Not Yet

Do you ever get impatient with your kids? I don't mean in the "will you please finish your dinner??" sense - I'm thinking of waiting for them to achieve a milestone. I had a reminder today that I need to appreciate the season we're in without trying to push my kids to be older than they are.

Sometimes when I'm out with the boys and we're having fun, I think to myself, oh, we should stop at a coffee shop and get a little treat. I imagine us all sitting around a table together, nibbling on something sweet, and having good conversations about life. Obviously, that last part should have clued me in because the boys are just now starting to string three words together ("Mommy help me," Gus said at lunch today when he wanted me to feed him Cheerios. Yes, Cheerios for lunch. We are in a major breakfast-for-every-meal phase over here lately.)

This morning, we were walking home from our weekly free entertainment at a nearby mall. We'd had a good time giggling and dancing at the puppet show, and the boys seemed to be in a good mood. So I thought, hey, let's stop at Starbucks! (I was also motivated by the fact that I hadn't finished my morning coffee at home...)

First, the boys were excited to look at the display board outside with all the flavors of hot chocolate. (They thought they were cookies.) Then, when we went in, they said, "Wow!" I guess they were impressed by their first visit to Starbucks! They quickly started grabbing armfuls of biscotti off the counter and running around the cafe. Using my best calm-yet-authoritative mother voice, I said, "Boys, come here and stand by me." They scampered over. Phew! As I ordered my latte, I returned the biscotti to their shelf and picked out more kid-friendly cookies, chocolate dipped madelines. 

We took our treats outside (because it was 70 degrees, oh yeah, SoCal!) and sat around a table. They happily munched their cookies for about 2 minutes. I snapped some photos. Then the scene descended into CHAOS! Gus only ate the chocolate half of his cookie, then asked for more. Silly Mom, I had picked a package with three cookies. I told them they could share the last one. That was the WRONG ANSWER! They started screaming NO NO NO! as I broke the cookie and it came apart in four pieces. Huge tears! Gus reluctantly grabbed a piece with chocolate, but he wouldn't eat the plain parts. Gibson gobbled up the remaining 3/4 of the extra cookie, plus the original 1/2 that Gus refused to eat. So Gus was even MORE mad when he saw Gibson was still eating cookie while he had none. 

The only other snacks I had with me were Goldfish crackers. The kids informed me that those were NOT an acceptable alternative. At this point I'd had maybe one sip of my coffee, but it was obviously time to go home. I told the boys to go get in the wagon. Gus jumped down from his seat saying "button!" I thought he was going to go play with the donate-your-change-to-help-the-homeless meter next to our table, so I said ok and turned my attention to helping Gibson wipe up. Next thing I know, Gus had run over to the crosswalk and was yelling "Button! Button!" because obviously that's what he was talking about. "Gus!" I yelled. "Get back here!" A pedestrian looked on and probably wondered if he should stop this two year old from crossing the street by himself.

I got Gibson down from the chair and ran to grab Gus. Of course, the wagon was around the corner of the store, so I had to retrieve it. Gibson came with me. Gus stood by the window pointing inside exclaiming "Cookie! More cookie!" I got them both in the wagon and started heading home. We'd gone about half a block when I heard some unhappy squeals behind me. I turned to see Gus laying on top of Gibson, possibly chewing on him, while they both were hanging over the side of the wagon. An older gentleman passing by helpfully pointed out, "Hey, they're going to fall out." I ignored him and said to the boys in a less-than-calm-and-quite-authoritative mother voice, "Cut it out!"

We managed to get home with all our limbs intact. Then I gave them popsicles to eat on the balcony (because I'm sure more sugar will solve their problems...) while I finished my latte in relative peace.

In conclusion, I think I'll wait on my little dream of hanging out at a coffee shop with my kids until they are, hmm, at least 5 years old. Or maybe younger if I just have one of them with me!

Snippets of Toddler-hood

The boys are so creative and imaginative these days. Life is fun with two 2-year-olds! Here are a few things they've been pretending lately.

• Being a witch who blows bubbles on people/animals to turn them into frogs (idea came from their favorite episode of Bubble Guppies)
• Daddy is a car with a radio that plays music (Daddy helps out by singing "la la la")
• Everything becomes a bulldozer, dump truck, mixer truck, or other vehicle. Sandwich crusts are tow trucks, watermelon rinds are boats, etc 
• Fires, fires everywhere. They are constantly playing firefighter. Problem there is they get really mad when brother pretends to spray their head/face with a fire hose...
• They have babies growing in their tummies and are going to be daddies. Uh, what?? I don't know what prompted this one, except we did recently get a book with a pregnant person in it.
• Everything is a baby that cries, drinks a bottle, and needs a diaper change. Not just stuffed animals - a toy truck has also needed a bottle. This is cute until both of their babies start crying and they shove them into my arms! I tell them I already took care of twin babies so now it's their turn.

I'm tapping into the power of imagination for their own good. When we went to get flu shots last week, we practiced what we learned from Daniel Tiger - "Close your eyes and think of something happy." Gibson said he would think about a bulldozer. He only let out one little yelp when he got his shot! I was so proud of him, and of myself because apparently I did not pass on my childhood needle anxiety to him. Gus was a bit more, uh, expressive in his protests, but he still got a sticker at the end of the ordeal.

Action-Packed Day

I use this blog to remind myself of things that happen (example: I had totally forgotten how horrendous the end of DST was last year!), so I shall now chronicle what we did this past Sunday.

Uncle Junior Fuzzy flew down from Portland for the weekend for his birthday because he wanted to have some California fun! We did our best to entertain him. Usually on Sundays, we go to church and that's about it for the day. Instead, we decided to see how much we could get the kids to do before they lost it (or at least, that how it seems in hindsight).

The boys woke up earlier than usual due to the time change, so everyone was ready and raring to go before 9AM. First stop was Griffith Park. I did not realize how gigantic that place is! For my Memphis readers, it's nearly the same size as Shelby Farms in terms of acreage. Both parks also have numerous outdoor recreation options and are popular local attractions. That's about where the comparisons end, though. Griffith Park is up on a bunch of hills so you really can't get a sense of where anything is just by looking around. It's surrounded by densely populated neighborhoods, which means it's kind of tricky to get from one part to another.

At any rate, we decided to take in the views of the city from the highest point in the park, Griffith Observatory. Because I don't know how to read signs, I paid an unnecessary $4 for parking (meters weren't in effect yet). Oh well, it was my contribution to the parks budget. We walked around to check out the scenery.

Those big clouds never did rain on us

The observatory building didn't open till 10:00 but by then the kids and their uncle were ready to move on. So, we didn't get to see any of the interesting astronomy stuff inside. Some other day, I guess!

Junior Fuzzy was itching to watch the Rams' football game (he's a big fan), so our next stop had to include TVs tuned to the correct channel, food that all family members would eat, and a place for the kids to run around. We found all these + bonus of beer at Golden Road Brewing. I was impressed that it was such a family-friendly brewery! They have this whole covered patio area with corn hole, ping pong, giant Yahtzee, and probably other games I didn't notice. And, they were playing the Rams game. Everyone had fun! There was a birthday party for a three year old going on at the table next to us. Our kids had fun running around and chasing birds with the birthday party guests. 

At half time, we decided the kids needed a nap, so we headed back to Pasadena. I dropped off DF and JF at the Dog Haus so they could watch the second half of the game. (Now would probably be a good time to mention that we don't have cable, so that's why we were looking for restaurants to watch football.) Conveniently, they were able to walk home afterwards, then I made a quick Trader Joe's run. Well, semi-quick. The parking situation was ridiculous. Maybe that's normal for a Sunday afternoon? 

The boys slept forever, so by the time they woke up, we were ready to get some dinner. JF is a big fan of beans. I decided to introduce him to Salvadorean food at a place recommended to me as "authentic LA," Las Cazuelas. We arrived just before 5 but still had to wait 20 minutes for a table. Sheesh! We entertained the kids by walking around outside and looking in the windows of nearby shops. Dinner itself went OK. I really find it stressful to dine out in a restaurant with my children. This meal was no different. They only ate chips, though Gibson did dip his in beans at least. They wouldn't even taste their bean and cheese pupusa, even though I called it a "bean pizza." (They love pizza.) Instead, they ate peanut butter cracker sandwiches that I'd tossed in the diaper bag in case dinner was a bust. By the end of the evening, they were both crawling on the floor under the table yelling "Doo dah! Doo dah!" (This is their new favorite word. I do not know what it means, only that they think it is hilarious.) 

Let this be the record that we took our kids to do three different things in one day and lived to tell the tale! It helps that we had a 3 adult : 2 kid ratio going on, I'm sure :)