What Did You Say, Young Lady?!

If she had been older, that's exactly what I would have screamed at her.

But since she's so young, it was actually kinda funny.  Unfortunately, I still have no idea what she was talking about.

Have a bitchin' night!

Java Gym

Ordinarily I would never think to patronize a place called Java Gym, as I don't drink coffee ... or exercise much, for that matter.  But this place was actually more for the kiddos than it was for me, so my dad and I got the kids out of the house and into the gym.  We had a lot of fun and took lots of pictures!  (Oh, and doesn't Mollie's new haircut look adorable?!)

So, it's basically a giant jungle gym.  And when I say "giant" I mean giant ... it's built so adults can go in it too!  Perfect example here ... there is my 6'3" dad having fun with the kiddos, able to go everywhere they could though not always able to keep up with my Mollie girl.

And it goes really high up, too!

In spite of the height and size of this thing, it seems very well-constructed and very focused on safety.  And, as many of you know I'm sure, kids really like to put that to the test.

There is only one 15-foot section you can exit from; a brilliant idea if you are not in there with your kid, but an infuriating one if you're trying to get an anxious little man out.

There was a lot of this strap netting going on, and it seemed pretty secure ...

... don't you think?

We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately there were a lot of tears as well.  Baylor was pretty nervous about the slides and after being nudged down one by my dad, he wasn't about to go on one again.  Or let anyone else he loves go on one, for that matter.  A couple moments there could have been taken directly out of the part of A Christmas Story when Ralphie goes to visit Santa.  Yikes!

After a while we started a man-to-man coverage of the kids, if you will, with Dad watching after Mollie and Baylor and I hanging together.  All of a sudden, though, I noticed that Dad had two kids with him. As it turns out, this little guy named Aaron decided that Dad was his new best friend and that they should totally hang together.  So they did.

Mollie tore the joint up, climbing everywhere she could and some places she couldn't.

Baylor, as usual, was more cautious and wary of other kids.  So he and I took it slow and just explored.  I tried to get him to go down the slides with me (as they looked like they were a lot of static-y fun), but it was a no-go.

Okay, I'll be honest ... I usually don't have a problem with heights, but this freaked me out something fierce!  Just look at that drop!

We explored every last inch of the place, save for the slides, and went up and down so many times that I was quite sore the next day.  (Maybe I should exercise more often ...)

Eventually Dad and I switched, and I got to hit the orange slide with Mollie.  To be fair, though, I couldn't keep up with her; she zoomed around everywhere she went!

Which is probably why she crashed pretty quickly.  Just look at those tired baby blues!

Oh, and the other bad thing about only having one exit area is that it makes it kind of tough for kids who are still potty training.  Long story short, Baylor had an accident, but luckily he was wearing very absorbent pants and was able to stop himself early enough on.  Unfortunately, his bonehead mom forgot to pack pants for him.  So he had to wear his sister's leggings.  I'm so sorry, kiddo!

Amazingly enough, though, he didn't notice he was wearing them until we got to the car.

And lucky for him, it was time for us to go anyway.  We had a lot of fun, got a lot of big muscle time in, and I'm sure we'll be back there again soon!  And this time, I'll make sure to bring extra BOY pants!

Bowling, Bowling, Bowling ... Keep Those Kids A' Bowling!

My dad had an itch to go bowling recently, so we all packed up and took a little road trip to Douglas to go bowling.  We ended up at Lakeview Lanes, an adorable eight-lane bowling alley with an attached restaurant.  After collecting shoes and bowling balls, it was time to start the games!

Dad and the kids were on a lane together, bumpers up and ready to go.  Mollie obviously needed help, so she and my mom bowled together.

Baylor, being the big boy he is, decided he only needed a little help.  The first couple times he helped push the ball down the lane he started sobbing as soon as it left his hands, but he eventually warmed up to the whole process and had fun.

Except, of course, the time I helped him too much (a.k.a., got caught doing the bulk of the pushing) and he cried for a bit and didn't seem to want my "help" anymore.

Mollie was just thrilled at the whole experience and cheered and danced her way through it.

Sorry the next video is sideways ... my sister tried her best!  In any case, it gives you a pretty good idea of how geeked the little lady was whenever she took her turn.

As you can easily see in this picture, Baylor got to wear big boy bowling shoes ... he wears the smallest size they come in.

In between turns, Mollie discovered a love of lemons.

Seriously, she'd suck on it, make this face, then do it again.  Funny little girl!

Of course, hunger soon kicked in and Mollie pretended to take pictures with Grandpa E's phone while munching on animal crackers.  Ah, what a life!

Then, unsatisfied that I had ONLY brought animal crackers, she went nosing through my purse in hopes of scoring something saltier.  Namely, goldfish crackers.

We bowled two games then enjoyed a leisurely dinner.  It was quite a nice evening, and the kids are already looking forward to our next bowling excursion!

Esquela!: The First Attempt

One of the main things we are trying to do to help Baylor with the Asperger's symptoms he is experiencing is to get him into a class through our school district, ultimately in hopes that it will help him feel less anxious when around kids his own age.  Our first attempt to get him to his 9:00 a.m. Friday morning class came two Fridays ago, and I am sad to report it did not end well.

It did, however, start out okay.  I got Baylor up at 7:00 a.m.; plenty early enough, I thought.  Throughout the morning I tried to make things as calm and leisurely as possible so as not to intensify any stress or anxiety he might have been feeling.  That approach may have been my undoing in the end.

Regardless, he got to put together some Legos he earned by using the potty the night before.

And he got to have his favorite breakfast:  a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, crusts cut off, and the sandwich itself cut into two triangles, two rectangles, and two squares (a.k.a. "how Oma does it").

It was right about then that I screwed myself over.  Notice how Mollie hasn't been seen or mentioned yet?  Yeah, that's because she wasn't up yet; I, like an idiot, didn't wake her up until about 8:00 a.m.  Smooth move, Nic.

The morning ended up devolving into a bunch of shouting, crying, and anxiety for both Baylor and me, and I wondered how we would ever make this work.  Mollie, for her part, was a trooper; though she absolutely dilly-dallied through her breakfast, she was Johnny On The Spot when it came to getting ready.  Even after it was determined that we wouldn't be going to school that day, she still tried to get everyone dressed and ready to go - which also served to upset her brother even more, but hey, at least she tried.

In the end, we didn't go because I didn't want his first taste of school to be a sour one.  He has years to build up his dislike for school; this initial foray should be purely fun as all we're really hoping for here is a little socialization.  The class he's attending is actually a speech therapy class, only four or five other little boys about his age in it; he's not going to be there for the speech therapy part of it, but it's an ideal-sized class for socializing.

After I relented trying to get us all ready to go and told him we were going to stay home, he snapped back to normal and went on playing.  I, unfortunately, was wrecked for the entire morning.  My nerves were shot from trying to get us out the door even remotely on time, and I had let myself get my hopes up for an awesome experience.  Once I calmed down, I tried reminding myself that this is all new, and it's all about him.  This isn't about trying to fix how much I hated school; it's about trying to make sure that his first experiences with school are as positive as they can be.  Forcing him into this, or most anything for that matter, isn't going to produce a lot of happy feelings.  Yes, he does have to go to school and meet new kids, and yes it will be this Friday morning class; but to get Baylor on-board we need to go more at Baylor pace.

As I said that day ... there's always next week!

Random Photos from Recent Times, Part 2

I thought you might enjoy looking at some recent photos of the kiddos and all their antics.

Like playing with their food (and being super excited about it) ...

Peek-a-booing out of the little house ...

Talking, talking, talking ... with one's hands, of course ...

Building sweet bridges that one's mom is so enamored of that she'll take a picture of it ...

Making stretched-out faces when one is tired ...

Smiling with family ...

Talking with each other after having successfully torn apart the couch ...

Not getting along ...

And being thick as thieves ...

Snuggling with Mom's beloved Teddy, gently of course as he is a "geriatric bear" ...

And being a silly little stinker and moving the bar stool into the living room ...

And joining one's sister in the mischievous fun ...

So that's what they've been up to in between all the big stuff of life.  What have you been up to these days?