Taking the Zoo to the Zoo

We've been a little light on the photos of LR, so here is an almost all LR photo post.

Last Thursday we had Chrissy with us so that Abra could have a dentist appointment for a toothache. Her wisdom teeth are coming in. So, rather than spend $10,000 out of pocket... that's right, 10K... you heard me. Anyone want to tell me our health care system isn't broken now? We are sending her home to South Africa to see family and go to the government hospital where she can get them removed for free. I'm not saying we don't have the best health care in the world. We do for the people who can afford it. We have the best doctors and nurses (Cheers, Papa, Grandma Nese, Gigi, and soon Uncle Keeper), cutting edge technology, beautiful facilities, etc., but there is absolutely no way someone like Abra who is here without dental insurance, could pay for something like this. She might get it done, but she'd be on the next plane home. We're just lucky that she has one more month to travel home before her visa is within 2 months of year end. Apparently, it's tough to get back in the country when you have less than 2 months left on your visa. So we have to say goodbye to Abra for a couple of weeks in Sept. Not really sure what we'll do without her - other than beg and plead with Grandma Nese to come visit. :)

Anyway, we packed everyone up for a quick trip to the small Stone Zoo around the corner from our house when we got home from the dentist. They have a new black bear exhibit and a baby jaguar since our last trip. LR really enjoyed watching the bears from his stroller and then getting right up next to the glass where the jaguars were "playing." I think it was play, but you can see from the picture that Mama jaguar took Baby jaguar's entire head in her mouth. LR thought it was pretty hysterical. He was packed in with a bunch of kids, so I could barely see him, but I could definitely hear his scream/laugh every time Mama knocked around Baby.

LR also loves the little playground at the back of the zoo where there is usually a train for him to ride, but since the zoo was about to close, they shut it down early. LR was disappointed, so I let him ride the helicopter before we left. It wasn't nearly as good as the train, so he seemed a little deflated. I'll be sure we ride the train first next time so that we don't get to it so close to closing time. Then LR helped Abra load the babies into the car. He always leans over the seat and entertains them while we pop their car seats into the docks. More screaming from LR, but less screaming from babies. I'll take it!

This is what I call parenting! "Don't make me put your entire head in my mouth again, cuz I'll do it!"

Hanging out the with Au Pairs

Abra's good friend Chrissy was hanging out with us last week. She's an au pair for another family in the area and we love to have her visit. She's great with the kids and LR can't get enough of playtime with her. I love the pic of her with Missy. It's like a glamor shot! She's from Namibia which shares a border with South Africa, so she and Abra really hit it off when they met.

Speaking of people who are good with the babies, LR is always very loving when it comes to them. He just has a huge heart. When he got a cold 2 weeks ago it was terrible trying to keep him from kissing the babies. We had to institute a no-mouths-on-babies rule. Regardless, within a few days both J Frog and Missy had runny noses. I'm glad it wasn't a flu or something worse, but I'm sure that with LR starting preschool next week, shared colds like that aren't far off.

I have vivid memories of getting a stomach flu when LR was 4 months old and trying not to vomit on him when he woke up during the night to nurse. That being said, I wouldn't change a thing about LR. He always wants to give his friends hugs and kisses. He doesn't mind that they give him the straight arm or duck under his arms. He constantly wants to snuggle... well, when he's not playing cars, jumping off tables, running laps, or swinging bats.

Shy Missy

Right after my last post, I got some great shots of Missy being shy. We went to a farm to pick peaches this weekend and I had to unlatch the car seats from the stroller to get them into the tram to take us to the trees. It was amazing that the farm owners had not foreseen the trouble that all these families would have with strollers when they changed their policy to force everyone to ride instead of walk 500 yards to the trees. Oh, and it cost $8/person for the privilege. Not to say that LR didn't love it, but we won't be going back to that particular farm, so I'd have to say the choices they made were poor.

So these shots were taken of Missy sitting on the floor of the tram when it started moving. I guess it freaked her out a little.







Eventually she came out of her shell.

Bath Time Fun

It doesn't matter how fussy the babies are, as soon as I drop them into the bath, they're happy. I tend to face them toward each other, but recently Missy has had this thing for the water rushing out of the faucet. She likes to keep her hands under the faucet and lets the water spray her in the face. I think this time around I'm far less cautious about getting water in their faces. I can't remember if I babied LR when it came to getting his face wet, but since these kids don't seem to mind, I'm encouraging lots of water in the face starting early.

Missy has hit another milestone, stranger fear. She's cool with Daddy, Abra, or me, but as soon as someone else walks in the room and smiles at her, she ducks her head. God forbid we hand her off to someone she isn't familiar with. That's when the high pitched, extremely girl-y cries erupt. It's both annoying and adorable at the same time.

J Frog continues on his LR-like track of loving everyone who walks in the door. He always has a smile on his face and doesn't mind going to new people. Clearly, however, his favorite person is LR. I think that's the only reason he's starting crawling. Whenever LR is on the floor playing, then that's where J Frog is heading. Today I had to detour him with wooden cars while LR and I played a board game. Pretty sure he's going to need something more like a barricade soon.

Banner Day

Today is a banner day. I finally hit my goal weight. Too bad it doesn't look as good as I had hoped it would. I'm afraid my skin will never recover from the stretching that occurred while J Frog and Missy played dueling blindfolded conductors while in utero. Daddy has said that if I didn't like the way I looked after losing 40 pounds (65 since their birth) I could have a tummy tuck, but I don't know. (He didn't offer that up on his own accord. I asked. Can you imagine? "Honey, I think you deserve a tummy tuck after you lose all that weight!") I'll never forget what a very wise young rugger said to me while we were jogging the 6 mile round trip from Tufts to Harvard and back. I asked her if she ever thought about getting a breast reduction since she was 5'2" and had double D breasts. She said, "yeah, as an athlete, I definitely thought about it, but then I thought I would find something else to obsess about after that, so I better just learn to be happy with what I have." I must have been 24 at the time and she was 20 or so. She obviously made an impression since I've remembered all this time.

Let's just see how 45 pounds down looks first.

Betwixt the Two of Them

Every night when I feed J Frog and Missy their cereal and veggies or fruit mush, I'm reminded of the nursery rhyme Jack Sprat.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean

When I feed Missy, she grabs at the spoon whenever it comes near. She'll eat what's on the spoon, grab it, and turn it around to gnaw on the handle. J Frog, on the other hand, only had eyes for the bowl. He could care less about the spoon, but when I hold the bowl above the level of his tray, his eyes open wide and he grabs for it. Eventually I'm left with no spoon and no bowl. If only they were as efficient as a dishwasher, I'd have a good system here.

On The Move

While I was being lazy about blogging, Missy and J Frog worked their tails off and started moving. Originally I speculated that J Frog would be the first to move because he was so good on his tummy, but I had to amend that as Missy started log rolling to whatever she wanted. She's been doing that for 2 weeks now or so. I went back to my 2006 posts about LR as he started exploring our old apartment. (Turns out that I can't remember squat anymore, much less what month LR started being mobile.) He was a roller just like Missy and was pretty good at it by the time I posted in mid-April. That would make him 7 months which puts Missy right on par.

This past weekend J Frog started showing signs of pulling himself along the floor commando style. He hadn't done anything dramatic and since he's spent the last two months flying on his belly and spinning in circles, I was incredibly surprised yesterday when he started hunting down LR as LR played with some trains on the floor. J Frog discovered that he could drag/wiggle his way forward. And once he started, he didn't stop. It was as if a switch had been flipped in his brain. I'm afraid that's the end of leaving the babies unattended for a minute or two while I run to the kitchen. With the core muscles that J Frog has built over the past few months, we're going to have to watch out for him.

The second photo makes me laugh. "Look, ma! No hands!"

Happy 34th Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! You are an amazing dad to these kids. Someday you'll look back at the changes this past year brought and think, "why didn't I just pack some underwear in a picnic basket and run." But then you'll look at your artist, cheerleader, and astronaut (in no particular order) children and think, "I spent 12 million dollars for you to be a god damn artist!" And then you'll pony up for the gallery opening, put on a tie for the first time in 25 years, and look in the mirror at the gray scruff. I'll comb your eyebrows and tell you for the billionth time what a good dad you are. That J Frog looks just like you. That Missy's personality is just like yours. And that LR is nothing like you - from which you take solace.

We love you today and tomorrow. We also hope your eyebrow hair doesn't really get that long.
XO,
RuggerMom

Beware of Potty Enthusiasts

This is a shout out to SwingDaddy and Lady M for their continued progress with Bud on the potty training. It's also a warning. As LR's comfort level with the toilet increased, so did his curiosity. I came home from work one day to find that the toilet had overflowed due to mass amounts of toilet paper wadded up and thrown in by LR. (Abra was at the end of her rope that day after having to clean up toilet water.) Now we keep the toilet paper well out of reach which results in me sitting down and cursing every time I pee and realize, too late, that I have to stand up to get the roll.

That same week I sent LR to bother entertain Daddy while he was in the shower. When I got home from work, I went upstairs to pee. After I flushed the toilet, I looked into the bowl and saw something at the mouth of the pipe. I thought that it was strange to get rust there when it was a relatively new toilet. I looked closer and realized it was my good opal pendant which LR had taken off the sink counter and plunked into the bowl earlier that day. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that I had already flushed the toilet once. I was just lucky that it was a little too heavy to go down. I would have been devastated.

So, SwingDaddy and Lady M, batten down the hatches! I'll cross my fingers for you and hope Bud isn't as curious about plumbing as LR.

"I'll just sit here" and Other New Phrases

LR has a whole new arsenal of phrases that he's been using on us. The first one appeared a couple of weeks ago. He says it when he's particularly disappointed. He's never been a pouter, but when we say we can't play because we're still eating dinner even though he's already wolfed down his and jumped out of his chair, he wanders over to the stairs and says, "I'll just sit here." His resolve to sit there never lasts long, but it makes me laugh every time.

The second is the result of watching a show called "Super Why." We try to pick educational programs for LR since we know we're exposing him to more TV than we would like, but I didn't realize how much he's picking up until I heard him say, "I can't. My story says so." That line is used by a character toward the end of each episode. Now when LR doesn't want to do something I've asked him to do, he whips this handy phrase out.

Aside: Speaking of educational TV, the other day LR came rolling into the living room on his stroller and claimed he was going "adagio." The musically challenged person that I am, I asked him what that meant. He said he was going slowly. I asked him how could he go fast. He replied, "allegro." Go Little Einsteins!

The last phrase he's been using is a little sinister. When we need to discipline LR we say, "I will take you to your room." Recently, he's been threatening us with "I will bang you with my hand," or "I will scratch you with my nails," or "I will throw you down the stairs." He's such a sweet kid, that it always surprises me when something so venomous pops out of his mouth. We've explained to him that threats are not allowed and I quizzed Abra and Daddy about what they've been saying to him. Daddy fessed up and said that he's said, "I will throw you out the window" while playing with LR.

The Past 2 months

Great Reading Material

When I came out of the parking garage this morning on my way to work, I passed a man who was holding a small novel in front of him while walking. Normally, walking and holding a novel = not so novel; however, he had it open and was reading it. I looked at him closely because, lord knows, he wasn't paying attention to me staring, and thought like any good mom would, "that's dangerous - he could step in a hole!" After I passed him I absolutely kicked myself for not asking what the title of the book was. If it was so good that he couldn't put it down, I want to read it!

Missy and J Frog are healthy and happy!

Last Thursday, Missy and J Frog had their 6 month checkup. All is well. J Frog grew 3 inches in 2 months. They were so surprised, they measured him twice and then the doctor even questioned the nurse's measuring. He's now 27 inches long and 17 lbs. He's 60th percentile for height and 25th for weight. Missy is 70th for both. She grew 2.75 inches and weighs 17.5 lbs. J Frog's low weight seems to be the only thing left from being a preemie, but even that isn't bad. His legs are plenty chunky and he can drink up to 7 oz. of formula at a time now.

They both got 3 shots and I asked the doctor to space the two on Missy's right leg a little farther apart to attempt to avoid the swelling that both she and LR experience with all their double shots. Not sure if that was the trick or not, but Missy's leg didn't swell that night. That was an incredible relief. LR stayed home with Daddy while Abra and I took the babies to the doctor.

Yesterday I measured LR and he's now 38 inches tall according to his ever-so-accurate Thomas the Train height chart. Abra and I took some time to rearrange the furniture in LR's room and it's all starting to come together. I'm working on curtains and have 4 of 10 panels made. The trick is to keep LR from touching my sewing equipment during the day. I can only really use it at night after they've all gone to bed, so the process is slow going. Will put up pictures of his room when I finish.

Play Ball!

LR learns how to swing a bat with Yianni and Cookie coaching.

LR Singing Movie

Here's one of the movie clips I promised.

That's a Lot of Kids

We get lots of stares when we go out. I'm sure it's worse for families with high order multiples, but I guess having LR in his fancy, high stroller seat puts us over the edge from interesting, to rubber-necking worthy. Sure, there are a lot of us, but we're just like everyone else.

We like to pig-pile on Daddy.












We get tired and go to Mommy for comfort.







Sure we fight.







But we still love each other.

Skills

J Frog prefers to be on his belly all the time now. Ever since he started sleeping on his stomach he's been quick to flip onto his belly every time we put him down. No more leaving him in the swings or bouncy seats unattended. We've officially stopped using the seats because he kept trying to roll out of them. When on the ground he lifts his arms and legs simultaneously like he's trying to fly. Not really sure what he's trying to do, but it looks like a superman impression. He's probably not terribly far from crawling... maybe a month away.

They both love the banana toy. You can see them fighting over it in the photo where Daddy piled them on top of each other. Missy is just fending off J Frog. Despite their differences, they're pretty even when it comes to being aggressive.

As for Missy, her favorite new skill is getting her toes to her mouth. She's been doing that for about two weeks. She still prefers to be on her back to play with toys, but she'll roll onto her stomach every once in a while. Her big new thing is babbling. She can often be heard saying "ba ba ba ba" or "ma ma ma ma." It's funny to think actual words are not that far away.

LR can now play his harmonica while standing in his underwear. Now that's skill! Actually, he's completely potty trained, even at night. Once he started spending days in underwear instead of a diaper, he noticed that the diaper wasn't all that comfy. Two nights ago he was tugging at his diaper as I was reading his bedtime story. I asked if he wanted me to loosen it. He said, "yeah," but then decided to take the whole thing off. I explained to him that he would need to go to the potty during the night if he needed to pee. I said he could call for me if he needed me too. I fully expected him to wet through, but he succeeded in making it through to the next morning. Same thing last night. Not that there won't be accidents, but I'm pretty sure the size 6 diapers can go in the closet for Missy and J Frog.

Gorgeous Kids

Just wanted to share some of the great photos we've taken of the kids recently. Now's the time to play the "who looks like whom" game.

J Frog chillin'












The wonders that a big piece of black velvet can do for your photos...





Playing with a little black and white








Missy is always quick to smile








She puts everything in her mouth now, but loves finding her fingers and...











her toes!

Yianni & Cookie Visit

Yianni and Cookie arrived too late Friday night to see the kids, but they got up bright and early with us on Sat. Actually, they got up at 1am, 2:30am, 4am, and 5:30am before taking on LR at 6:30am. For whatever reason, Missy and J Frog woke up crying every hour to hour and a half that night. They had been doing really well as far as sleep goes, but all of a sudden it was like having colicky newborns! Luckily they've slept through the last 3 nights to make up for it.

Saturday we took the zoo to the zoo. We just barely fit everyone in the minivan. LR seemed to enjoy seeing the animals and then he discovered the little train ride at the back of the zoo and just didn't want to leave. He was tired and started to get cranky, so we cut our losses and skipped the leopard and wolf exhibits. We did get to see the new black bears though.

On Sunday we went north a little ways to go raspberry picking. LR was excited about the playground at the farm and was reluctant to go picking until he found out he could eat the berries right off the vine. I showed him how to pick the berries, but he was more interested in having me pour the ones from my pint into his so that he could continue eating uninterrupted. I don't know that he's had raspberries before, but he really loved them. We'll definitely go again next year.

Cookie and Yianni also took it upon themselves to teach LR had to swing a bat with two hands. By the time I came outside to watch, he was hitting them left and right while Yianni pitched. I have some great video of it that I will post as soon as I get to it. First I'm sorting through the 200 photos we took over the past 2 weeks.

Cheer Cheer Cheer

Enough about sleep! The babies are doing well and generally sleeping through, although Abra is up more often now since the babies keep everyone awake when they cry. Letting them cry it out is really tough for her. She had to sit on the floor of their room during nap time yesterday as Missy took 15 minutes to go to sleep. She's just like I was with LR. Every cry breaks her heart.

When Gigi visited last month she sang to LR one of her very favorite songs, Take Me Out to the Ball Game. When she left, I started singing it as part of LR's bedtime routine and in no time he had picked up all the words. It's one of the few songs he can sing by himself from start to finish. The best part is that he was sure I was being silly when I sang "root root root," so he made me "sing it the right way." So now I sing "cheer cheer cheer" instead. It still sounds funny to me, but he's sure it's right now.

Ferberizing Twins ~ Night #4

Last night was better and worse. When we put them down at 7:30, I expected some crying. What I didn't expect was J Frog to go for an hour and fifteen minutes. Early on in the event I saw that he had flipped onto his stomach again. He was so upset that I risked going in, flipping him over, and patting his stomach a little. He was inconsolable, so I left the room again and watched him on the monitor. He fought for 5 minutes to flip over again onto his belly. "Oh well," I thought. "Gotta let him figure it out." After another hour, I went in a picked up the poor little guy. He fell asleep right away in my arms. When he finally stopped snuffling, I set him down in the crib on his back. During this whole episode, Missy was up and down. Sometimes she'd wake up screaming and sometimes she'd sleep. She was out after about an hour though. Not even his screaming woke her up.

I went to bed around 10:30pm and the next thing I knew it was 6am. At 6:15 I heard Missy. I fed her and then handed her to Daddy since I heard J Frog rousing. Then I fed J Frog. He fell back asleep, but Missy wanted to play. Daddy let me nap with J Frog while he took care of Missy and LR. The point is, they slept through the night! I hope it doesn't take another hour of screaming tonight.

Ferberizing Twins ~ Night #3

Yesterday the babies managed to get off schedule. By the time 7pm rolled around, Missy was ready for bed while J Frog was wide awake. She fell asleep and didn't wake up when we put her in the crib. She woke up an hour later and cried for 10 or 15 minutes as she put herself back to sleep. I worried about putting J Frog in there with her knowing that he might wake her up. When I set him down he did start to cry, but she managed to sleep through it.

They were fine until 1:30am. J Frog woke up and half talked, half cried for 30 minutes. Then he really screamed for 30 minutes. I watched him on the monitor. He kept arching his back and turning onto his side while trying to find his hands to chew on. Every time he flopped back onto his back his crying intensified. At the end of the hour J Frog flipped onto his stomach. I considered flipping him over for all of 5 seconds before I realized he was falling asleep.
He slept that way for an hour. Then woke up crying again. This time I did go in and flip him over. Boy, did that piss him off. In another minute he flipped back onto his stomach and fell asleep again. Maybe he'll be a tummy sleeper. Who knows? The good news was that Missy only woke for about 5 minutes the whole night. She seems to be getting the hang of sleeping through his cries. Nap time has also gotten easier since putting them down in the crib is less of an issue.

Despite all the commotion, LR is pretty much potty trained during the day. He wears underwear all day now and just a diaper at night. Yesterday, when I took his night diaper off it was dry. That was a first, so I took him to Target, explained that I was very proud of him for learning how to use the potty and let him pick out a toy. He ran to the toy section and found the car aisle. He tested all the cars in his reach, being careful not to miss any as he walked up and down the aisle. At one point I tried to get him to explore more options like balls or games, but he told me that he wasn't interested. It was cars or nothing. After playing with a remote control dump truck, I pulled out the toy behind it which was a remote control backhoe. That was a winner and I liked the well advertised mute function. He was sure that this was the toy, so I put him in the cart with the toy in his lap and he played with the music function for the rest of the shopping trip. I told him he wasn't going to get presents for pooping anymore, but I'm sure he'll keep asking for them. Now we just have to learn every bathroom location between home and anywhere we ever want to go.

Ferberizing Twins ~ Night #2

Before Ferber news... we sent Abra into Boston to watch the big Fireworks Spectaular on the Charles. Thought it was a good way to experience a fun American tradition. Can't wait until the kids are old enough to make the same trip.

Well, it didn't go quite as smoothly as it did the first night. After nursing the two of them tandem and having them both go to sleep, Daddy and I set them down in their cribs. Then the screaming began. Both of them were going full tilt. And going... and going. Soon it had been half an hour. I knew if J Frog stopped Missy would too, but he just wouldn't give up. At the half hour mark, I went to check to make sure no one had flipped over. Sure enough, J Frog was face down and exhausted. I picked him up and whisked him out of the room. His eyes were red and he was hiccuping with big tears rolling. I apologized to him and hugged him for a while. Then he looked up and smiled at me. It's a good thing that babies don't know that as moms we are both Glenda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West at the same time. If he just wants to see Glenda, that's fine with me.

I nursed J Frog and within 5 minutes I could tell that Missy was going to sleep. She was fine as long as J Frog wasn't egging her on. Then I was stuck with J Frog asleep in my arms and Missy asleep in her crib. Do I put him down, knowing full well that he'll scream and potentially wake her up? Do I hand him to Daddy, get LR to bed, get ready for bed myself, and then keep J Frog with me for the night? We decided to go with our initial instinct to teach them to sleep through each other's cries, so I put J Frog in his crib. He grabbed a hold of my arm and didn't want to let go as he touched down on the crib mattress. I put him down and walked away with him screaming. He didn't go quite as long this time and, miracles of miracles, Missy stayed asleep through the next 15 minutes. Both down, hooray!

I put LR to bed and as soon as I came back down stairs I heard J Frog wake up again. So soon! He cried for 5 minutes or so and then was back asleep. Not sure what that was about, but I'm glad that we stuck to our guns on keeping them together.

Around 2:30 J Frog woke up and started crying. 20 minutes later Missy woke up and started as well. 20 minutes after that she went back to sleep while he was still going strong. He cried for an hour and 5 minutes. I was so wound up by the end that I couldn't go to sleep for another half hour. Oh, and in the middle of that LR woke up and came to our room. The crying scares him a little, so I hope we'll be finished Ferber-izing them soon.

Ferberizing Twins ~ Night #1

In case you don't remember, I tried to Ferber-ize Missy at 4.5 mo. when Daddy was away on a business trip. That didn't go so well. It's been a month and their sleep habits have gotten progressively worse. They were amazing for a couple of months, but since we stopped swaddling them a few weeks ago, they've started getting up every couple of hours. With one, it might be manageable, but there have been a few nights where both Daddy and I have been co-sleeping with a baby when LR decided to join us in bed. Thank goodness we bought a king size bed!

So with the long weekend looming, Daddy thought last night might be the right time to start the process. We Ferber-ized LR after 6 very long months. You'll notice that this blog started right about the time LR started sleeping. That's no coincidence. I couldn't put together a compound sentence much less write about the events of the day. Hell, I couldn't remember what I had done during the day anyway. So... last night was the night.

During the day both babies had been relatively difficult about their nap times. J Frog wouldn't be put down for naps or otherwise which makes it particularly tough on Abra. She had to tie him to her back with a towel yesterday just to get anything done. (Have I mentioned how amazing she is?) Daddy and I discussed whether or not to Ferber-ize them together or separately. We decided to have them together since they're in the same room and need to learn how to sleep through the other one yelling. Missy seemed especially susceptible to J Frog's cries. He has spooked her out of more than one nap.

Last night they were both tired and even though J Frog fell asleep nursing, I gave him to Daddy to hold until I nursed Missy. She almost fell asleep, but then we carried them upstairs and set them into their cribs with the noise machine going strong. They, of course, woke up immediately. J Frog, because he had been asleep for 10 minutes already, felt particularly wronged and started to scream. Missy woke up and looked around but didn't cry. I watched her on the video monitor and she didn't seem upset.

At 8:06pm J Frog started crying.
At 8:15pm Missy joined in.
At 8:29pm J Frog stopped sobbing.
At 8:35pm Missy finally gave in.

I think the last few minutes with Missy were the worst because I let her go for 45 minutes a month ago with no success. I was worried that she just wouldn't be Ferber-ized. But here we are, out the other side. When I went in to check on them, they had turned themselves exactly the same way in their cribs. Sometimes twins are spooky like that.

Missy woke up once during the night and cried for 20 minutes but not very intensely. J Frog woke up 3 times and cried for around 15 minutes each time. I spent each session awake and filled with adrenaline, chanting in my head, "please go back to sleep. Please go back to sleep." J Frog got up finally around 6:30am and Missy at 7:15am. I didn't actually sleep any better than the previous night, but at least they didn't join us in bed and I expect that tonight will be much better.

Our Day Out with Thomas the Train!

The day started with smiles. We managed to get all the kids ready to go on time and the babies napped all the way to the park. It was about an hour drive, so it worked out really well. Edaville is a small amusement park in Carver, Ma. that hosts various special events and this weekend was the "Day Out With Thomas" event. R's parents invited us to join them and we decided the babies were old enough for the adventure. LR has loved the two small town fairs we've been to this summer already, so we thought he'd like this too.

Our luck held out when we arrived and we got parking right in front of the ticket booth. When you have 3 kids under 3, that counts as magic. LR really couldn't wait to get inside and was just about jumping out of the stroller. We're a little slow moving when it comes to getting the babies and all our gear from the minivan to the stroller. Once inside, LR could barely stand in line to wait to get on the plane ride. Luckily it only took one rotation before it was his turn. Here's a pic of him standing with 2 of 3 identical triplets in line in front of us. We talked to the parents who had a 4 year old and a 2 year old when the triplets arrived. Wow.

Then LR was off and riding. It makes me nervous that we can't be on the rides with him because I just never know about him. Will he stay in the seat? Will he try to walk on the wings? I watched him nervously as he rode and it turns out that he just wanted to narrate the whole ride to the girl riding with him. I could hear him going on and on each time he came around.

Then it was time for our scheduled Thomas ride. We bought tickets online days earlier, so all we had to do was get to the bathrooms, stash the stroller, get all the kids going the same direction, and get on the train. LR looked like we'd given him nothing but sugar and caffeine all morning - ready to nuzzle up to those bars and VOOM! And then we were on the train! We sat for 10 minutes or so while everyone loaded on. It gave us time to talk, excitedly, about Thomas, trains, what we might see, etc. He was especially interested in moving from the car we were in to the engine so that he could drive it. He kept getting up to encourage us to take him to his rightful spot at the front. We kept convincing him to stay with us until a conductor came through with certificates for each child. When the conductor handed it to me, I read the whole thing to LR. The following conversation was my favorite of the day.

Me: Congratulations! This is to certify that "LR" has become a Jr. Engineer and is ready to join Thomas on his next adventure! Welcome Aboard! Signed: Sir Topham Hatt.
LR: That's for me?
Me: Yes, you are now an official Jr. Engineer!
LR: I can go to the front now?

Damn, he had me there. Such a smart kid. Luckily, the train started moving soon after, so we were able to distract him. The ride lasted around 20 minutes. We went around the park once and afterward had a chance to wait in line to get pictures with Thomas, but everyone was ready to ride more rides, so we skipped the pictures.

Everyone was more than ready for lunch, so the dads rode the elephant ride (a Dumbo look-alike) while the moms went to the car to get lunch. Lunch was a tricky time for the babies. It was a hot day and they were uncomfortable. I nursed them both and J Frog went down for a nap, but not Missy. After lunch it was time to ride the plane ride again, this time with R. R was a little nervous about riding, so LR kept telling him that it was ok. R enjoyed the ride anyway and we got a few pictures of them together.

After the planes we let the little guys explore the park a little more. There were more rides and a huge Thomas gift shop. Inside the gift shop there were 3 or 4 train tracks set up with hoards of kids standing around them. LR, of course, managed to elbow his way in and play with some trains. Getting him out of the store was the toughest part of the day. He was hot and tired and really didn't want to leave. I didn't want to buy another Thomas toy since the day was already pretty expensve, but I bribed him with cotton candy and he was generally content as we left the park. All 3 kids passed out in the car for the whole ride home. It was genuinely one of those great parenting days.