Audrey's Baptism

Today we survived the event that was Audrey's baptism. I had been planning this for weeks and wondered if we would execute on all cylinders. We did!

I got frazzled at Denis when we were trying to get out the door. I apologized for barking at him, but mentioned that I have been stressed out about things since the night before as I prepared the bags. I was so stressed out about being late to the church because the baptism was going to be part of the mass. I had FS and some Dum Dum lollipops in a food bag in case of meltdowns, but Denis opted to have Nikko chomp on Gerber stars because they had less sugar. Unfortunately, in a setting such as a church, I didn't want to try new therapeutic tricks out on Nikko so I went with the flow. Mom took Ronin for the entire Mass because he was getting rowdy and showed that he wasn't able to sit still at all. Apparently they went outside, as well as near the kid room. Nikko stayed with us in the pew and wasn't disruptive at all. He looked around, played with the reserved seating placards, looked at the truck book and the photo albums I brought along in my toy bag, and then snarfed on stars. When we stood up at the baptismal font, Nikko originally stayed in the pew but soon came out to join us while the priest baptized Audrey. The priest even bent down and handed Nikko the LIT candle to blow out. Um, YIKES!!! Denis took it and I told him to save Nikko the trouble and blow it out. (sigh) After the baptism, in which Audrey behaved and looked like a little angel, we took family pictures which Ronin refused to cooperate in. Denis and I needed to pit stop at home for diaper changes. On the way to Stir Crazy in Woodfield, Ronin fell asleep so I think all his crabbiness meant that he was tired. Nikko had some bouts where he was looking for FS, but we tried to weather them and not even break open a bag. Playing the Signing Time DVD in the Pilot helped, but in the restaurant the DVD player didn't hold his attention for once. Nikko spent a lot of time gathering castoff chopsticks from people's tables, bringing them back to our table and lining them up. He also tended to run to Ollie's/the Penepacker table and seemed to just look at the other kids. I wonder if he was curious about them. Nikko didn't quite eat his nuggets (probably full on stars) but it still didn't diminish his appetite for crackers, MORE stars, and later on, cake. Of course. He didn't stay sitting in his high chair and preferred to be more mobile. I didn't demand he sit still; in fact, I was rather accommodating to him and have come to accept those facts for now. I wonder how preschool will change his inability to sit still.

After lunch, where we had a good time despite the craziness of 35 or so people in a secluded but somewhat cramped seating area, we headed home around 4:45pm. It felt like the day literally flew by and that we were starting all over. We chilled for a bit at home before taking everyone outside to play. I finished driving stakes into the ground and drilling them to the swingset while Audrey sat on a banig mat and the boys unfortunately discovered the sand box. I thought Nikko was starting to tire of it since he didn't sit down in the sand like Ronin did, but eventually he found his way into the sand as well. We had to give the boys baths before dinner, and later this evening I had to clean the tub from the sand and grit. The boys are in bed and we'll have our last playgroup session tomorrow.