Mwuah!

On the last post I pleaded that Ronin PLEASE stay asleep until 7a. Ok, but I forgot to plead that Nikko stay asleep until 7a as well! Nikko woke up at 3a and started crying out. I was cold and tired so I got up and did my usual middle-of-the-night routine: fumbled for a fleece pullover, grabbed my glasses and cell phone, shuffled out into the hall and closing the bedroom door behind me, went into Nikko's room, turned off the night light so it was pitch black, and climbed into Nikko's car bed next to him. At 3a in the morning, I didn't feel like having him cry it out. I think he stirred once (I didn't check my watch) but I put a hand on his arm and he calmed immediately. At 6:45a Ronin woke up and was calling for me, so that was everyone's wake-up time (except for Denis, who had left much earlier to go to work). So to get this out of the way early, PLEASE RONIN AND NIKKO, STAY ASLEEP UNTIL 7A!!

Nikko didn't have speech today because Kathy was out sick so there wasn't anything extraordinary on his progress report. He came home with an unusual amount of paint splattered on his clothes. When I checked the report I saw that the activity today was "Paint with cars." I'm sure he had fun with that! We're currently having a great few days of weather in the high 50's-low 60's, and tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees, so I've been forced to try to get the kids outdoors. Anyone who grew up an Alog kid knows that going outdoors was not really a priority to us growing up. I had my share of biking and playing in the park and digging through the neighborhood garbage in the alleys (who has a house that has an alley nowadays??), but outdoorsy activities weren't our forte. Now that I have kids, I realize I'd better get over my old ways and get them outside to enjoy nature, get wet (shudder) and get dirty (major shudder). Within reason. Yesterday I sacrificed the timing of Ronin's nap so that the kids could play in the backyard for 45 minutes. Audrey kept running down the driveway toward the street. It's difficult with her because she has zero sense of boundaries at one year old. I'll have to put up the baby gate when we're outside, I guess. Ronin and Nikko were on the swings and slides like champs, even exploring the big tree in the backyard.

Today I was lamenting because we really needed to make a Costco trip [to buy more potstickers. Ronin is eating a lot of them!] and possibly a Meijer trip for groceries, but I wanted to get them running around in this great weather. So before Costco, I let the kids run a bit in the backyard. Rachel was next door putting water into these plastic bumpers affixed to their swingset, so I talked to her over the fence and showed off Audrey and Ronin. They were squirmy but friendly. When I looked over at them after releasing them, Nikko and Audrey had found the plastic toboggan, filled with leftover ice water and leaves. Guess what they were doing? Splashing with their hands! I ran over and dragged them away, turning over the toboggan and declaring it time to go to Costco. I had to change Nikko's shirt because the sleeves were wet, but Audrey wasn't too wet. We survived Costco, but Ronin was sleepy so I decided we would take a trip to Meijer after all. This would give Ronin and Nikko a chance to take a nap in the car. When we got to Meijer, I allowed the boys to look at little Matchbox cars and, if on sale, take one home. I wanted to do some recon and check out the ride-on toys with possibly getting something for Audrey. But the boys were whining at my heels, wanting to open their cars, wanting the other cars on the shelves, and wanting, wanting, wanting! I gave them Oreos to tide them over and give them a snack, since going to Meijer had cut in on our scheduled snack time. I sped through the grocery and got us to self-checkout, where a cashier was so kind to help bag my stuff. I scanned the boys' cars, ripped them open and gave each car to its kid, and there was SILENCE. :) When we got home, I unloaded the car and let the kids run for a little bit since it was still sunny outside and almost dinnertime. We chatted with our neighbor Manolo, who hadn't seen Audrey since the fall.

After dinner and in the living room, Nikko was bounding around, watching TV and playing with cars. He came up to me and sat in my lap when I sat on the ground. He put his face right up to mine and was squishing his nose on mine, but then I realized he was kissing me, and ended with a big "Mwuah!" I laughed, and he giggled and tried it again and again. "Mwuah! Mwuah!" It was a sweet interaction. Then I saw him put his hand under his lips as if to blow a kiss, then put his hands under his cheek as if he were sleeping. I think he was mimicking something he saw on TV (from Hi-5 perhaps?). He's been doing a lot of mimicking from The Wiggles this week. I wonder if he might be ready for learning some letters? I just thought of it tonight and might try putting a few letters in front of him for some recognition. Or I could try to drill all three of the kids during a mealtime. Ideal, but no guarantee that their attention spans would be present!