It's Gobbles Time!: Just a Spring Day

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of Gobbles whining... he did NOT want to go to school when Daddy woke him up to get dressed. He has a new habit of screaming for whoever isn't making him cry at the moment. When I put him in timeout he cries for Daddy. When we both discipline him he cries for Grandmom. There was one day he cried for his teacher. Yesterday was no different - Mommmmmmy! I want Mommy I hear from the other room. Hubs responded that I was asleep. Lil Lobster Rolllllll! Yes, next I hear, Gobbles is screaming for his baby sister - I love it!

Since it was going to be a beautiful day and my time left on leave is limited, I figured why fight it, let the kid stay home. We warned him he was missing pizza day but he didn't care... so I told him, ok but Mommy wants to sleep in a bit - come on into bed. We do this a lot on the weekends - bring Gobbles into our bed at 7 am so we can take our time waking up. He will lay there and if we close our eyes he'll explore one of our faces - tug on my ear, stick his hand in my mouth, or poke a finger up my nose... that's usually enough to get me up. Usually when I open my eyes his big brown eyes are right there, curiously looking at me before he breaks out into a huge smile. Yesterday when I finally opened my eyes for him, no less than 5 minutes after we resolved to "sleep in", he whispered Mommy I want my breakfast? And just like that, it was time to start our day.

The Lil Lobster Roll was still sleeping as I had just fed her the hour prior, so I got Gobbles all settled watching Barney and eating Cheerios before going to take care of his sister. We had a low key morning in front of the TV as I finished up some chores. Gobbles decided to make nice with the Lobstah by reading the letters on her shirt to her and telling her not to cry during tummy time. He's getting to be so good with her.

When she went down for a nap we decided to dye Easter Eggs. (I had quickly hard boiled some during breakfast so they'd be ready to dye by midmorning). Besides trying to drink the vinegar, Gobbles did great. He carefully selected each egg to be a particular color, then helped roll them around in the cup to get the color to stain. After we set them to dry, he got a little impatient and began picking them up, running the dye all over. Nonetheless, we had a blast. After they dried he put a few stickers on but quickly got bored with that - he'd much rather pepper someone's shirt with stickers than an egg! Later that day as we walked through the kitchen, the dyes were still sitting in their cups. Ooohhh Mommy - look at the pretttty colors! haha.

I managed to give Gobbles lunch while his sister was sleeping too, and even gave in to his request for extra Wheat Thins - his favorite snack! We had a very sarcastic conversation about where things are...
- Gobbles: Mommy, where'd Daddy go?
- Me: I don't know? Is he under the table?
- Gobbles: Noooooo
- Me: Is he hiding behind Spoonsie Bear?
- Gobbles: Noooo... he's at work! Crunchin the numbers!
- Mommy, where'd the wheat thins go?
- I don't know Gobbles, where are the what thins?
- They're in my Belly!!!
This conversation went on and on about the dogs, the baby, and back to Daddy again. I love the way he cracks himself up!

Gobbles then had a successful nap...too bad I couldn't time them to nap together... during his nap the Lobastah was mostly up, eating and chatting away with me - lots of coos and giggles! When he woke up Cannoli ran to the door aching to get in, so I decided to send him and watch the fun from the monitor. I only wish I recorded it. Oh look - it's cohlie! Hi Cohlie! - Cannoli proceeded to lick him up and down - Ahh Cohlie you give me kisses! hahaha! - Then Cannoli jumped off the bed and started sniffing around the room - Cohlie where'd you go? Cohlie what are you doing down there? Get out of there!! (sounds like he's been listening to us yell at the dogs too much!).

After the nap we got ready to go to the playground. This involved taking the dogs out for potty first and I always check with Gobbles when I'm doing a chore - do you want to come with mommy or stay on the couch? He wanted to stay on the couch with his snack, so I carried the fussy baby out, leashed up the dogs, and went out into the yard. All of the sudden I hear Mommy, come back inside! I turn around to see Gobbles standing in the driveway with his snack bowl still in hand. Sometimes I forget that he's so old he can open doors and go in and out of the house as he pleases. Oh my big boy.

Anyway, we made it to the park and again Gobbles amazed me with just how big he's become. Still not a fan of the swings, he didn't really spend too much time at his usual spinning wheel or even on the slide. All he wanted to do was run and climb. The monkey bars are all of the sudden a favorite, but he doesn't have the strength to swing across yet. This gave me a workout because I was already holding the baby in the sling strapped to my chest, so in order to help Gobbles across the bars I had to reach out and use just arms to lift him. Who needs post baby workouts when you're lifting two kids at a time? Gobbles loved it though, and only took a break for a second to run under the play set and show some 7 year old girls how good he is at rolling. A little ladies' man apparently.

Dirty and exhausted, we left the park just as hubs was getting home and Gobbles had dinner (he did NOT like the egg salad I made from some of the dyed eggs. or fart salad as his dad calls it). After the kids were both in bed I had a couple bites of the egg salad then used the rest of my weight watchers points to have two beers (10 points!). I reiterated to my husband as we unwound that though I had a ton of fun on our unexpected day of activities, I was beat and could never be a stay at home mom full time. BRAVO to those of you that do it, because it takes more patience, stamina, and heart to do it day in and day out.

So... 9 hours' worth of cell phone pics: