Childhood Innocence

It's so funny when Oliver and Charlie do something to show how much we, as adults, take things for granted. A few minutes ago I was sitting here typing on the computer with Oliver looking on and I stopped to pop my knuckles. As I'm working on them I notice that Oliver has an absolutely horrified look on his face. "You just broke your fingers!" he yelped. "You did it on purpose!" I couldn't help but just about die of laughter even though he was still looking at me like I'd just pulled my head off and dribbled it around the room like a basketball. Aaah, you gotta love kids.

Weirdo go home

Just in case you were wondering, Oliver's party went really well. I managed to get enough super hero capes made for the kids who attended and, after a small snafu with the spray paint, we managed to get their initials on them as well. Everyone seemed to think they were really neat. We have developed a theory though. At our party and our friends' party the following weekend at the same park, our kids attracted weirdos. At Oliver's party it was some old drunk Latino guy. He came up and was watching the kids playing, then kissed Danica, one of our 17-month-olds. I didn't see it happen, but everyone else who did was under the impression that he was somehow connected to our party, like someone's grandpa or something. He then continued to lurk around and watch the kids until, after clearing up that he was not a part of our group, the dads of a few of the kids chased him off. For the rest of the time we were there he continued to lurk about, just keeping more distance. Last we saw of him he had fallen asleep behind a trashcan.

The following weekend at Logan's birthday party we had another older latino fella watching our kids and hanging around near our table. This time he came over during the pinata bashing and just stood there for about 10 minutes. Gabe finally offered him a tootsie roll, hoping he would go away. He instead grabbed about five more pieces of candy off the ground and then tried helping the kids put some in their bags. After our previous experience we were all quick to shoo him away, at which point he went to a table recently vacated by a family and drank the partial sodas left there and rummaged through all the surrounding trash cans. We made sure he kept is distance from our kids, but left him some pizza on the table when we left.

I know our kids are cute and all, but geez. The weirdos really need to leave them alone.

Who needs sleep?...

So the past two weeks or so have been one long period of insomnia and crazed activity. We had to plan and execute Oliver's birthday party, go to two other birthday parties and one sorority picnic in Southern California, and I am now providing day care for the daughter of a friend. During all of this I have been operating with a bare minimum of sleep. For some reason, as soon as I go to lie down at night, my brain shifts into high gear and won't calm down. If I were thinking about the things I had to do the next day or whatever I wouldn't mind so much. But no, my brain is spinning out all kinds of flotsom and jetsom that has no connections at all. One night I was in that semi-sleep state were you have really crazy thoughts and my mind decided to create some unusual party games for Oliver's party. One involved me poking the kids with sticks and the other had the kids reaching into a pinata for aluminum foil covered toothpicks which kept jabbing into their little arms. In both scenarios I resurfaced to reality scared that no one was going to come to the party and that everyone was mad at me for playing such terrible games with their babies.

I've tried sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed, a trick that used to work when I was a kid. It doesn't work as well now, mostly due to getting kicked by my bed hog hubby, who for some demented reason, thinks he can put his feet anywhere he wants to just because he's taller than me. My friend Maria sent over some chamomile tea for me to try drinking before bed, but I never think of it until I am already lying there unable to sleep, yet unwilling to get up again. I partook of a little herbal remedy the other night which worked really well, however, getting stoned every night isn't a realistic option for me.

Ah well, the time has come once again to try sleeping. I think I may have success tonight as my day was a long one. I took all three kids to Target and the grocery store. A marathon outing, as anyone with experience with kids under 4 knows. I had the girls in the basket and Oliver on a leash attached to the basket. Boy did we get some stares, but not once did Oliver manage to get lost. Anyways, it wore me out. Ok... good night.

Hey, I'm not hungover!