Imagination is a Wonderful Thing

It's our last day with the little ones before heading home.  Hard to believe in some ways that it has been three weeks. In other ways, I'm very aware that it has been three weeks.  Ha!  Little Sweet Pea popped into our bedroom this morning and we watched a "Thomas the Train Engine" video on my Kindle Fire together courtesy of Netflix.  Ah, technology...it's a wonderful thing.

I guess watching the Thomas video inspired her to pull out her various train engines and set up her OWN "Isle of Sodor."  Mommy helped by finding a play rug with tracks and villages and other landmarks.

The trains were busily moving from one end of the play-mat to the other as our little engineer talked to herself happily.  I caught strains of "chugga chugga"  and "clickety-clack" and she was very happily directing all of the different engines until.....

Godzilla, in the form of little Spud, tramped right through the middle of the island, scattering engines and waving a school bus ominously in his hand.

That didn't go over real well with big sister so we stepped in to negotiate a detente which held for just a few minutes before it was time to remove and distract Spud.

First he got distracted by his daddy and PawPaw in discussion in the office.  He had his little face plastered up against the glass and would occasionally bang on the panes, hoping to be let into the inner sanctum.

Then he got distracted by lunch, which contrary to this picture, was NOT his toes but he had fun pretending to eat his feet anyway.

Spud was in a much better mood after filling up on lunch and then he was ready for a new adventure which was soon taking shape.

Mommy pulled out some brown paper and some painter's tape and taped the paper on the floor.  Then out came the crayons and Sweet Pea and Mommy started drawing houses, dog houses, roads, tracks, and all sorts of extra places for the trains to visit.  What a lot of fun to have a customized play map for the cars and trains!

And now we're getting ready for supper.  Jason is out grilling salmon, Laura is fixing vegetables with two suddenly cranky kids (I used to call this the "witching hour" with MY kids - when the children would reach a very ornery meltdown point).  Time to sign off and make myself useful.

Look Out Preschool! It's the "C" Team!

 It was our turn today to take the little ones to their preschool for Mother's Day Out.  I've only gone the one other time with their maternal grandpa.   But never fear.  I had their lunches packed, clothes in their bags, and figured we were prepared.  Their maternal grandma ("Nammy") dropped little Spud off on her way to work.  They've been keeping the little guy at night this week until the weekend when their mommy is off from her residency duties and their daddy returns from Canada.  (Let the rejoicing commence)  We've had Sweet Pea with us.

Last night I was brave and gave Sweet Pea a bath. It has been just about 23 years since I last bathed a child so I was not too sure I was up for the task but things went pretty well.  Although I've discovered that it is a darn side harder to get a newly-bathed child into pajamas than it is to get a dry kiddo into a pair of pjs.  Man, I thought I'd NEVER get her arms into those sleeves and out the ends.  I liberally sprayed her wet hair with the stuff that is supposed to slick it down to make the combing "tangle-free."  It worked.  Hooray!  Then I introduced Sweet Pea to my blow dryer.  I didn't want to put her to bed with wet hair.  My mother taught me that this is a sure way to give a child pneumonia.  At least it is in Minnesota.

Back to today!  We got both children fed and left them to their own devices for a few minutes while I finished getting their bags ready.  The normal squabbling was going on in the background but no one seemed to be in imminent danger so as the time to depart drew closer, I decided we'd better do one more diaper check.  I had the Commander change Spud.

"I hope I remember how to do this," he said.

"You'll learn," I retorted, and continued getting the little guy's bottle ready.

Then I took over with Sweet Pea.  Of course, she had a major stinkeroo waiting for me.

"I want my soft pillow," she wailed, as I hefted her on to the changing table.

"Sorry, you've got the hard one," I countered.

"I want all of my kitties," she whimpered.

"Have a dog," I said, trying not to breathe in the smell.

The diaper was swiftly changed and off we traipsed to the van to load up and head to the church school.  Sweet Pea was still not too sure about the fact that her kitties had been left at the house.  "Here, have Perdita," I said and gave her one of the plastic dalmatians.  Spud was keeping himself occupied with undoing the Velcro straps on his shoes in the meantime.

We arrived at the school without further incident and walked down the hallway to the kiosk where you check the children in electronically.  I had "kind-of" watched their grandpa do this the other day but hadn't paid very close attention.  I handed the special card to the Commander and he took over.  He's very good with figuring out stuff like that.

While we were studying the screen, another parent was getting impatient.  "Push this button," he said.

"Sorry," I laughed.  "We're the 'C' team today.  We're still learning the ropes."

Their check-in sheets printed out but I was concerned that no corresponding labels printed to stick on the backs of their shirts.

"That was only for the first couple of weeks," explained the parent.

Now it was time to deposit Sweet Pea in her classroom.  I found her door, alerted her teacher and turned around to usher in our girl and was greeted by the most woebegone look that I've seen in a long time.  Oh, my....I can see that this child has inherited my dramatic abilities.  With trembling lip, she slipped into the room.

It was Spud's turn.  This could be a challenge.  He was not a happy boy last school day but today he was calm and collected right up to the classroom door and then.........he lost it.  Luckily his teacher took over and whisked him into class while I deposited his bag in the proper bin and his bottle into the refrigerator.

The Commander and I climbed back into the van.  "Do you want to stop anywhere?" he asked me.

It was too early for Dairy Queen to be open so I opted to just go back home and enjoy the luxury of a shower.  "C" team, signing out.