Me Too You

Let's all go down to the pumpkin patch

Friday afternoons are the only weekdays when all the kids are home in the afternoon now that Ben and Lily are in the 4day class at Explorer which meets in the afternoons Monday - Thursday. It has been tough...Ava fights her nap every day these days. She seems to be on the verge of dropping the nap altogether, which would be nice in some ways, but she does still need the rest a few days a week at least. Oh, and let's be honest, the rest of need us a break every now and then from the constantly-in-motion, often-destructive-to-elaborately-built-train-tracks/stations, getting-into-her-sister's-stuff, me-too!-ness that is Ava at 2 years and 4 months old. (By the way, Ava is now the exact age Ben and Lily were when Ava was born - I often wonder "how in the world did I not go insane with two of these little ones?! Plus a newborn that was ill?" But I guess I just did it.)

Anyway, so on Fridays, we have decided to just go with the No Nap! thing for Ava and just go out and do something fun that we don't get the opportunity to do during the week when Ben and Lily are in school, I am working, etc. 

Today we went with Nana Karin and Papa Silly (Ben and Lily's new nickname for Grandpa Steve) to Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay with my BFF (and former Co-President) Linda from Gemini Crickets, whose twin girls were born on Ben and Lily's due date. The kids are very close in age and we were in the same playgroup, where Linda would constantly be snapping photos of all the kids. Linda used to have a scrapbook paper design business and she would get us together for marathon scrapbooking days/nights. Then she taught me to digitally scrapbook - that's how Robin and I did the 70 Stories scrapbook for my Dad last year. Then Akemi and I got Linda in blogging. So many amazing photos have been taken by Linda that us Mommys started to tell Linda that, really, she should just do this for a living. And now she has - Solheim Photography has officially launched and Linda is booking for the holidays. If you're looking for a children's and family photographer, check her out. She has a great eye and is so much fun to work with.

These photos are the ones I took at Lemos Farm last Friday - Linda took a bunch more and I will share those when she puts them up on her blog or however she shares them with me. Her photos are, no doubt, a lot better than mine. But for now, you will have to put up with enjoying the sights taken from my iPhone...

Rules: Stay Where I Can See You

Yesterday, we went to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo (which will be closing in July for a much-needed year of renovation, so we are trying to use our pass!) with our twins playgroup. It is a reunion of sorts - all the kids are in various preschools and/or activities, some moms went back to work full or part-time,  our regular playgroup meeting time started to not be so regular anymore. We used to get together once a week at our favorite local fenced park, the fence being a necessity for a parent of twins aged 12 months - 3 years, the boomtime of our regular meetings, as the two toddlers inevitably run off in different directions if not contained!

The reunion week is being organized by my good friend whose twins are off from their preschool for a week between regular and summer school. So she has planned (and invited the playgroup to join her) for:
- Monday - Happy Hollow
- Tuesday - Bay Area Discovery Museum in Saulsalito
- Wednesday - Gilroy Gardens
- Thursday - a local park (our old haunt?)
- Friday - Monterey Bay Aquarium

I am still debating about which of these I can do solo (sanely) with my 3 kids. And I have to work some days. But I figured Happy Hollow would be a breeze. Especially since we have just recently been to Disneyland, coupled with my feeling more bold overall, this small little amusement park should be no problem, right?

In the first ten minutes, I lost Ben. We were playing with our friends by the shoe slide (ironic, I know, after all "There was an old woman, she lived in a shoe, she had so many children, she didn't know what to do"). I was doing my regularly scheduled internal count of my 3 kids (1, 2...) and Akemi says "Where's Ben?" Umm...he was just here...not here. I was pretty calm for a few minutes, but panic soon started to set in. I wander for a bit, then go back to the shoe, where Linda's been watching Ava and Lily, plop Ava in the stroller and take Lily's hand, saying "Ben's lost. We have to find him." The girls were very helpful, understanding intuitively that something was up.

I went over to the carousel operator and she called a report in. The manager came over. My inclination was to go look for Ben everywhere, but the manager convinced me to stay put - that way, they wouldn't then have to go look for me when Ben was found.

"He's wearing olive green shorts, a white shirt with an orange and green 'California' on the back (well, it is supposed to be on the front, but Ben has finally learned how to put his shirt on by himself and I don't have the heart to tell him at this point that it's on the wrong way), blond/brown hair, Spiderman shoes" is conveyed over the radio to all the ride operators.

I ask where the water is. No, not the water fountain, as the carousel operator answered. Water, as in, someplace he could have drowned. I don't think he would go into the water, but I have to be sure. You never know, right? Truly, I am mainly worried about him being along and scared and looking for me and not knowing what to do.

Akemi is looking too with her boys and in just a couple of minutes I spot her by the model trains...with Ben. They wave. He runs over to me and I hug him. He's really excited. He has no idea that Lily, Ava and I (and our playgroup and the rest of the park) have been looking for him. We are the ones who were scared. He tells me that he found a train and his mommy friend (Akemi). When I told Ben he had been lost, that we were scared and worried and were so glad to have found him, he started to cry. I felt terrible. Here I was, hoping he wasn't crying...and then making him cry! I didn't want to be the one to make him cry and I was glad that he hadn't been scared, but at the same time, I needed to let him know the rules - Stay Where I Can See You, Ask First Before Go To Look At Something Somewhere Else, We Have To Stay Together.

You know how Akemi found him? That backwards t-shirt he had on. She knew right away it was him. I guess breaking the rules can sometimes have unintended effects.

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This post is in response from an invitation from the book Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues that New Jersey Moms Blog is discussing today.

The Month Long Playdate Begins

Big news! Yesterday marked the arrival from Newfoundland, Canada (yes, that is very, very, very far away) of my twin sister, Robin, and her daughter, Hannah - who just-turned the big 5-years-old and lost her first tooth (Wow! How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday I was meeting your 3-month-old self and seeing your sweet face as you fell asleep in my arms). So far, we have been hanging out, eating ice cream and all kinds of good stuff. Robin's husband, Mark, and their son, Sam, will be coming in a week to join us in the fun.

Ben and Lily are so happy to have Hannah here for their month-long playdate. First order of business - construct a playhouse fort. Check.