Visit From Windy City Friends

Jenn has been in research mode lately, and the most recent topic has been: Play Sets! That's right. It's become such an intense bit of research that she actually told me last night she...

...now you're going to want to be sitting down for this...

She actually told me that she thought about...

Are you sure you're ready?

Okay, okay. She told me that she thought about... writing a blog post... about her experience! That's right! So if you see a research oriented post about how to design a play set with a current crop of a 4-year-old plus two sub-2-year-olds, but quickly growing kids, Jenn will be the author.

Much of what was above was written, of course, with tongue in cheek. Trust me, no husband ever had a wife as good as Jenn at gathering all of the available information, assimilating it in her mind, and coming up with an A+ plan. So we'll see how things shake out as the season progresses.

On another subject, our friends from our cruise, Pete & Mo (along with their daughter, Erin) stopped by while they were in town over the past weekend for a bridal shower. You know how sometimes you'll meet new people when you're away from home, and you hit it off, and you say something like, "We should get together again sometime," but you both know you'll probably not ever meet up again? Well Pete & Mo aren't those people! And Jenn and I are already mentally planning a weekent trip to the Magnificent Mile so we can crash at their place and visit Chicago.

Here are some kid photos...

Lydia's vocabular continues to explode, and it's also very clear that she listens to everything around her. For instance, Lincoln and I were kidding around as we were climbing out of the car, and I started a lyric from Superchick's Rock What You Got. "You were born to rock..." And before Lincoln cold finish it, Lydia blurted out, "'side soul," (her shortened version of "... inside your soul." Jenn and I looked at each other and shared a good laugh.

Lincoln and I have enjoyed playing with his cars on a little road mat that he and Jenn put together. Twice in the last week we've stayed up "a little late" to play with them, and each time just before bed Lincoln says, "I like playing cars with you, Dad." Wow. I'm glad I've got time to spend with him like that.

Henry is also getting pretty good and following commands. Of course there are many times when he doesn't follow commands simply because he's a toddler, but he and I have a routine before bedtime where he picks out his own diaper, then he brushes his teeth (after I brush them and he cries... still working on that one), then he carries his toothbrush back to the sink, then he gets is Dog and brings it over to the reading chair. He has a look on his face as though he knows he's accomplishing something, and he's screaming out for attachment, acceptance and love, so seeing my face when he's being such a good little boy about stuff like that helps build his confidence, I'm sure. And then in the morning, he picks out his diaper, and then takes his old, rolled-up diaper and throws it down to the bottom of the stairs for me so I can take it out to the garage. Since I've been giving him little "tasks" to do, he's been much less fussy about wanting to be picked up right away and more interested in doing something together.

There are still times during these days where he enters his Needy Cycle, and he has the ability to spiral downward pretty quickly, especially if Lydia is having A Moment at the same time. It's difficult to know when to cut slack because of his overall situation and when to use those moments as teaching and instructive moments. (For instance, when everyone is going upstairs for bath time, and all three kids are at the bottom of the stairs ready to go up, and Henry runs away fussing. Is that an adoption/security thing, or is that a toddler being a toddler, because Lydia has those moments, too.) Thankfully, work has been busy, but not so busy that I'm not able to leave and get home right on time to pick up some of the slack for Jenn.

There are times where he seems to play with the other kids well, other times where he plays by himself well, other times when he's fussy and wants undivided attention, and other times where he's content to simply sit on my lap and take in what's going on around us.