Almost half-way through May? How is that even possible?

Sunday:

When the weather is this nice, it’s hard NOT to go to church – we can almost see it from our yard.

Carrying 40 lbs on my back definitely counts as a workout.

Explaining to Daddy that quesadillas are the best.

Monday:

READY TO GO

Hats

Spring cleaning my favorite room of the house

Tuesday:

Good morning!

I think this sign is in the wrong place.

Thinking about running away, as usual

Wednesday:

CANONBALL!

Good listener waits his turn

Sleepy girl

Thursday:

Rain isn’t so bad when your raincoat is this cute

He already thinks balls are hilarious

Cheeseburgers are always the right answer.

  Friday:

I don’t even know what this thing is.

Caroline’s definition of “playdate” is “push me on the swing for two hours”.

This does not seem fair.

Saturday:

Caroline has joined a penguin colony

I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!

And then I died of cuteness.

It’s been pouring since about noon and I have a serious case of the “I don’t really want to do anything”s. Luckily tomorrow is Sunday and I can tackle the laundry, dishes, piles of toys AND get my plants in the ground. Probably.

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Today is another installment on my recent theme: parenting gets easier and you’re a good mom. YES your kid will eventually eat a vegetable. YES he will survive even on Goldfish and cheese slices. YES your kid will probably be fine even if he hates bottles and you can’t ever leave him for more than 2 hours at a time and you feel like you’ll be breastfeeding until he’s 12.

Evan had his four year well-child visit on Tuesday. The visit itself was kind of awful, with two children sobbing about their shots (despite the fact that only one child even GOT shots) but the information from the visit was great. Evan is 40.5 pounds and 41 inches tall, which puts him just below the 75th percentile and right on the curve he’s been on since his 2-year check up. They also calculated his BMI at 16, which a) does a 4 year old really need to know their BMI? and b) obviously doesn’t mean the same thing for a kid, since 16 falls in the “significantly underweight” category for adults and my kid is clearly not underweight. He’s as healthy as can be and impressed the pediatrician by saying his favorite food was apples. SO MANY APPLES.

It was a good check-up. As the doctor asked her questions I felt an overwhelming sense of “I got this. ” Despite the fact that it’s been almost three years since Evan fell of the growth curve I used to still get nervous when they pulled out the charts. Finally I feel like I can own our choices and our mistakes – when the doctor asked if I thought Evan’s speech was a little unclear I said it was probably because we relied on a sippy cup for too long but we had already switched to straws and I wasn’t worried. Then the doctor started asking ME for advice, since she has a 2 year old she’s struggling to get off sippy cups because he has been so reluctant to give up bottles and they finally found a sippy he liked and she doesn’t want him to stop drinking milk and she wasn’t sure what to do and did I like the take’n'toss cups as an alternative? (Yes.)

There’s nothing like seeing your pediatrician as just another mom struggling against the whim and will of a toddler to make you realize we’re all just doing the best we can as parents and things will be OK.  Of course, telling you things will be OK is not going to make you believe they will be OK, but try to  hold that knowledge deep inside. If you think there is something wrong, there might be something wrong and getting it checked out is the right choice. Always. But don’t feel guilty over every less-than-ideal-nutrition bite that crosses your kid’s lips. I wish I could go back and hug my previous self who thought she was doing everything wrong when it came to feeding my kid and show her 4 year old, 75th percentile Evan. He’s doing great, which means I am too.

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The gingers and I had an impromptu lunch at Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream. Highly recommend. Apologies for the photo overload.

The kids are cute but the sandwich menu is the real star of this photo.

Lemon chocolate kiss is my go-to.

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We did a lot of stuff this week. There was also a lot of falling asleep on the couch, in the car, on the floor, sitting up, etc. And right now both kids are about to fall asleep next to me while I try to beat level 79 in Candy Crush. It’s NEVER going to happen.

Sunday:

I’m addicted to Bagel Thins.

Family dinner date to Johnny Rockets

She liked this game WAY TOO MUCH. I’m terrified of her teenage years.

Monday:

Caroline’s idea of a good morning: lying on my bedroom floor eating graham crackers.

Watermelon serving size: half for breakfast, half for lunch.

Karate Kid VII: Attack of the Ginger Babies

Tuesday:

My dentist is cooler than your dentist.

Swigin’ by the Sea

They’re very into boats, even indoor boats.

Wednesday:

Who are these quiet, well behaved children playing during my preschool teacher conference?

Fancy new gym is FANCY!

Lookin’ good, Nature.

Thursday:

Good morning, this is your pilot waking you up…

Not the least big scared of the huge, be-horned cow.

Picnic dinner at the playground

Friday:

He’s covering his ears so he won’t be scared by the Surprise Symphony.

Stroller Strides. Hat.

Much much MUCH needed solo evening walk.

Saturday:

When did bookstores start selling SO MANY TOYS?

Enjoy it at someone else’s house, kid, since I am NEVER buying you a drum set.

Future jockey in training

  I wrote that whole post and used up all my lives in Candy Crush and Caroline is STILL asleep. But E is also home from work so we’re going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some maybe-not-exactly-authentic burritos at Moe’s. Any excuse to eat guacamole is a good one. Happy Weekend!

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SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Sunday:

E models the latest in fashion: a ginger-shaped hat

BOOM! MOE’S!

Bubble rocket launcher in action

Monday:

He gets an A+ in relaxing

Special Monday treats: shopping alone, Sbux, and driving the new car

I don’t feel the need to explain my art to you

Tuesday:

I make the EXACT same face when anyone tries to wake me up in the morning

Yarn store visiting

Monkey see, monkey do

Wednesday:

Inside fishes first!

Bacon, tomato, caramelized onions, blue cheese, mozzarella on sourdough

Peek a boo at the Seaport

Thursday:

Hat

These cookies are full of LIES (and regular sandwich cookie cream, not taffy)

This one’s for sale and only 2 blocks away. Be my neighbor!!

Friday:

The queen on her throne

Feeding ducks

I have no idea what this is

Saturday:

Trendsetter

Bluff Point

Rainbow sprinkles = MIND BLOWN

Our spring-like weather looks like it’s here to stay but since this is New England I’m not taking anything for granted. We’ll be repeating this week with extra locations (zoo, beach, etc etc etc) thrown in for the next two months. More baths + later bedtimes are going to cut into my blog-writing time, but I’m OK with that. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to remember we can live our lives even if I don’t write about every second of it online.

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