Monday: direction

As most days, we pulled two items out of the jar: "return pop cans" and "go to the pool".   The pop cans were good...our box was overflowing and they really needed to be returned.  Isaac really likes the machines too.  (Although, as always, I forgot to use the refund money on the shopping trip.)  Going to the pool didn't excite me quite as much because it was cool out, but we could make it happen.  Isaac was excited about it.

Then Betsy suggested going to a pool by their house since guests get in free on Mondays.  At first I was hesitant because it was cool and cloudy by us, but she said it was warm and sunny over by her.  We ended up eating lunch at home first and then going.

It was perfect!  The sun was out and the water was warm.  Isaac had on his puddle-jumper and does a vertical doggy paddle.  He said he was doing "oval-U-turns."  (Have I mentioned he really likes U-turns?)  Basically he would wade in the pool, then go over to the deeper end, get out over there, and walk back to the shallow part.  Rinse and repeat.  It tired him out enough to take a nap.  Hooray! We might have to do the lunch then pool thing again.

Let's see...I feel as though it was a really good day.

In the morning Isaac told me that I only get one kiss per day.  But then he gave me 26 more at bed time.

Joshua was rather clingy, which was a bit hard at the pool but means that he loves me.

I needed to pick up some Entermann's donuts today.  There was a sale at Meijer so there were only two variety pack boxes left.  I love the chocolate ones.  I debated, since finding them later would be annoying, but decided it would be worth it.

Sunday: birthdays

Apparently June 7 is a big day for birthdays; at least four people that I know well have one and I heard about three more.

So, Happy Birthday to those born on this special day.

Update:  I went to check on Isaac before bed and found him asleep with a robot book.  It was turned to the donut page, because what could be better than robots making donuts?  This book is sometimes referred to as the donut book, because he likes that page so much.  I expect that he didn't look at the rest of the book, just that page as he fell asleep.

Saturday: weed whackers

I hate weed whackers.

Friday: better

Today went better.  We drew "read some new books" and "clean window sils" from the jar.

Isaac was rather excited about the books...a bit surprisingly so.  He read them with breakfast.  Joshua went down for a nice long nap, and we spent some time reading them.  (And then I had time to clean the kitchen!)

We had lunch with Dad.  It was nice.  We got home and had rest time.  Isaac didn't nap again, and it was a bit obvious.  Oh well.  We took a ride to the mini library at the end of the street and got a few books, which we also read.  Apparently it was a reading sort of day.  It's good to have those because some days we don't get any reading in.

Isaac then thought that Joshua wanted to play balloons with him while I finished the windows.  It was nice.  I peeked in a few times and they were having fun.  1) the balloon room has probably been the best activity so far and 2) I love it when they play together.

Ben got home rather late, but then I made dinner even later by trying a new recipe.  It called for about 15 minutes on the grill, but it took way longer to get the internal temperature correct.  It was rather good though; I expect we'll do it again.  Especially since I still have about three dinners of tenderloin frozen.

Thursday: annoying

This week has been a bit annoying.  Just a bunch of little things - car issues, three-year-old drama, a messy house.  It's been a while since I've had an annoying week, so I guess this will just remind me how good life usually is.

Here was the conversation I had with Isaac this morning:

Amanda: If you know the answer to a question, what do you do?
Isaac: Ask.
Amanda: If you don't know the answer to a question, what do you do?
Isaac: Tell you or Dad or Joshua.
Amanda: Yup, that seems about right.

The why questions have been relentless, and they've been part of the problem.  I don't mind answering them, but when it is a question that Isaac should know the answer to, it gets absurd.

And there was this conversation tonight:

Ben: [asked a question I wasn't paying attention to]
Isaac: I don't know
Ben: [asked another question I wasn't paying attention to]
Isaac: Stop asking me questions!

I about died from laughter.

Wednesday: ups and downs

Today we drew "insect hunt" and "dust" from the hat.  I thought Isaac would enjoy dusting more...there's a cool mitten, it really doesn't take that long, etc.  No.  It felt like pulling teeth and involved tears.  Sigh.  He hasn't taken a nap the last few days and I can tell.

We found a bug while dusting.  Dumb ants.  Why do they think they can be in the house?

We went to the nature center to look for more bugs.  It sort of worked.  Joshua was kind of in a mood.  But we saw some water striders.

(Looking over the edge at the water striders.)

Another bug.  I also thought that taking pictures of the insects would be more appealing to Isaac, but he didn't seem to care.

At the end we sat by the pond for a few minutes.  There were a bunch of turtles.  Isaac and Joshua changed places.

Joshua sat up several times when it was nap time.  Needless to say, this is not conducive to sleeping.  I haven't seen him do this anywhere except in the crib yet.  Isaac started crying after Joshua woke up because "Joshua wants to watch Ipad" and I said no.  Because Isaac really wanted more Ipad time, even if it was playing games designated for Joshua.  Sigh.  There were a lot of tears over dumb things today.

We played racquetball this evening.  I'm right handed and have the racket in my right hand, but several times my left arm hurt after hitting the ball.  Ben told me I'm doing it wrong.

And finally, my smart move of the day: deconstructed spinach salad.  Isaac will happily drink his spinach, but won't touch it otherwise.  So we blended it up.  (He actually drank about half before racquetball and finished the rest with dinner.)  Then he just put the toppings in a bowl to eat.

Tuesday: life

This morning started with Isaac saying clever things, such as "I like socks when I'm not wearing them" and something else that we can't remember.

Today Isaac drew "make a volcano" and "declutter your room".  We started with the decluttering by taking many of his toys out of his bedroom.  I ignored his dresser since I know he still plays with all those toys.

He got all the stuff out and I was wondering about my plan.  The house was already a disaster; this wasn't helping.  But it was too late, everything was already out.  Then we put it all back in and Isaac had to decide if he wanted to keep it in his bedroom or not.  We disagreed about a few things, but for the most part we compromised or I let him do what he wanted...it is his bedroom after all.  He hit a minimum amount of stuff removed, so mission accomplished.

I had the volcano ready to go pretty early in the morning, but Isaac was having a good time playing with his sand, so we didn't get around to it.  He had his last swimming lesson.  My overall impression was "meh."  I felt like he did a lot of sitting on the edge of the pool, which is just cold.  We did go early so he was able to swim in a life jacket a bit, and I got him to do a few things that the instructor wanted him to do.  He doesn't like water in his face, and it's a problem.

When we got home he wanted to do the volcano.  It was late, but why not.  So we did.