Sometime around 9:15 every morning I spend twenty minutes shooing the kids out of various off-limits places around the house. I herd everyone out of the laundry room only to find that Devon has let the girls into the spare room. As I'm dragging Melina out from under the bed I hear Devon letting Carrie into the bathroom. As I'm closing the bathroom door on a mess of unspooled toilet paper I see three little backsides disappearing into my bedroom. By the time I join them, they're in the bathroom taking toiletries out of the drawers and tossing them into the laundry basket, or pretending to spray Daddy's orchids.
Toots the Train is a nice diversion. The girls, shy at first, sit on Mommy's lap while Devon plays conductor.
On days that Mommy cleans the house she just doesn't have it in her to feed everyone dinner and clean it off the just-cleaned highchairs. We pick up sandwiches and have dinner at the park.
The girls are napping in separate rooms. Too many of Carrie's afternoon naps were cut short by someone banging on her crib and yelling "Hey Cayo! Hey Cayo!"
Now Melina sleeps in the pack-and-play in the spare room. Sometimes she still sleeps only an hour and then keeps Mommy company.
Sometimes she has conversations with Siri.
The-Three-Year-Old-Formerly-Known-As-Devon doesn't nap anymore. He sternly corrects anyone who doesn't address him by his real name: Lightning McQueen. Today he alternated between calling Mommy "Krista" and "Finn McMissile". In the afternoons he gets "Fun Things That Are Quiet" time, which is sometimes TV.
The Froggy Potty has taken up residence in the garage. Devon finally uses the toilet exclusively. The main advantage of this is that he was always very independent and wanted to go all by himself without telling Mommy. I'd say that hilarity ensued every time the girls happened upon the potty before Mommy did, but it wasn't very funny to me. Really.
We've spent all the time we can in the pool.
We love surprises! An unexpected package arrived from the kids' Great Aunt and Uncle. It contained an eclectic mix of toys, clothes, and some novelty soaps that Devon immediately tried to eat. By far the favorite was a packet of plastic critters that contained a rat and a spider. Devon immediately dug out the Fisher Price pig from his farm set, dubbed the three Wilbur, Charlotte, and Templeton, and started singing "The Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord" from "Charlotte's Web". Two weeks later, we're still singing it several times a day.
"More biscuit, Melina?" we ask.
"Betts!" says Melina.
"More watermelon, Carrie?"
"Yass!" she replies.
Both the girls say 'yes' now, which is a nice change from the pleasant but firm 'no' they've been trying out these past several weeks. I think Carrie mostly liked the feel of the syllable in her mouth, the round 'o' that reminds her of thumbsucking.
We're gearing up for the Fourth of July, enjoying our watermelon and summer treats. The girls have matching patriotic dresses (don't ask about the hand-and-foot pose) and Devon's tee says "Mr. Independent (appropriate). Tonight Craig and I finished the movie Lincoln, which seemed more like a miniseries to us because we watched it in about eight installments. Summers are busy!
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