Ducks, Goose, Geese

We headed back to the park this morning. Cassi had taken her crew to Stone Mountain to play, so we went it alone. It was a lot more crowded on the playground, but less so in the pond area. We ran all the kids out, though. As soon as we got there, they started clearing out. It was a little strange, but we got our bread and headed over to the ducks and geese anyway (Dellaina always adds, “and goose!” not quite grasping the concept of singular vs. plural changing a word) They were all laying around on the bank, so I knew they weren’t full like last time. Sure enough, they all got up and came over very interested. Perhaps too interested for Dellaina’s comfort. It just occurred to me that some are just as tall as she is, so it would be that much more intimidating. I was a little uneasy, just because I wanted to make sure she and Wyatt threw the bread fast enough and didn’t stand there holding it so a goose would come up and peck it out of their hand! They had us a surrounded and it was a lot, but no major meltdowns, just some whimpering at times. We blew through our bread and headed back to the bigger playground area.

 

 

 

 

 

a little happier now that we are on the elevated picnic area and headed back to play – there are other kids to scare away the ducks and geese, too!

such a little copycat! He really does do whatever he sees her do.

 

 

 

 

 

 Wyatt still turned away from my pictures, so I snagged one from the side.

Buzz

Greg cut Wyatt’s hair last night with the clippers! It was the longest clip, but still it’s pretty short. And the curls . .well, they’ll grow back. (I hope!) I had really been wanting to trim it up, because it was getting so wild again. I think he looks completely different; taller and like a little man. And a mini Greg. It’s a good summer cut, I suppose, but I might prefer going back to Groovy to preserve his curls next time. It’s a little fuzzy instead of curly. He did really well, though and was fairly still, all things considered. He wasn’t freaked out at least, just interested and wanted to hold it and do it himself.

 

 

He hasn’t wanted his picture taken lately either to capture it

 

 

 

 

 

but I got some video of the process.

Jot it down

Sometimes I make notes about things I want to post. I had lost one scrap of paper with notes on it a few weeks ago and just came across it, so some of these are older and I’m not sure I fully remember all of the details, but we’ll try.

Dellaina is really into smells: smell my breath! thankfully, usually after she’s chewing gum or brushed her teeth! One day, she was sitting in her high chair and said she smelled a Doobie. I beg your pardon? Come again? “Like at Granny’s” Describe it to me “you know, chocolate, round” Oooooh, a Fudge Round – a Little DEBBIE. Gotcha. Sure you do, because we don’t have those in our house. Nice try though.

One night on the way up to bed Dellaina tells Greg, “Daddy, try not to knock the picture off the wall” after he’d hit it with his elbow the night before and woken Wyatt up and enraged mama.

She likes to look at books while she’s sitting on the potty and one day she was asking me to read one to her, but I had to go get Wyatt and told her she just had to read herself a story. “But, I can’t read!” she says very dramatically. She’s so stinking literal!

We were at Play and I was trying to get them to get their shoes on to get ready to go and made a comment about “hurry up, they are closing and are going to lock us in here” oops. Panic, wrong thing to say! I had to calm her down and assure her I was just teasing and they wouldn’t lock us in. And she continued to bring it up for several days, “Why’d you say they were going to lock us in?”

“I’m just having issues.” hmm, wonder where she gets that saying?

I was talking about having a headache and she asks, “what did you hit it on?” We were watching The Office and Phyllis pulled a muscle in her back dancing and Dellaina was confused. I tried explaining, “she hurt her back” and she responds, “on what?” I didn’t really have a good answer.

The past couple of nights, our bedtime routine has changed a bit. Instead of me singing her songs, she’s been telling me stories. They are pretty creative and highly amusing. Except when they are about a little bear asking about when she gets to go to school again and mama bear saying, “I don’t know” and the bear is very, very sad. ugh! But, she’s very teacherly about it, asking, “can you say, ‘Roddo’?” or whatever name she comes up with for the characters. But, tonight, she told me the Daddy Raccoon was named, “Michael Scott Paper Company” hahaha. Summer is affecting our viewing choices with her, clearly. She can read The Office on the Tivo list now. Just like Fox and Tigger and Pooh and Mickey Mouse and House. She even told me tonight at dinner, “we don’t have any Colbert Report” pronouncing it correctly and everything. Too funny.

We talk a lot about birthdays. Who has one coming up, whose is next, etc. One day we read a book from the library about Santa getting sick, so we calculated briefly that it was still 7 months until Christmas and Dellaina’s birthday. It was just a little blip in our conversation, but when she woke up from nap, she held her hands up to her face and whispered with excitement “7 months” and pointed to herself. She explained, “7 isn’t a lot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!” It was funny, but it was even more amusing when as soon as Daddy got home, she did the same thing to him! He got a real kick out of it, because it came out of no where. So, the count down has begun. She is ready for June to get here next week, because then it will only be 6 months away!

When planning Greg’s party, it was really hard for me not to mention things to Dellaina – about there being kids coming over to play or the fact we were having a party at all – even though she started calling it a party anyway. Originally, Emily had to work and wasn’t even going to be there until late, even though I was telling Greg they were coming over for dinner at 5:00. The night before, Dellaina was sitting in her chair and asked me, “why is Emily not going to be there?” I asked her “who said that she wasn’t.” “You did. On the phone with Granny.” Damn she doesn’t miss a beat! I was glad Greg wasn’t around.

Dellaina is really sensitive to bug bites. She gets big, angry red whelps that last for a couple of days and then go away. We use a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol to cool and ease the itch a bit. And I’m trying to remember to use bug spray more often when we go outside!

Both Dellaina and Wyatt like to help with the laundry. They sit up on the top and throw the clothes in. Wyatt gets the Downy ball to throw in and Dellaina will help me with the detergent. One day she said, “I want to do the sugar” Cute! Like we were cooking. I guess it does kind of look like sugar. . maybe?

++++++++++++++++++++

Wyatt has picked up on “3, 2, 1. . Plast off!”

The other day, we were outside playing and I went to open the garage door so we could get out some of the riding toys and balls and such. Wyatt pitched a little hissy fit and comes running over screaming, “no, no, no!” and tries to grab the handle of the door to push it down and close it. . well, it keep going up and lifts him off the ground! I was standing right there and got him off (mostly because I was concerned about him breaking the door) but it was still pretty amusing. Dellaina thought it made the best story and wanted to tell everyone about it.

His word for “open” sounds a lot like “elbow”

He had changed his “yeah” response to a very distinct “yes” which was great. But, he has since regressed some. But, I love to ask him, “Wyatt, are you cute?” and hear him respond, “yes!”

Wyatt is a biter. Especially when he’s tired and upset. I don’t know how we are going to wean him from his pacifier, because I use it as a shield. Both for him, so he doesn’t put everything in his mouth and for everything he does try to put in his mouth and bite a chunk out of! Dellaina got her first (hopefully of not many?) real wound the other night and it turned into a good bruise.

Sometimes when we are out, we’ll call Greg to see if we can swing by and see him at work. Dellaina asks, “is he really busy?” because most of the time he’ll just come out and give us kisses and we’ll go on rather than getting out and going in. The other morning, on our way back from the library, I wasn’t going to stop, but as we passed by, Wyatt started crying, “Daggy kisses!” So, I couldn’t resist, called Greg and did a U-turn.

I heard him on the stairs this evening and went to check on him – he was on about the 3rd step, with Woody up on the rail and was saying “Yee-haw” and letting Woody ride down the rail like he’s seen Dellaina do. It was too cute. The Yee-haw wasn’t animated or excited, just a matter-of-fact sound. It was pretty cute, though.

Looong holiday weekend

Thursday morning, we tried to get up and get going to the lake. But one thing after another (including having to go to Greg’s work to pick up fliers for the neighborhood pool and distribute them around the entire neighborhood – I tried riding in the car and seeing if Dellaina could reach the mailboxes from the front seat, but that was not successful at all) delayed us and we didn’t get down to the lake until nearly 4:00. We still managed to make it out to the sand pile, which had grown again! And Mema enjoyed reading and cuddling with them. . after baths, of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom and dad had a late meeting, so they didn’t get home until nearly 9:30! I was ready! I ended up sleeping in Doug and Morgan’s room because mom had fallen asleep when tucking Dellaina in and I didn’t want to wake her and I thought, “hmm, this way, maybe I’ll get to sleep in a little!” But, dogs woke me up barking at 6:40. damn. And then, at 8:15 there was a big commotion and I had to walk out to the gate without a bra, in my sleep clothes, hair pulled back, glasses on to greet the men at the gate where the dogs were in a frenzy. I go find dad and let him know the people were here to build his workshop! It provided some entertainment on a rainy, dreary day. The kids slept in until nearly 9:00!

 

 

 

 

 

We also watched Finding Nemo to pass the time. Dellaina was pouting and not wanting to come inside yet, until I asked her if she wanted to watch a movie. . she took off!

Mom was going to take them to Walmart, but it kept getting later and later and right as she was really about to load up, they changed their mind about wanting to go and the sun came out for the first time. So, they went down to play in the sand and water and then hot tub instead. Doug & Morgan and Emily, Daniel & Samuel all arrived late that night. Mom ran out to the store alone once they arrived. We made some chocolate chip cookies from scratch while she was gone.

 

 

 

Saturday morning, Greg gets there just as we are eating breakfast casserole (yum)! Emily, Morgan & I all go for a run, then get ready to head into Milledgeville to get our nails did. It was Emily’s request for her birthday present and it was nice to get away and be pampered a little. We even went into a store and tried on some clothes and made some purchases! Then, we got some Chinese food to go! It was a nice outing and something we don’t normally do. When we got back, Greg was actually taking a nap with the kids – something that also never happens! Mom and Dad had picked up a new-to-us, used seadoo!

 

 

 

 

 

Josh came down and cousin Joe and his girlfriend, Melanie came over and even brought Rock Band! Greg went to bed, but I stayed up and sang a few songs. It was fun, I hadn’t gotten to play the last time we’d had the group Rock. Earlier, we had cookie cake and presents for Greg & Emily.

 

 

Doug & Morgan had brought back some great things from Jamaica – including a handmade note card set with pictures they’d taken for me! A cute dress for Dellaina and some coffee for Greg!

Sunday, Greg, Grandaddy, Josh & Emily left to go play golf! Morgan, Mema and Dellaina head to church!

ugh, pictures.

Boss kisses will get you smiling!

 

 

 

About noon, friends of my parents that we grew up with arrive. It was so nice having them down – it makes it feel like all is right with the world. Dellaina gets back and shows me her artwork and tells me all about meeting Bevin, who was 4. I was glad she did so well! We were supposed to take the ribs out of the freezer, but forgot, but still get those going and one of the crock pots didn’t cook the pork for the BBQ, but we powered through. Morgan was such a sweetheart and kept taking over tasks and sending mom out to visit! She’s such a natural in the kitchen, too. The golfers got back just as I was finally carrying Wyatt in for a nap (3:00) I laid down with him and woke up in time to get a run in with Morgan before dinner. Our cousins from across the lake (including Joe’s parents) drove over to join us for dinner. It was a nice time. .there was a storm coming across the water and the temperature dropped drastically. Then we had another big round of Rock Band in the main living room (we’d been relegated to the basement the night before because it was midnight before we started up)

 

Dellaina was getting scared of the big skulls on the screen. hmm.

 

observing. . .

 

coaxed into playing/singing!

 

 

 

We started at 8:00 and played until midnight! Good times. Garris and his friends arrived in time to play a few songs. Joe picked out a song just for Garris: “I Fought the Law and the Law Won.”

Monday was a great day that included real sunshine! Despite the leeches and snake, we had a good time. Morgan and I got our run out of the way early and I finally got to sample the Jamaican Rum in some fruity drinks (because I didn’t sleep through it this time!) All weekend Greg was working on installing lights on the dock (he’d gotten them for my parents for Christmas) and he finished up so he could get on the road, listen to the race (which had been rained out the night before) and get back home. Both Daniel and Greg got baby leeches on them from standing still under the dock where there is some debris! ick! We’d never experienced that before (that we know of!) Another of Garris’ friends and his family came down for the day. Gabe was 5 and had a blast running and jumping and swimming and riding the WaveRunners. I tried talking Dellaina into going for a ride with me on the WaveRunner, but she was not interested. Then, I come back out from making fruity frozen beverages and she’s going with Morgan! :( But, I was glad she went!

 

 

Talk about a dog that looks like it’s owner. . wow! Mary and her Italian Greyhound: Tall, thin, frail and dainty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At one point, Wyatt and Dellaina were playing in the sand and edge of the water and I look over and see, hmm, is that a stick floating? Um, NO! I move to grab Wyatt whom the snake seems to be staring down and it immediately ducks back under the water where I can’t see it. I get Dellaina out quickly and we just scan the water for a while trying not to alert her. Eventually, I did tell her what we saw and she didn’t freak out. After the WaveRunner and Seadoo came back in and there was some commotion and noise, we felt confident the snake was long gone. (Anyone reading this final paragraph that has recently been invited down the lake, is probably reconsidering right about now! Please don’t!)

Wyatt wanted to try out the Exersaucer for old times’ sake.

 

 

 

So, of course Dellaina had to, too.

We woke up this morning and got loaded up and came home. Wyatt slept for about 45 minutes in the car, but we still laid down again around 2:30-3:00 and slept through some nice dark and rainy afternoon storms. After baths, we went for a family walk. I hope we’ll all sleep well tonight in our own beds!