Last week after a long night of several wake-ups by both kids I was exhausted by morning. Ember fell asleep in the swing so I cuddled with Kate on the couch while she watched her TV shows. I really love that she does that now, it’s so comfy and sweet to wrap my arms around her and doze off while she tells me what is going on. (“Run! Fast! Up and down!”) She wasn’t very tired that particular morning, just chilling with me, but I fell asleep. I woke up when her show ended and she had discovered that the drawer to my filing cabinet was unlocked. Now I can only assume what other kids would do with that kind of knowledge, but it brings to mind images of mayhem. My kid? Had taken out all of the spare pens from the top drawer and lined them up on the floor. I watched her for a while as she carefully put them side by side. She did try drawing in a book but I said “No-no” and she stopped. Then she put the pens all back in the drawer where she found them, shut the drawer, and moved on to playing with her books. I have an odd child.

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Kate has discovered the word “No!” in a whole other context. She’s been saying no for a while, but only in response to questions. “Do you want a banana?” “No….” Always polite. Always informative. Unfortunately now she has grasped its use as an exclamation – a statement of rebellion! “It’s time for bed.” “NO!” But then most of the time she usually ignores what she just said and goes along with me anyways. It’s actually kind of funny to watch her trying to stake out her independence and throw down the gauntlet with all the defiance she can muster. It’s not much. (Yet.)

Another way she is asserting herself is by throwing things. I know the throwing is developmental and normal, but it’s her repeatedly saying “No throwing!” while doing it that has me puzzled. Does she misunderstand what that means? Is she making a statement that she knows what I want her to do and she is going to do the opposite anyways? I just don’t know. Either way she is very chipper about the whole thing.

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There’s a little local beach at a lake near here and today some mommy friends were going to be there with their kids. I decided to stop over there briefly to let Kate play in the water. What a mistake! First I got stuck in construction traffic both on the way there and the way home, and Ember was fussy so she ended up screaming hysterically while we were stuck not moving for over 10 minutes. And then we get there and I wondered what on earth I was thinking going to the beach with a 1 month old? Yes there was a sun umbrella and she hung out on a blanket for a bit, but it was hot and she was fussy. And then of course Kate wanted me to go in the water with her. She wanted to go swimming, but of course she cannot swim on her own, even with her floatie swimsuit. The older kids were holding her hand and helping her out at least.

But then the worst thing of all: SAND. Why I forget this every year I don’t know. I hate sand. Hate. It gets on your blankets, it sticks to your body. And that’s even without taking into consideration the toddler that wants to go in the water, tromp through the sand, and then stomp over your blanket and touch you all over. Sand. Everywhere. I didn’t even bother attempting to put Kate back in clothes when we left, just put a diaper on her and threw her in the truck. Ugh.

I had tried to plan out the best course of action for when we got home and I realized that there was no way around it, I had to give Kate a shower before putting her down for a nap… which meant Ember had to just sit tight for a couple minutes, even though she was pretty upset. I guess that’s one of those second-child problems…. sometimes they just have to wait their turn. Once Kate was clean and had something to drink I then was able to deal with Ember. Thankfully she loves baths! I put her in the baby bath tub – the one Kate hated as a baby – and that did a lot to calm her down. Then I got her dressed and nursed her… oh the magic of boobies, I keep saying it.

The bonus was that I had two sleeping children for an hour.

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My parents are visiting, which is fabulous. Kate is thrilled to have an audience all day long, and I feel like I have a second pair of hands. I am not spending much time on the computer while they are here though! I’m trying to think of fun things to do but with the temperature in the 90’s every day no one is too keen on leaving the air conditioned house with two small children.