Last night we went to a wedding reception and danced the night away. Needless to say, the girls did not want to wake up this morning to get ready for church. I knew it would be a tough day for Rachel since she had had a very restless sleep (she growls in her sleep sometimes and it's a bad omen for the following morning) and had to let her lie in bed moaning for a good fifteen minutes before she finally got out of bed. Miriam woke up grinning, as per her usual, but acted very sleepy the entire day.
We had stake conference today, which was nice because it meant that I didn't have to teach Sunbeams by myself (that will be next week) but it was also not nice because it meant two hours of making my children sit still and listen to adults speak instead of the one hour we have on a regular Sunday.
Aside from multiple trips to the bathroom and drinking fountain and spreading their stuff all over the aisle and one terrific Rachel-meltdown, the girls did fairly well. And I even got to listen to what some of the speakers said. It helped that we sat beside my parents...
After church my mom and dad came over to our house for lunch; we ate party leftovers. Then Rachel went to watch Matilda at my parents' house while I put Miriam down for a nap. I took a nap, too, since Rachel was gone and Miriam was sleeping and when I woke up I thought, "That's weird. I woke up before Miriam. Why can't I fall back asleep?" Usually I wake up to her knocking on her bedroom door.
Then I looked at the clock and...two-and-a-half-hours!?
I woke Miriam up and she did not greet me with a smile. She usually wakes up from nap time less happy than she wakes up in the morning but she was quite upset about being woken up today. I picked her up to carry her to the rocking chair (our post-nap ritual) and she asked to be put down, so I did...and she ran back to bed.
"Why are you so sleepy?" I asked.
"'Cuz I didn't have a long, long nap!" she said.
"You did have a long, long nap," I assured her.
"Didn't!"
She decided that she could stay awake, though, when I told her we were going on a walk to Naanii and Bumpa's house and got herself all prettied up—in pants and a skirt and a shirt and a dress. I had asked her to put a pair of pants on (she had taken hers off before falling asleep) because it was a little chilly today and she said, "'Ow 'bout a skirt? Know what? Skirts are pants, Mom! They are because they are in my pants drawer."
Whatever. So she wore her self-selected outfit and we went to my parents' house and then to the park where Miriam out-swung every child who passed through. I should probably check the Guinness World Record for the amount of time a two-year-old has willingly swung (without fussing or getting bored or asking to get down) because I'm pretty sure Miriam could give that record a go.
At one point, before my mom had joined us, both girls were swinging. Miriam was on one of the baby swings and Rachel had chosen the swing on the farthest end of the swingset. Then they were both yelling at me to push them higher. I was like, "Really? You couldn't have chosen the swing next to the baby swings? You had to choose the swing at the very end?" Apparently she had to choose the swing at the very end. Rachel's getting better at pumping but isn't quite self-sufficient yet.
Near the end of our time at the park Rachel asked me to help her climb into a tree, so I did. So Miriam had to climb a tree, too. And then I had to take pictures. And therefore you get to see the outfit she cobbled together:
That would be pink halloween pants with black bats and orange blobs, a white skirt with blue flowers and green foliage, a long-sleeved ladybug shirt, and a pink dress with blue and purple flowers.
I will admit that I kind of fought her on the dress and told her that she didn't need to put on any other clothes, but she tearfully insisted that she needed to wear that dress. My mom pointed out that it does kind of tie the whole outfit together. Without it her outfit might have looked really ridiculous.
Rachel wanted to show me how jaguars sleep in trees. We read a couple of books about the rain forest a few nights ago...
And here's a few more pictures of Miriam up a tree:
We had stake conference today, which was nice because it meant that I didn't have to teach Sunbeams by myself (that will be next week) but it was also not nice because it meant two hours of making my children sit still and listen to adults speak instead of the one hour we have on a regular Sunday.
Aside from multiple trips to the bathroom and drinking fountain and spreading their stuff all over the aisle and one terrific Rachel-meltdown, the girls did fairly well. And I even got to listen to what some of the speakers said. It helped that we sat beside my parents...
After church my mom and dad came over to our house for lunch; we ate party leftovers. Then Rachel went to watch Matilda at my parents' house while I put Miriam down for a nap. I took a nap, too, since Rachel was gone and Miriam was sleeping and when I woke up I thought, "That's weird. I woke up before Miriam. Why can't I fall back asleep?" Usually I wake up to her knocking on her bedroom door.
Then I looked at the clock and...two-and-a-half-hours!?
I woke Miriam up and she did not greet me with a smile. She usually wakes up from nap time less happy than she wakes up in the morning but she was quite upset about being woken up today. I picked her up to carry her to the rocking chair (our post-nap ritual) and she asked to be put down, so I did...and she ran back to bed.
"Why are you so sleepy?" I asked.
"'Cuz I didn't have a long, long nap!" she said.
"You did have a long, long nap," I assured her.
"Didn't!"
She decided that she could stay awake, though, when I told her we were going on a walk to Naanii and Bumpa's house and got herself all prettied up—in pants and a skirt and a shirt and a dress. I had asked her to put a pair of pants on (she had taken hers off before falling asleep) because it was a little chilly today and she said, "'Ow 'bout a skirt? Know what? Skirts are pants, Mom! They are because they are in my pants drawer."
Whatever. So she wore her self-selected outfit and we went to my parents' house and then to the park where Miriam out-swung every child who passed through. I should probably check the Guinness World Record for the amount of time a two-year-old has willingly swung (without fussing or getting bored or asking to get down) because I'm pretty sure Miriam could give that record a go.
At one point, before my mom had joined us, both girls were swinging. Miriam was on one of the baby swings and Rachel had chosen the swing on the farthest end of the swingset. Then they were both yelling at me to push them higher. I was like, "Really? You couldn't have chosen the swing next to the baby swings? You had to choose the swing at the very end?" Apparently she had to choose the swing at the very end. Rachel's getting better at pumping but isn't quite self-sufficient yet.
Near the end of our time at the park Rachel asked me to help her climb into a tree, so I did. So Miriam had to climb a tree, too. And then I had to take pictures. And therefore you get to see the outfit she cobbled together:
That would be pink halloween pants with black bats and orange blobs, a white skirt with blue flowers and green foliage, a long-sleeved ladybug shirt, and a pink dress with blue and purple flowers.
I will admit that I kind of fought her on the dress and told her that she didn't need to put on any other clothes, but she tearfully insisted that she needed to wear that dress. My mom pointed out that it does kind of tie the whole outfit together. Without it her outfit might have looked really ridiculous.
Rachel wanted to show me how jaguars sleep in trees. We read a couple of books about the rain forest a few nights ago...
Apparently jaguars don't hug trees, though. They just let their arms and legs dangle. I had to take another picture.
And here she is being just plain ol' Rachel...in a tree. She could probably sit up there all day. Maybe I should check the Guinness record on that, too.
We went back to my parents' house for dinner and dessert (leftover cake from Sarah's party) and by the time we'd finished eating it was nearing bedtime (remember all the time we spent swinging and sitting in trees—we were there for a while). My dad said he was going to go on a walk to check to make sure that the church was locked. Rachel jumped up and volunteered to go, too. And then Miriam jumped up and announced that she'd do whatever Rachel was doing. So we made it a family affair.
Unfortunately, when we got to the church we couldn't check it because there was an Eagle Court of Honour going on (we're assuming...from all the scout uniforms and pictures of eagles all over the cultural hall). This crushed Rachel because she wanted to help check her classroom (even though her classroom doesn't have a window to potentially be left unlocked) so we went into the church, anyway, and checked on the nursery for Miriam, as well as mine and Rachel's classrooms.
Rachel impressed Naanii and Bumpa by telling them what numbers the classrooms were. She knows that Miriam is in room 5 and that her classroom is room 10. She also knows that my classroom is room 11 but always says that I'm in room 7 for some reason (because they rhyme?).
On our way home we ran into my parents' neighbours who were out walking their little Pomeranian. We had to stop to pet it—Miriam was only brave enough to touch it a few times but Rachel warmed up to it enough to give it a hug goodbye. It was a fun little walk. But by then it was definitely time to go home for bed. So we did.
And then instead of brushing our teeth we got out bowls of water and drank from them like dogs.
Brush. Your. Teeth!
And then instead of picking up the paper and crayons we drew pictures of Pomeranians and then begged to have Mommy help us spell Pomeranian and then put our pictures under our pillows to help us have good dreams about Pomeranians.
Clean. Up. Your. Room!
And then instead of getting into our pyjamas we got in a big fight and had to be sent to time-out for pulling hair and scratching.
Just put on your pyjamas! And don't touch each other!
But we finally made it into bed and I successfully ignored the pitiful pleas at the door (at 10:15 PM) reminding me that I forgot to give them their vitamins.
Here's the funny thing about me: I care about passing out vitamins at 7:00 PM; I care about passing out vitamins at 8:00 PM; I might even care about passing out vitamins at 9:00 PM. Maybe. But by 10:00 PM? I really just want my kids in bed and I don't care about passing out vitamins.
That's why Andrew initiated the "once you're in bed, you're in bed" rule. And I love him for it. Because apparently I'm not strict enough to initiate a rule like that but I have no problem enforcing it because I can say, "Remember...Daddy said."
Frankly, if you remember at 10:00 at night that you didn't get your daily vitamin...I don't care anymore.
That's how cruel of a mother I am.
It's also why I keep my prenatal vitamins right by my bed (but, yes, out of reach of my children...unless they climb...which, let's be honest, they can do...so why I try to keep things out of their reach, I don't know...that's what those pesky child-proof lids are for, I guess)—so that if I remember that I forgot to take my vitamin at some ungodly hour while I'm trying to fall asleep I can take it without even (really) getting out of bed.
Because once you're in bed, you're in bed.
Fun pictures!
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