a weekend away

1) This weekend we were away from both kids overnight for the first time. It was freaking amazing. I wouldn't have wanted to leave Henry overnight any sooner, because he wasn't sleeping all the way through until fairly recently. I would never subject someone other than myself to that! But he is waking up around 5:30-6 every morning lately, which is pretty good. So the kids had a great time with my parents, and Chris and I had an unprecedented twenty-four hours on our own. All you who are parents will know what I mean when I say that we love our children more than anything, but whoa boy is it incredible to have just one day away. It was such a sense of freedom, and to go twenty-four hours without any of the stress of the day-to-day running of the household and taking care of the kids was so relaxing. I don't think we realized how stressed out we had been until we found ourselves truly relaxed and enjoying each other's company. We stayed in a house with friends and had a great time at the wedding. What a fun weekend.

2) I can't not mention the leaf. This leaf had our table in stitches. The wedding coordinator came around asking what each of us had ordered for dinner. She got to me and asked, "Chicken or fish?" I said, "Actually I'm vegan." And suddenly, BAM! She hostilely threw a leaf on the table in front of my plate, and walked away. A leaf? I have never been presented with a leaf in such an aggressive fashion. She's luckily I was me and the whole table had already had a glass of wine, because I was not offended and we all burst out in hysterics. I have been a vegetarian at a lot of weddings and it's sometimes comical to see the caterers (who do know ahead of time) scramble around figuring out what to do about me. But this was the absolute funniest reaction ever. She was carrying that leaf around just waiting to assault a vegan with it.

Then my friend's husband (who was perhaps three- or ten- sheets to the wind) took a bite out of the leaf and I told the server who came back that I got hungry. The server was not amused. Were they planning to reuse the leaf for another assault? I was then served the least vegan (or vegetarian) meal I've ever had at a wedding. French onion soup (beef broth covered in cheese? not vegan) and pasta covered in some kind of butter sauce. It was surprising they could mess it up that much, but I didn't really care. I go to weddings expecting not to be able to eat anything. I had some crackers, salad, and the rice from Chris's dinner. It was, overall, possibly the best and funniest wedding we've been to.

3) Usually I do grocery shopping on the weekend, but on Friday the kids and I had the whole day to ourselves so I decided to do it then. Henry is sometimes difficult in stores these days, because he wants to get down and walk instead of staying in the cart. The good thing about shopping on a weekday is that I was able to find a cart with side-by-side seats for the littles. They love those carts, and sat together happily for most of the time. Henry was in a good mood having Celia next to him for company. When he finally started getting cranky in the last aisle, I gave them a snack and that kept them busy until we were done. Then Henry played peekaboo with the cashier and made a grand exit, saying bye to everyone in the store.

She said she was protecting his head so it wouldn't bump something hard. Also, I'm intrigued by this "Seats Children and Adults" thing. Next time I'm bringing Chris to the store so he can push me in the cart. 

4) Celia has been especially picky about eating lately. She basically won't eat any dinner unless bribed with dessert. It's ridiculous. So I've taken to setting a timer for 20 minutes while we eat, and if she's eaten her dinner when the timer goes off she can have something for dessert. When she's bribed, she magically "loves" whatever I've made for dinner and eats it all up. Hmm. Tonight she actually had a great dinner without bribes.

Sometimes it helps if she makes her own food, but half the time she won't eat that either.

5) We've been spending a lot of time outside lately. The weather is beautiful.

Also, Henry in the chair? Adorable. The first thing he did when he sat down was to put his cup right in the cup holder. He knows what's up. 

6) This morning Henry was playing with Celia's doll. We need to find Henry his own doll at some point. He was carrying it around, and then he discovered he can sit on the bottom step of the stairway and was sitting the doll next to him. Extreme cuteness.

7) Yesterday Celia and Henry were playing in Pita's room, and for some reason Celia kept sitting Henry down in the chair, making him lean back, and covering him up with a blanket. Henry just went along with it.