Metal Meredith

*I spent my morning with 2 two year olds, 1 one year old and 1 six month old. It was only 3 hours and I was t-i-r-e-d when it was all over.

*Vivienne’s bus driver was 8 minutes early this afternoon, causing me to run the last 2 block to the bus stop, pushing Henry along in the stroller. She had to close the doors and pull the bus over to wait for all of the moms to arrive. Vivienne was so scared and crying when I finally got there, I had to sit with her for several minutes and explain how it happened. Then, I had to walk home pushing a stroller with Vivienne on piggyback because she wouldn’t let go of me while we were walking home.

*This morning, Vivienne went up to say goodbye to Phil, coming back downstairs complaining that she gagged and almost threw up due to the smell. Tonight, as Phil and Vivienne were dancing (a nightly ritual), Vivienne’s butt was a constant symphony of farting, causing her to giggle, causing more farts and more giggling and more........ you get it.

*After months of trying to get Henry to scoot down the stairs on his butt, Vivienne taught him to lay on his tummy and slide down. After doing it 5 times, Vivienne lifts her shirt to reveal her entire stomach is one big rug burn. She laughs and laughs but then has to lay down the 20 minutes until Phil gets home to sufficiently milk the empathy.

*Henry has discovered that it is much more powerful to scream “Mama!” when he doesn’t want to be sleeping than just to cry. If he gets really desperate, he yells “Daddy!”. It is always drawn out to 3 syllables with a sharp inhale in between. A sniffle and maybe a sad, gaggy cough between fits also helps.

*Something upstairs smells like poo. I can’t figure it out (and we know it isn’t the farting problem, above). How scared am I that we will find a 6 month old dirty diaper stashed somewhere?