Who are you?

We made it through the weekend without major loss of limb. Saturday morning was spent inside playing while it rained outside. We went to the art fair briefly in the afternoon, but the kids didn’t like the people-watching as much as I had hoped, so I didn’t get to see any art. We all enjoyed the ice cream though. Then we spent the evening at Toby’s, where the highlights included toenail painting (Lauren of Emma’s, Emma of Lauren’s, and Emma of Sam’s (big toes only for the boys)). We got home about 8:30, and Sam was not only asleep, but actually stayed asleep when I moved him from car to bed.

On Sunday morning Lauren and Sam went to stay with Maggie while I had a break to go rowing. I was (modestly) a super-parent, with bags of everything packed, including waffle breakfasts, choice of outfits, and even medical information. Everything except diaper wipes, which Sam of course needed. Neither of them ate much breakfast, though they did sample some cherry tomatoes that Maggie was growing (Lauren had 20 of them, as Maggie warned me in an email later in case Lauren was having ‘digestive issues’). Lauren seemed to struggle with Maggie’s name; she kept asking “Can you tell me what your name is?” and for the rest of the day kept asking me who the girl she visited was. That didn’t stop her telling Maggie that “I love to hug you”. Apparently Sam just grunted and smiled.

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Lauren and Ceolla]2

In the afternoon/evening we went for a picnic at Lake Harriet with a bunch of Ceolla’s parent’s friends, including the bonus of Lucy (Lauren’s best friend after Ceolla). Lauren was happy with Ceolla there of course, and Sam was just happy; everyone was taken with his cuteness, and his willingness to just wander around and amuse himself. He did make a little friend (Ellen), but at his age friendships are pretty fleeting – it was amusing to see the two of them circling each other, with Sam grunting, smiling and squatting with happiness, not unlike a Bonobo chimp perhaps. We made brownies to take (Lauren kept asking what that thing we made this morning was,; if that carries on we may have to visit the doctor!), and had bits of food from other people as well. To round it off we went for ice cream at the Bandstand at 8:30, timing it nicely so the sugar rush would wear off just after everyone was pajama’d at home. I did have to take a flannel to two extremely grubby little ones this morning, and it’s definitely bath night tonight; Lauren in particular looked like she’d been eating mud.

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Sam and Ellen]4

Finally this morning two very tired ones went off to school. I forgot some stuff so had to go back with it, and took the opportunity to sneak a peek at them. I couldn’t see Sam, but he was grunting appreciatively at a story, and Lauren was concentrating on some drawing/writing. It was impressive to see her classmates all working in ones and twos, with just a gentle background natter and no running, shouting or stabbing. Which probably explains why we get so much of that at home.