1.13.12

Yesterday was wonderful.  Just wonderful.  It was nearly perfect in fact.  I guess Friday the 13th is my day.  The last Friday the 13th, Rex was born.  Life has not been good or easy lately.  I spend a good part of my day daydreaming about moving back to Utah.  But last week I took Thumper's advice and every time I said something bad or thought something bad, I made myself say three good things about the thing I had just criticized and to make my game a little more interesting, I made myself come up with unique things each time.  It started getting a little hard after the first hour, but still it helped me change my attitude.  

Despite or maybe because of this, yesterday was nearly perfect.  We had had a long week of outings and adventures, so we decided to stay home, besides I told a friend I would babysit for her, but at the last minute, she didn't need me anymore.  We stayed home anyway.

For breakfast, Rex wanted pancakes.  So pancakes he got.

Rex trying to make Alice smile.

Alice smiling.

Rex smiling--but no pictures of both smiling at the same time.

Then I decided to follow up on one of my New Year's Resolutions--home school preschool with Rex.  We played match the letters.  We played for about an hour.  I was surprised at how long this held Rex's attention.  Here's how it's played: select a foam letter from the jar.  Discuss said letter--shape, sound, words that start with said letter, tape said letter to its corresponding letter written on copy paper and stuck to the wall.

Alice was not to be forgotten.  She also did preschool--she had PE.  Tummy time.

This is how she feels about tummy time.

I had to take a break to go through some papers and make a few phone calls, after which Alice got hungry so Rex brought me a book to read with him.  There was an egg in it and Rex kept asking how birds got out of eggs, so we watched YouTube videos of birds hatching for a while, which led to videos of caterpillars and finally a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  For the next hour, Rex and I re-enacted the life cycle of a butterfly.  Every time Rex was an egg, he snored.  Apparently that's what eggs do, snore.  Rex's favorite part: the cocoon.  That' when he got rolled up like a burrito, or cocoon if you will,  in a blanket and hung upside down from the tree (me).  This was the longest phase in our re-enactment.  I'm surprised his head didn't explode. 

We didn't forget Alice though.  She was a leaf.  A very giggly leaf.   She has recently learned to laugh and is ticklish when play eaten--though she does cry when she is real bitten on the belly.  (Rex later learned how to play bite.)

We stopped to read stories, give Mommy a short nap/break (10 minutes, during which time, Rex  pooped on the potty all by himself), do puzzles, make a few shape patterns ,make and eat dinner, show Daddy how to play the caterpillar game, and finally watch Wipe Out.  

Notice: we never did stop to dress Rex.  He insisted on going commando in his jammies all day.  

As a reward for pooping in the potty all by himself, Rex got to sleep in the tent.  Greg set it up in the bike room.  It was lovely.

I'm not really sure how yesterday could have gotten any better.  OK I do.  Alice could have slept through her 11:30 feeding and I could have not found a fourth mouse's trail.  But other than that it was a lovely day.  Just perfect.  Let's leave it at that and not over analyze.