (see attached video) and even went on the obstacle course with the slide - loved it.
I will hug her, and squeeze her, and call her George.
We went to get sliders from the food truck and on the way there I asked her if she needed to potty. She said no. Of course, as I'm hauling the 2 of them back to the tent in the wagon, balancing 2 trays of food on my arm, she decides she is desperate to potty. I should have known better. So, after a desperate tour around the place looking for the potty, we found our way in - wagon, food trays and all. Everyone in the place knew us by the time we left. Oddly enough, wagons don't maneuver easily going backwards down a narrow hallway when you've only got one hand...
All went well until the fireworks started - that's when Darby decided she needed to potty again. At that point I just put one of Dalton's diapers on over her panties and told her to let it rip.
The kids loved the fireworks (for the first few minutes). This was another first for them. I was kind of afraid Dalton would freak out, but he was cute - he just kept saying "Boom!...Boom!...Boom!"
Once we were done, things got a bit rough again - bookending our day. After loading myself up like a pack mule with bags and a chair and hauling the wagon with the 2 kids in it uphill in the heat back to the car, we sat for 40 minutes in dead stop traffic before we made it out to the main road. Dalton was not pleased with this. He helped by screaming and shouting "That Way!...That Way!..." I suppose he just thought I was lost.
We started the day off by feeding the fish at Anabel and Dan's. Some of the fish may have been bigger than Darby...
Then it was off to the Children's Museum. I was a little afraid that we had made a mistake in coming when she spent the first hour clinging to my neck. But after a rousing (and giant) game of Memory she loosened up a bit. This one rocked the game. She has amazing recall. Next we went up to the Toddler Terrace where she put out cones to show me patterns - I don't think she's quite gotten the hang of this one yet...
There actually wasn't a lot that was appropriate for her age group, but her favorite activity by far was the water pipes. She would have spent hours there routing and re-routing water if I'd let her. Unfortunately it was the one activity out in the sun and Miss Lily-White Princess didn't have any sunscreen. Perhaps this one has the makings of an engineer after all...
After the museum we went back to Anabel and Dan's and met up with her babysitter for the night. I gotta hand it to her - babysitter she'd never met, staying in a strange house and she took it like a champ. Even told Mackenzie that she was ready to go to bed and that she should brush her teeth (who was that child??)
The next morning we left (an hour late) to drive back to Dallas. Again she was a travel rock star. We did make a stop to rescue Hubba who was out of Mommy's reach and to take out her pigtails as she was tired and it hurt to lay her head down on the pigtails. That led to an hour long tour around a garden store where she proceeded to pet and make the sound of every animal statue in the place (it was big). But she was in good spirits despite being tired and not actually taking a nap. Until of course, the last 15 minutes of the trip...
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