So Far, So Good

24 hours down, 26 hours to go.

We went to the Children's Discovery Museum today. I packed diapers, wipes, snacks, lunch, drinks, a change of undies and pants for A., Motrin for me, sunscreen and hats in my backpack. Dressed me and the boys, fed me and the boys breakfast, loaded the car and felt quite proud of myself for accomplishing all of this by myself before 9 am.

It's about 35 miles away, and traffic was horrible. An hour later as I finally found the darn parking lot, I pulled in and said to myself, "*&#@! I forgot the &^%$# stroller."

AAARRRGH! I finally have the perfect stroller - my new double jogging stroller*. It rocks. And it's home in the garage because we took it out of the trunk last night to put G's luggage in. Damnit.

So I carried Ben the whole day. He's just 20 lbs, but 20 lbs can get pretty heavy when you're walking a couple of blocks and have to carry him inside the place as well. I hoped they'd have strollers to rent, but no such luck was mine today. Oh well. One of the best things about this place is that they have several areas set aside for kids 4 and under (and they're good about keeping it enforced). They even had a little infant room for "crawlers only" where Ben had a great time crawling up shallow steps, ramps and kissing puppets. I was able to set him down often enough that I'm still able to move tonight.

But, I couldn't carry him and our bag. That meant I only carried my wallet and we had no lunch so we had to buy a greasy expensive lunch there; we had no camera, no wipes and no travel potty seat, so A. had to go on the big-people public potty. Let's just say he was "unable to perform" and ended up holding it about 5 hours. Adding insult to injury (sort of), 5 minutes after arriving home and 2 feet away from his potty chair, he peed on the floor.

Besides the stroller absence, it was really fun. I can't believe we haven't been there before now. We may go tomorrow, too (just to take the stroller since it missed out). And I want to go for Mother's Day, as well.

Ben looked so cute in his plastic smock in the water play area - it was full-length on him, and he was so excited he actually walked to the water table holding onto just one of my hands. That was the first time he's been willing to attempt that. He also managed to get the smock situated just right so that the water ran down the smock, around his side, and down the back of his leg. Both he and A. were drenched, but very happy.

In one part of the 4-and-under area, two separate little girls (but both blonde...coincidence?) tried to keep Ben and A. from playing in the "forest tree" area where there were puppets inside this tree trunk room that would fit about 4 kids. The first chickie bounced in while they were exploring in there, took a puppet from A. He gave me a look that said, "Girls are trouble," and ran off to some other exhibit. Then she tried to scoot Ben out with giant waves of her arms. Seeing no adult attached to her, I told her, "Screw you."

No, I didn't. But I did give her the evil eye and said through gritted teeth, "Can't he play inside too?" She shook her head no. Geez, babe, don't you even know enough to give me lip service? You're supposed to say, "Yes," or say nothing but look guilty, then try to push him out without me seeing it.

If she'd been there first, I'd say, "OK, whatever, ya little brat," but the boys were there first and both were significantly smaller than her, so I saw her as a pretty little bully. I sat at the entrance, folded my arms, and smiled at her. She got the message that I wasn't going to move Ben, that I was bigger than she was, and she finally skulked out.

Word of the male tree interlopers must have gotten out because a second blondie girl ran over and actually tried to push Ben out. "Hey! We don't push," I told her. Ben did crawl out of the tree trunk entrance and sat down right outside it. The girl picked up a puppet and made it snarl at Ben. "Trying to scare him, are you? I'll show you something scary," I snarled at her.

No, I didn't. But I laughed because Ben thought it was funny and kept grabbing the puppet and giving it hugs and kisses while her hand was in it. She didn't know what to do with that, so she took the puppet off her hand and threw it at him. He was thrilled, picked it up and showered it with more hugs and kisses. I laughed and she glared. Way to show her, my little lovebug.

Can you tell, by the length of this post, that I've had very little adult interaction today? My sister called to find out how it went today, G. called to fill me in on his interview and some housing possibilities (all of which are looking pretty good), and a chick took my money at the entrance to the museum and was spectacularly unhelpful with any of my questions. Oh, and our neighbor came over with some freezer pops for the boys and talked to me at length. But I don't count that since I only understand about a quarter of what she says and she doesn't stop talking long enough for me to get an "I'm sorry...what?" in.

*By the way, I was mistaken a few posts back - our new sink did NOT cost more than the stroller, G. pointed out. It was not THAT much cheaper, I'd like to point out.