Saturday, February, 21st, 2009

I'll start this entry with our day yesterday. We started off at the Natural History Museum. I was kind of proud of myself for getting all 3 kids fed, dressed and out the door and to the east side by 9:45a.m. Jack went to his dinosaur program byhimself and sat and listen and learned some new things about dinosaurs- especially t-rex's!! And Mallie, Annie and I played in the discovery zone room. Then we all took a tour of the museum as a big group. Afterwards, I took the kids outside to see the animals (which is an AWSOME place to go- even in cold weather!), then back through the museum. We were all alone and the musuem had just opened to the public, so it was nearly empty. It was just the 4 of us in the galleries and it was really neat to get to go at our speed and for them to run around and investigate things without being worried about who they were running into! It was a fun morning. We had lunch in the cafeteria and went home for naps. Afterwards, we headed to Papa Yaya's to eat McDonalds's and drop Annie off so the rest of us could get to Sesame Street LIVE!!!

That show needs an entry in and of itself. As much as I prepared them, I don't think the kids knew what to expect. After sitting in our seats for 5 minutes, the lights dimmed, and BAM-O!!!! Spotlights started flashing and drums started rolling. It was a very upbrupt and frantic beginning to a children's show. Mallie was sitting in her seat at the start and leapt into Tommy's lap and was strangling his neck. Jack had his immediate knee-jerk reaction of clapping his hands on his ears. This was all followed by a very loud, and manic song and dance show for an hour and a half. I was completely over-stimulated by the end. The entire theater was in melt-down mode by 8:00 and we still had about 20 minutes of the show to go! My kids, somehow, got over the trauma by the end of the first number and ended up absolutely LOVING the whole thing. Mallie sat in her seat with her box of popcorn, bopping her head to the songs and clapping at the end of each number. She also was waving furiously at the characters up on stage. When it was over, Mallie bee-lined out of the row and down the aisle. As I chased her down, I realized that Jack was following me, running behind and sobbing. I sat down in an empty seat to figure out what was wrong. He was so swept up in the emotion of the show that I think he was crushed with the finale. (He is JUST like me- I get to emotional at any movie, or especially live theater- even one of this caliber!!) Overall- this was a huge success of a night and I guess we'd do it again to see how excited the kids get. (Maybe it would be better next time, knowing what to brace myself for!)

On the way home, Jack announced that he had to go potty, immediately after leaving the parking garage. That's a long haul home with a full bladder (that's the size of a peanut!!!) So I was offering suggestion, after suggestion of places we could stop to let him go downtown. Tommy was angry and frustrated and wanted to get home and kept telling Jack to 'hold it'- which was absolutely not going to happen. So we pulled over in the St. ignatius parking lot and I put a diaper on Jack and let hime go. As he was standing there, letting his bladder go in the car (it must've felt so strange to him to consciously go potty in his pants!!!)- Jack exclaimed, "IT's WORKING!!!" This diffused any tension that was there between Tommy and I!!!

Today was Brendan's 6th birthday party at Pump It Up. Jack ran right in and was playing in the lobby. I thought we should try to go to the bathroom before going in to the trampolines and when I suggested it, he said, "Hold on mom, I need to say 'hi' to Brendan". He walked right up to him (he was standing with all his buddies from school). Jack looked so little to me next to them- but he said, "Hi Brendan!" and started chatting with his friends. It was really cute.

Mallie was fearless on all the huge trampolines there. She went into one inflatable with Ryan and several of the 'big boys'. She just stood there, bouncing around with them. It was hilarious.

Mallie REFUSED to nap today. Once Jack finally fell asleep, she came downstairs and sat with Tommy and I at the kitchen table while we talked about stocks. Annie was sleeping, too. I think she loved being the only child for a little bit. She was so content going from my lap to Tommy's.

Tonight, Tommy was getting the older kids' jammies on when I came upstairs. Jack ran out of the room and I was standing next to Tommy and grabbed his hand and gave him a hug. Jack came running back in and saw us and said, "Oh no!!! Not THIS again!!!!" We laughed and looked at him and asked, "Not what again!?"- to which he replied by pointing at me, then Tommy and saying, "THIS! the kissing!!" This is the funniest thing I have heard out of Jack's mouth in a VERY long time.