At the Zoo with Tony and Alyssa

Tony and Alyssa came to visit the Salvateenies today.  I suggested they come over at 2, by which time they are generally awake and lunching.  Today, though, I actually had to wake them up at 2:40, three hours into a very successful nap.  They sat down to a lunch of fish sticks and popcorn shrimp with watermelon.  Alyssa works with toddlers in a pre-school, so she was a big help talking them through the new food and was not nearly as distressed by Daniel's decision to dunk his watermelon in the cocktail sauce as Tony was.

Tony is not a baby person.  He's not anti-baby at all, more just a bit at loose ends what to do with them.  Well, that and he doesn't like to get his hands dirty (literally).

We decided to go to the zoo to check out the "family farm" and the playground, and Alyssa helped with diapers and dressing.  Tony offered to put one of Max's shoes on.

He made a valiant effort, but Alyssa had to take over in the end.

When we got to the zoo, it was already 4pm, so we only had an hour.  We made a "B" line for the petting zoo and let them loose to run around in it for the first time ever.  Caroline loved feeding the goat, while Max preferred to pet her.  Daniel thought it was most fun to run full speed toward the duck pond and terrify me.

On the other side of the "farm", they have little toy tractors for the kids to play on.

Max didn't feel like playing on the tractors, so he hung out with Tony.  Neither of them looked too uncomfortable.

By the time we left the petting zoo, there was only a half hour left before closing, so we eschewed the rest of the animals and went to the playground.  There isn't a ton for kids their size/age to play on, but the zoo playground has SIX BABY SWINGS, compared to most parks that have only two or three, so we spent a lot of time swinging.  There was also a slide that everyone took a try on.  Caroline even climbed up the slide!

And the climbing, of course, did not end when we got home.

This may just make getting out of the van a little bit less of an ordeal.  At the very least, it should mean I don't have to call and beg family members to meet me at the house to unload babies.

In other news this week, Daniel had another fit modeling job for Gymboree.  This one involved arranging babysitters (Uncle Kelly) and driving half an hour downtown for a five minute job - they had just one Halloween costume for him to try on:

This picture is so cute I may have to abandon the other ideas I had for costumes this year.  Plus, Daniel seems to like it!

Max was not to be outdone in the costume department, incorporating an Easter basket into his new "look".

Which meant that Caroline had to go looking for something to put on.

I don't know if she found a costume or not.  I was too busy laughing.

There Is No Point Trying to Child Proof

As you may recall, Caroline is a mountain goat.  She has climbed on so many things that we actually bought her a slide to climb on.  Here she is preparing for her Olympic slide routine:

Her brothers were a less-than-amazed audience:

But the newness of the slide wore off quickly and there were new surfaces to master.  While Uncle Kelly was babysitting, she decided to try to get up close and personal with the tv by climbing on the bead run.

When her uncle explained that was not an acceptable path to take, she decided to master the baby jail.  See how she gets her toes in the little opening to give her leverage?

Success!!

But the grass is always greener on the side of the fence, and the surface is more attractive outside the baby jail.

It's amazing the way she calculates what she needs to do to get where she wants to go.  She is relentless.

After being told it was not ok to climb from the baby jail onto the media stand, she looked for another path.  The bead run had been moved away, so she had to improvise.

Yes, even with Mr. Potato Head's arm in her hand, she manages enough upper body strength to drag her little bod up onto the top, only to be carried immediately back down to the floor.  I swear we need to get this girl a rock wall.

Luckily, at Grandma and Grandpa's today she indulged some of her calmer pastimes, like checking out old photo albums.  She just loves looking at babies - even when that baby is her brother!

EEG is a No-Go

In mid-February, Max had a scary seizure that involved a 911 call and an ambulance ride to the ER.  About a month ago, he had another, much milder episode and our pediatrician thought it might be a good idea to check things out and make sure there's nothing serious going on.  So we scheduled an EEG for May 2nd at 9am.  We were told we had to get Max up at 4 in the morning to be sure he was sufficiently "sleep deprived" to make the appointment work - they need readings while he's "awake", "drowsy", and "asleep", and apparently the moment between awake and asleep is the most important. 

So I set a 4am alarm and snuck into the room to steal him out of his crib without waking the others.  Then we went to the living room to play and watch tv until it was time to go at 8.  Then we bundled into the car and down to the hospital.  Max seemed to do fine until we got off the elevator.  He fussed a bit, and then, just as we walked into the sleep study lab, he let loose wailing and wouldn't stop.  The technician tried to cover his head in electrodes, but he was having none of it, writhing around and ripping them out.  Even with both Mommy and Daddy holding him down, he managed to fight off the tech, who said he hadn't been "beaten" by a kid in a long time.  

We took him outside and calmed him down and the tech suggested that we just not put him through it that day.  And so we packed him back up and went home with nothing to show for it but red, splotchy baby cheeks and goopy hair filled with electrode-conducting jelly.

Here's Caroline's latest no-no.  We really need a rock wall for that child.  Or maybe a helmet.

This is how Daniel eats Cheerios - by the "handful".

Mountain Goats and Daisies

I'm sure there's tons to write about, but right now I just want to share some photos.   Saturday, after everyone spent the morning with Auntie Lee Ann babysitting, we went back out to the playground.  When I got home, I realized I'd taken a bunch of photos of Max, who was engrossed in picking daisies, but Daniel was almost non-existent in the pictures, even though he was running all over the place exploring the playground and grass.

Maybe Auntie has some pictures of him we can share.

Max still hasn't gotten a hair cut!

Caroline tried out the "big kids" swing

Max finds his first clump of daisies

Practicing to be a "flower boy" in an upcoming wedding?

It looks like Daniel's preparing to pounce on his brother, doesn't it?

Ooh! Lots of daisies!

Leading the way for Auntie

Because Max and Caroline did so well on the stairs at the park, we actually let them climb up the stairs when we got back to the house.  Max and Daniel bumped into each other a few times, but eventually made it up.  Caroline, of course, scaled them with ease.  

This should come as no surprise, since climbing is her new favorite pastime:

In an effort to keep her off the chairs (and tables and bookcases), we bought Caroline this slide.  

In no time she'd learned how to climb to the top (using the slide side OR the ladder) and perch on top like she's sitting on a throne.  When she slides down, she waits until she thumps to a halt at the bottom, then looks up, smiles, and announces, "Wheeee!"

Addendum:

Here are some photos Auntie Lee Ann took at the playground to prove Daniel really was there:

Everyone playing in the sandbox and making friends

Daniel showing off a stick he found

I didn't realize before that Caroline has a "cropped" denim jacket

We really should figure out what to do with that hair