Clothes Capers

It seems like every time I go to get the kiddos up from nap I have a surprise waiting for me. Last week it was Dan's crib pushed across the room and earlier this week I found Joe trying to climb into Kiki's crib (I think he learned his lesson because his leg got stuck between the slats and he had to be rescued).

The surprises also take the form of wardrobe malfunctions. Take Dan, for instance:


He's smiling for the picture, but he was near hysterical when I discovered him this way in his crib. The shirt was so twisted it was stuck and he could hardly move his arms.

Joe has also had some wardrobe mishaps of his own. This is what I found after nap on Tuesday:

Like Dan, he was also crying because he couldn't get the dress off by himself. I'm impressed he was able to even get it on. This incident led to our first discussion on gender-appropriate attire.

Kiki has clothing issues as well. But hers involve taking off her shorts and diaper and running around bare-bottomed; therefore, no pictures! :)

Life With 500 Toddlers

Life with our children continues to get more exciting by the day. Earlier this week Dan and Kiki decided to redecorate their windowsill and wall with orange marker and pen. Joe never did anything like that when he was their age. However . . .

Yesterday when I went to get the kids up from their naps this is what I found:

You are correct if you're thinking that doesn't look like the best place for Daniel's crib. Joe, who usually is very good about staying in his bed, decided to rearrange the furniture and took Dan along for the ride. I could tell by the laughter coming from the room that they all thought it was great fun.

And of course, they are fascinated by toilets:
So far all they like to do is watch it flush, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we have to call the plumber.

And while most days I have moments where I just want to run away from the screeching and screaming and fighting, every single day is also overflowing with laughter and joy and silliness and love. I am still awe-struck at the gift God has given us in these three beautiful children!

I Guess if THAT'S Your Excuse . . .

Yesterday was another one of "those days". You know - kids stripping naked and jumping on your bed, kids throwing food and plates at meals, kids bursting into tears when you put their shoes on to go play outside, and kids screaming at each other at the top of their lungs because they all want to sit on your lap at the same time. Throw in a dog peeing on your carpet and that pretty much sums up my day.

I knew Billy was going to be a little late coming home because he had an important meeting after school, plus he had a friend who needed cheering up and after the meeting they were going to Chili's to have a drink. No big deal. Of course I estimated in my mind how long all of this should take, and 15 minutes after I figured they should be finished and I didn't get a phone call from Billy telling me he was on his way home, I started to get irritated. I'm not proud I reacted this way, but hey, did I also mention that I had the kids all by myself this weekend while he was away on a retreat?? Anyway, when he finally did call I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was not coming home right away. And of course my irritation instantly ratcheted up a few more notches. Billy knew this would happen, so the next words out of his mouth were, "We found a baby." My brain was waiting for him to finish the sentence - a baby what? Dog? Squirrel? Possum? Opossum?

But no, it really was a human baby. Billy and his friend found a little girl wandering around in the parking lot by the dumpsters behind a Long John Silver's. She was about 15 months old, scraped up, and dirty. They took her inside the restaurant to see if they could find her parents and the workers told them she lives nearby and this was the third or fourth time she had wandered away. They gave her water and some ice cream while waiting for the police. The little girl's father showed up and was very remorseful about what happened. Billy and his friend gave statements to the police, who then escorted the little girl and her father home.

Needless to say, after hearing what happened I immediately felt ashamed of myself for the little pity party I had been throwing because I thought my day was so awful. My heart aches for this little girl and I hope this is a wake-up call to her parents to be more vigilant. I know kids can escape - Joe can unlock and open our sliding back door - but from this little girl's appearance and the fact that she had wandered away several times before, I fear she is not growing up in a safe and protected environment. I pray that things will get better for her.

All Hail the Sprinkler

I have no idea what they were doing, but the other day when we let the kids play in the sprinkler all they wanted to do was hold golf clubs and bubble wands towards it as if it were some magical force. They refused to run through it even though we showed them how.

Underwear on Hold

We thought Joe might be ready for the next step in his journey towards independence: underwear. I think I was more excited than he was when we bought the underwear at Wal-Mart on Wednesday. (He chose Cars and Spiderman designs over Sesame Street). He stayed dry for about 3 hours on Wednesday afternoon/evening, but on Thursday morning I had to clean up 2 puddles within an hour. At that rate we would have run out of clean pairs before lunch.

So it's back to diapers for now.

500 Babies Go to a Nursery

I thought a quick trip to a local nursery to pick up a few plants would be a fun outing for me, Daniel, and Kiki last Friday afternoon. Billy and Joe were in Oklahoma over the weekend and to me this presented a great opportunity to get out of the house and do all the things I wish I could do but don't because of the hassle of taking 3 toddlers. Three is just too many, but two? Piece of cake! Or so I thought.

Here's what I didn't account for:

1. Little fingers ripping leaves off plants and petals off flowers? Check.
2. Four little feet jumping and splashing in water, soaking themselves and me? Check.
3. Little boy falling down on the sidewalk, scraping his head and getting covered in dirt? Check.
4. Little girl running away straight into the parking lot? Check.

Plus it was 100 degrees outside. When Kiki started to run away, I abandoned our wagon of purchases, scooped up both kids and took them to the van. Dan's shoe fell off, I grabbed it, and then dropped it. I was also trying to hold onto my receipt but it ripped and blew away. I was starting to feel humiliated. Fortunately a kind gentleman saw my plight and pulled my wagon over to the van for me while I was getting the kids buckled in. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Needless to say, I won't try that experiment again anytime soon.

Tale of a Kite Tail

As you might be able to tell from yesterday's Top 5 Beach Moments, Daniel had the most mishaps during our trip. In addition to falling out of the bed and dumping water on his head, he also became entangled in the tail of our kite. The wind was so strong he was unable to extricate himself from the situation. Unfortunately for Dan, his mother tends to photograph him in these situations before helping him out.

Fun at the Beach

It's been a week since we headed down to the coast and I think I've finally recovered from the vacation. It took a week to prepare and almost as long to get everything unpacked and put away (and the kids back on their normal schedules) but it was worth every minute and every grain of sand, follicle of dog fur, and poopy swim diaper we dealt with. Here are my top 5 beach memories for each child:

Joe:

1. Getting over his fear of the water and playing in the ocean with Daddy.

2. Letting loose on the swings at the playground.

3. Using the grown-up toilet for the first time.

4. Feeding the seagulls.

5. Flying a kite.

Kiki:

1. Running away from the waves every time the water came near her.

2. Mastering the "fake smile" whenever I asked her to smile for the camera.

3. Rubbing sand in her hair.

4. Saying "hi" to every dog we saw.

5. Being completely absorbed in playing with the sand toys.

Dan:

1. Falling out of bed the first night of our stay.

2. Being the first child to say the word "animal". (He says "an-mal".)

3. Going through swim diapers like it's going out of style.

4. Dumping a half-gallon of water all over his head while sitting in his car seat.

5. Drinking too much red juice.

All I'm left wondering is how is one supposed to "reapply" the sunscreen on kids after they've been playing in the sand for a while. What a mess!