John's Birthday Weekend

John turned 27 on Saturday and because my dad was going to be in town Saturday through Sunday, we decided to let the birthday festivities cover the whole weekend.

Saturday morning, we woke up and the boys were very happy to give John his present (2nd season of Battlestar Gallactica and a birthday card picked out by Aiden). We spent most of the day at home - John settling down with some video games for a while and me catching up on some much needed cleaning before my dad arrived. After Nathan's nap, we headed to the grocery store to get what we needed for John's dinner request (steak, yams - mashed potatoes for the rest of us, asparagus, cherry pie, and chocolate cake since the boys won't eat pie). We got home just before my dad arrived, but it hadn't gotten a little on the late side somehow, so we gave the boys their dinner and my dad helped to read some stories to them before we sent them to bed. Then the three of us sat down to a relaxing steak dinner where we could talk and eat without having to worry about the kids. In fact, it was so nice that John and I have decided we should make it a regular thing for us - maybe once a week or so. It would be almost like a date! And we did get a large package of steak since it was only $3 per pound, so we have a lot in our freezer!

On Sunday, we all headed off to church and while the church swim party was that afternoon, none of us adults really felt like swimming and thought it would be unfair to the boys to take them, but not let them swim. So we decided to go home for lunch (and a viewing of Disney/Pixar's Cars) and then we headed out to the zoo in the later afternoon. Once we were in the zoo, Aiden requested to ride the zoo train. John decided that it would be fun since he hadn't gone on it before and my dad was in town to enjoy it with the boys. We had a great time on the train and I am still amazed at how well behaved the boys can be during the 35 minute ride. They sit perfectly still the whole time! I guess we have some little train fanatics on our hands. During the ride, Aiden was complimented on his loud and clear "ALL ABOARD!". I guess he felt that the conductor's version wasn't adequate (I must agree that it was lacking some enthusiasm), so he gave the shout himself.

Once we finished with the train, we all shared two elephant ears between the five of us and then had a quick visit to the goat petting area (Nathan's request) before we headed towards home. My dad was down here because a friend of his was driving down Saturday afternoon and then driving back to the Seattle area Sunday evening, so we had to get him back to our place in time to be picked up by his friend. It was a short trip, but the boys loved every minute of it and it was a chance for us to do some things for John's birthday that included the whole family.
Once my dad's friend arrived to pick him up, we packed the boys up in the car once again and went over to John's parents. They had agreed to watch the boys so John and I could go out to dinner. We had a wonderful relaxing dinner at a little restaurant in Lake Oswego called Thai Basil. They had amazing pad thai, so if you like thai food, I would highly recommend it. The last time John and I had gone out for thai food, we were still living in Philadelphia, so it was a nice change for us. And I was able to use a pair of chopsticks without trouble!
After dinner, we collected the boys from John's parents and took them home to bed. Poor Nathan hadn't really napped all day and he was very, very tired.

It was a very nice weekend and it just happened to coincide with my one guaranteed weekend off from work per month. Now we're back to work today and we go house hunting some more tomorrow evening. Maybe we'll find John a nice house for his 27th birthday! :^)

Morning Discovery

When I got the boys up this morning, I found Nathan....well, no longer in his crib. I knew this day was coming, but I was actually surprised at how concerned I was with HOW he did it and whether or not he had injured himself in the fall. He seems fine and I still don't know exactly how he got out, but motherly instinct tells me that his big brother had a hand in his removal.

He's been showing interest in Aiden's toddler bed for quite a while now and we can turn his crib into a toddler bed, but before I'm comfortable doing that, I want to get a safety rail. He still sleeps up against the railing quite a bit and I know that he would continually fall out of bed. While it's not nearly as big of drop as climbing out of his crib, he wouldn't get any sleep and neither would we.

So I guess it's time to look for a safety rail. Oh yes, and we're still working on perfecting his timing for using the potty, but he has been having success about once a day. This little guy is growing up quite a bit faster than I expected.

An Addition to Yesterday's Post

One little thing I forgot to mention in my post about our shopping trips yesterday was that Aiden insisted on wearing a Santa hat the entire time. Now, it was in the 80s yesterday, but he still wanted to wear it.
The manager in Target noticed him and told him that she wished Christmas would come in the summer too. I told her that I don't argue with his clothing choices too much...he is just 3 after all and doesn't know if people are pointing (and laughing) at him. She said that her daughter would do things like that all the time when she was that age. I'm glad it's normal.
Aiden attracted a lot of attention in Fred Meyer though. Most people tried very hard to hide their laughter, but some weren't very good at it. The only blatant pointing out of Aiden's hat happened when a small child suddenly yelled, "Look mommy! It's Santa!!!". Still, Aiden was totally unaware that he was creating a bit of a stir. And I was a good mommy and went along with it, smiling and acting as though wearing a Santa hat in August is completely normal. :^)

A Better Day

It seems that the boys are trying to their best to make up for such a horrible day yesterday. I had to do some grocery shopping and had to get all of Aiden's back-to-school items from his class list today - an adventure that I wasn't looking forward to very much since I had to take both of them with me. I just never know how they're going to behave while we're out. But they were great!
Aiden asked if he could walk instead of riding in the cart and I told him that he could if he stayed right next to me the whole time. He will run away from me sometimes and that makes things difficult, especially if I'm alone with both boys. I fully expected him to run off at some point, but I am determined to give him the opportunity to learn how to stay with me at all times. And it paid off because he was so well behaved today! He helped me push the cart and I told him everything that we needed from our list. I think talking about each thing we were doing helped him to stay focused. He also helped me in the check-out line and got right into his carseat once we got back out to the car.

The only incident was when Nathan got scared by something in Target (I think it was the very large BBQ we ended up stopping next to while looking at school supplies) and began crying in fear. But he calmed down quickly. Aiden got a little worried at one point while shopping because he suddenly needed to go to the bathroom and whispered (loudly) "I'm wee-weeing in my pants!!". I had put him in pull-ups since I was out by myself, so I told him that it was ok for now, but that there are bathrooms in the stores and he can always tell me if he needs to use the potty. I'm pleased that he's becoming more and more aware of his bathroom needs when we're away from home.

We had a great grocery shopping trip as well and they were just so well behaved that I took them to McDonald's for lunch. As we were sitting in the drive-thru, Aiden announces "I think that shooting stars are like mashed potatoes!". I'm not sure what he meant by that, but it sure was cute.

If I didn't know any better, I would think that someone had switched out my children from the ones I had yesterday!