FW Zoo

We took the boys to the FW Zoo in early June. It was hot and crowded, but we had fun for a little bit...and then left!!!

Feeding the birds is always a favorite activity.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

And riding the carousel, of course.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Swimming Lessons

We've been taking swimming lessons this week. Leo is getting better at doing the crawl and the backstroke and having a great time. Henry has not been a very happy camper most of the week. He did not like putting his face in, etc. He cried A LOT the first day, and it got a little better each day. By Friday, he was doing all the little skills, but whenever it was his turn to sit on the steps, he would do his fake cry. When Leo took swimming lessons in Allen, the teacher had the parents sit out of sight of the children, and they just had to cry and keep going. So that has been my attitude with Henry. The mom of another cryer in the group started the week standing out in the side yard with me, but she couldn't stand it. So by Wednesday, she was sitting on the steps with the child and not making her put her face in. As my kid sits there and screams while his mean mommy makes him do it. Pretty awkward and gut-wrenching for me. But we persevered! We took him to the pool today, and look at him go! He jumped off the side at least one million times and begged to do it again and again. Yay, Henry!!!

Oh, and after listening to myself scream "Yay!" on these videos, I'm sure people were really sick of me at the pool. I was so ecstatic that he was having a good time that I was oblivious.

We love this new waterproof camera!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Henry dances to Barney's "Good Manners"

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Interesting tidbits about Wednesday

We have this book about PT where grandma sends the kid a potty. The potty looks like a big bowl with handles. So Henry went and sat on a plastic bowl in our living room (fully clothed) and told me he was pooping. OK, whatever. Sure enough, he did poop in his diaper, I'm assuming while sitting there b/c he was clean right before that little pretend session.

I got everything lined up early in the afternoon for 5pm swimming lessons so we would have an easier transition when we picked up Leo. It's been pretty hectic with lots of mommmy screaming the last few days. So it was all ready to go except for dressing and a new coat of sunscreen. We pick him up - he has a full face tiger mask on in grease paint. I have no cold cream and no time, so I had to scrub it off. The universe must feel like a laugh at us mommies some times.

The Rest of the Story

When last we spoke, I said that I had told Henry we would go to Half Price Books instead of ringing strangers' doorbells...

My real goal in going up there was to get some new nonfiction for Leo. He is really getting interested in that genre. We pull up in the parking lot, and Henry immediately starts saying..."Do they have carts?" And I say "no" - what he is asking is if he has to ride in a grocery cart b/c he LOVES and much prefers to walk. Then he says..."Did you bring the stroller?" b/c he is hoping I can't strap him in the stroller.

Me: No. No stroller.
Henry: I keep my hands to myself.
Me: Yes.
Henry: And hold Mommy's hand.
Me: Yes. Especially in the parking lot.

We slowly make our way across the parking lot and into the store. He lets go of me the second his feet get off the parking lot. When we finally get in the store, the children's section is of course in the faaaaaar back corner of the store. So we zigzag around with me trying to keep him moving in generally the right direction to make forward progress. "This way. Come on. Come on, Henry. Let's go. Stop...no...NO! Put that down. This way. " over and over and over.

We finally make it back to the little children's section, and it's a little square area bordered by bookshelves. There are a few other people there. He marches right over to a stool...climbs up on top of it...scrunches up his face...and begins to grunt. He hadn't gone the day before, so it took him awhile. I just waited for him to finish.

Then it was back out of the store, get the diaper bag, walk two stores down to Babies R Us, wander around in BRU b/c the bathroom is in a different place than in the Plano store, change the diaper while he screams at me..."Don't touch my legs!!!", help him wash his hand BY HIMSELF!!!, get a bento box we needed anyway and new diaper sacks since I used the last one, pay, go home for lunch.

There you go. All the way into town to take a dump.

Look out world...

Henry: Where we going today?
Me: Nowhere. I just want to stay home.
Henry: I want to go see somebody.
Me: Well, who do you want to go see?
Henry: Let's just go push the button and see. (ring a doorbell)

I'm hoping he'll settle for Half-Price Books.

Drinking before noon

(Sorry I have been MIA. I have developed a serious obsession with crochet lately, and I'm a bit overwhelmed at the number of pictures that have backed up on my camera card. One day soon I will sit down and get caught up.)

I must preface this post by saying that Henry seems to have inherited the wonderful Brooks memory - he remembers the most minute details of insignificant outings from a year ago.

This morning, I took Henry to drop-in care so I could go grocery shopping alone. Leo is at daycamp. Shopping with Henry has turned into pure torture, and this keeps me from feeling suicidal (or homicidal) by the end of the trip. We eat out about once a week, and other than that...I prepare or assemble everyone's meals. It is a lot of shopping that usually involves a couple of stops since I get the basics at Wal-Mart and then get produce or specialty items at another store.

At my last stop, I grabbed a glass bottle of green tea out of the cooler by the checkout b/c I was terribly thirsty. So when I went to get Henry, it was in the console between the front seats. Of course, he immediately spotted it - children seem to have some sort of supernatural sense for when new food or drink has wandered into their gravitational sphere. He started having a big screaming meltdown to drink out of the glass bottle.

I told him, "This is a GROWN-UP drink, Henry!" - kidspeak at our house for beer or wine. He immediately calmed down and said..."OOOOOOH, it's a grownup drink" and was perfectly satisfied. "I'll have a gatoraide when we get home," he said.

I know he will remember this and one day realize that mommy was drinking at the grocery store. Which might not be a bad idea, on the days I have to take him with me!!!