Go See Your Mom

Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo. As we were heading to the polar bear plunge, we all stopped at one of the restrooms. DominicsMom and I decided that we would all go in and that I would take Dominic and she would take Jocelyn. So I put Joss down (who immediately put her arms back up into the air and started whining for me. I heard her whining the whole way into the restroom.)

I took Dominic in to the restroom with me and led him to a kid's height urinal. I've been working on Dominic not dropping his trousers all the way to the floor and this time he did not, so I stepped away to do my business.

Dominic finished before me and I asked him, "Are you all done?"

"Yes! I'm all done."

"Good. Did you touch anything?"

Dominic replied with a smile, "No, but it splashed all over me!"

With that, I though to myself, 'Great kid. Go wash your hands. No, no hugs are necessary. If you get tired, ask your Mom to pick you up...'



DominicsDad

Little Sneak 2

Jocelyn has taken to leaving her bed almost every evening. It used to be that Dominic would crawl into bed with us a few times a week, but the rest of the time we had the bed to ourselves and I could stretch out. Now, I almost always wake up with at least one kid in the bed. Sometimes they walk over under their own power, sometimes Dominic will yell, "Moooommmee! Can I come sleep with you?" For some strange reason DominicsMom always answers "Yes."

Sometimes Joss will start crying, but when we go in to her room to calm her down and put her back to bed, she will say "Wan t' sleep wit' you Daddy." What can I do at that point? If I say no, she starts to cry again (not that I could ever really deny here anyways...) On other nights she will walk in herself and crawl into bed.

Many times both kids are in the bed (thankfully they prefer to crawl over DominicsMom on their way in as she sleeps closer to the bedroom door) when I wake up. Even a queen-sized mattress gets small with four people in it. Yes, two are only the size of a small hobbit, but they manage to take up a lot of space when they sprawl out or lay crosswise in the bed. More than once I've waken up in the middle of the night with someone's foot in my back. On a rare occasion I've had to pick up an unconscious kid and drop them back in their own bed in an effort to get some sleep. That can be somewhat hazardous as they will sometimes wake up immediately, or worse, after I've crawled back into bed, and demand to come back to our bed. So another trip to get them and a bit more sleep post-poned...

Tonight both kids went down without too much of a fuss. DominicsMom and I were sitting in bed reading for a moment when we heard a door open. I walked to our door to see who it was, but the sound of a door closing meant that I missed our nocturnal sneak. Both kids doors were closed, but almost immediately I could hear voices coming from Dominic's room. I tiptoed closer to listen. I heard Dominic help Joss into the bed and then Joss telling Dominic what sheet she was going to use. Finally I heard Dominic say, "Joss lets snuggle up together..."

Cuties! At that point I went in and gave them both a quick kiss.

DominicsDad

Back in the Old Days

Lately, when Dominic talks about something he did, but doesn't particularly remember doing or exactly how long ago it happened, he prefaces it with a, "Long ago, when I was three, I did" this. It cracks us up to hear him tell a story that way when he talks to someone.

Today we went to the San Diego Zoo and while we were driving through Balboa Park, Dominic pointed at the Natural History Museum and piped up, "Look, we've been there before! When I was three!" Ok buddy, we were there about six months ago to see their dinosaur exhibit.

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids at the zoo:

DominicsDad