GeoTrax

We had an open slate today after Nikko came home from school, but I already had intentions of taking the kids to Costco. It was only after this morning after breakfast when Nikko shoved the GeoTrax DVD in my hands that I wondered if a trip to Meijer was ahead. Nikko was grabbing the one green GeoTrax train we had from Ronin's grasp and Ronin kept bawling for it. I decided that we could take a trip to Meijer to peruse their Fisher Price GeoTrax selection and possibly buy another train so these boys would stop fighting over the one left. When we got to Costco, I tried to be slick about not showing my Costco card to Nikko, but he saw it when the cashier swiped it through her machine and he started whining for it. I've got to find a similar card in the future so he will leave mine alone! The kids behaved well in Costco because I saw a collection of Disney Cars board books, opened it and dished them out to the kids while keeping the cover for the checkout line. When I was loading everyone back into the Pilot, I started giving them some Oreos for snack so that they didn't bother me in Meijer for food. We got to Meijer and I took the kids straight to the toy section to check out the GeoTrax trains. It could have been a suicide mission, but I kept the boys moving and being firm about what they could hold and could not have. Ronin had his opinions on what cars he liked, but Nikko didn't seem to attach himself to any one car, surprisingly. After selecting some trains and tracks, I ushered them to other parts of the store while their temperaments were even keel. You would think that giving them Oreos before going into a store would cause them to become spastic, but these kids were extremely well-behaved. Nikko was content to hold onto my Costco card while looking at aisles of things he had no interest in. I hurried to look for some fabric glue to fix the sole of my house slipper, as well as cedar blocks to put in the bathroom linen baskets to ward off spiders. We left the store and I was so proud of all the kids!

Ronin fell asleep on the way home and would not snap out of his slumber when I took him from car seat. I carried him inside quickly and dumped him on the couch because I had to get Audrey. Nikko trailed me like a shadow of course, but once I got Audrey out of the Pilot they both took off for the swing set! Audrey amazes me. She's 17 months and 3 weeks and can climb the ladder to the swing set with great confidence. I'm usually standing right behind her in case her foot slips and she misses a few steps, which has definitely happened but hasn't deterred her spirit to get to the top of the slide. And she'll go down that slide fast. She doesn't know how to sit upright just yet, she slides down and ends up looking up at the sky, but practice will help. Ronin's a champ at sliding and landing on his feet, bouncing right up from the end to a standing position. Nikko was going down the slide feet first on his tummy and found it highly amusing. I had to usher them inside soon because it was dinner and I didn't want Ronin alone in the house for long. I washed hands and changed diapers and some pants that were dirtied from the slide. Then I took the trains out of their boxes and fixed the tracks so that when Ronin woke up it would be all ready for him. Nikko attached himself to the yellow GeoTrax train, which was initially Ronin's, and Ronin took to the blue one. Each boy had his own track and train, playing quietly. PEACE.

The downside to this was that Ronin was so enraptured with playing with his new train that he refused to eat his dinner. I pushed him to at least take a bite but he refused. Let's just say it got really, really ugly. I had to close the windows because my neighbor was watering his lawn and when I saw Ronin get angry with Nikko for probably touching his train, and then take a swipe at Nikko's head with the train, I yelled out a curt HEY and I think I saw the neighbor jump a little. *Darn kids and open windows!!!* Nikko was surprisingly mellow and continued to play with his yellow train while Ronin was getting thrown in time-out. Sadly, my buttons were all pushed and I can't say I was the picture of calm. I gave the kids their baths and tried to tone down my irritation during story time. Nikko fell asleep quickly because he didn't nap all day. He had woken up this morning with another bloody nose. I wonder what's causing it? He had a mini-coughing fit an hour ago, and I hope he doesn't get bloody again tomorrow.