Big Boy Bed, Claire's First Time Babysitting, and Gone Fishin'

Dear Friends and Family,

So this week, Will decided that he was ready to sleep in a big boy bed!  We had been talking about the eventual switch from his crib to the big queen bed we have in the room, and one night I said, "Will, do you want to sleep in your crib or in this big bed with all the pillows?"  Will said, "Pillows!" and he hasn't looked back since!

Will is doing some research on sleeping in a big bed. Thanks for sharing your experience, Elmo!

(Now if only Ernie could convince Will to try the potty! We have a Sesame Street book on that too, and Will can recite it by heart, but he is still adamantly against using the potty.)

On Friday, Chris had the day off to get ready for a work trip so I convinced him to join us for a trip to the park and a picnic lunch!  The kids had so much fun sharing a weekday outing with their dad! We went to Watkins park (the one with the amazing Wizard of Oz playground).  This time we explored the other side of the park and discovered a carousel, a train, putt-putt golf, and a farm!

Lunch time!

Checking in on the bunnies.

Chickens!  Will talks with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDwD_l819KM

Look, a peacock!

This guy had so much fun on the Carousel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2j6MpP2oSQ

Later that day, Claire was asking Chris what he looked like when he was little. I got out Chris' baby pictures. The first picture was this one:

I asked Claire where daddy was in the picture and she pointed right to her poppy!

Then as we looked through more pictures she saw this picture of Aunt Sandy and said, "Look, it's Kate!"

Finally, as we were looking at these adorable baby pictures of Chris, I started to realize that my little Will, who I had thought looked so much like me, was actually a clone of Chris, minus the red hair!

Even the same curve to the ears! Cuties!

Speaking of babies, on Saturday we got to babysit for our friends Todd and Kristen!  They were going to a wedding in Annapolis. Claire was over the moon excited to babysit. She read stories to baby Lucy, she carefully held baby Lucy, she gave her kisses and showed her all of her princess toys.

We were all impressed with Lucy at tummy time!

Reading books!

There's nothing like snuggling a baby!

Will even got in on the kisses!

On Sunday, my mom and step-father, Ralph, came to see us! We took them to a fun dinner at Old Stein Inn. (Seriously, any excuse is a good excuse to eat there!)

Happily holding hands with Papa Ralph! (After he chased them around the house before heading out to dinner, he forever won their hearts!)

Will says, "Cheese!"

On Monday, Mom and Ralph were back over for more fun.  They bought the kids fishing rods and took them fishing down at our neighborhood pier!

Walking to the pier!

Looking for a good place to drop a line.

So...a few weeks back, Claire, Will and I headed to the beach for our evening walk. However, on this occasion, the tide was coming in so the sandy waterfront was gradually being replaced by surf. Claire and I both kicked off our flip flops at the beach entrance as we normally do, however since I was in front of Claire, I didn't double check to make sure she parked her flip flops in the grassy (tide safe) area.  When we prepared to leave, poor Claire was distraught to realize that the tide had taken away her shoes.  She begged me to search the beach with her in hopes that they just moved down shore, but after a quick search, we decided they were gone.

On our walk home, Claire was still upset about her missing flip flops and begged me to please go back after bedtime with snorkel gear to find them.  I decided to come up with some stories that might ease her separation from the flip flops, so I said, "Claire, maybe the flip flops will wash up on a tropical island and a little girl who has no shoes will find them and look to the sky and say, Thank you God, for delivering me these beautiful shoes! Now my feet wont hurt when I run around town with my mom and play." Claire thought about the idea for a minute and then said, "But mom, I don't want her to have my flip flops! I want my flip flops!"

So then I said, "Maybe, a mermaid swam up and took your flip flops when you weren't looking because sometimes her father, king Triton, gives her legs to walk around and she needs shoes when she walks around." Claire thought about this idea and then said, "I don't want the mermaids to have my flip flops either!"

With that, I gave up on the storytelling and promised Claire I would go back to the beach to look for them after bedtime.

The next morning, Claire wakes up and says, "Mom, did you go out to find my flip flops last night?!"  I said, "Yes, I did!  And I heard a mermaid singing!" Claire said, "You did?! Did you talk to her?"  I said, " Yes, I asked her if she found your flip flops and she said, 'Yes, I did!' then I asked if she would give them back and she said, 'Nope!'"

Claire was very disappointed and declared that to be the meanest mermaid ever!  She said, "Why wouldn't she give them back?!"  I said, "Well, do you remember how Ariel liked to collect all of those human things?" Claire said, "Yes."  And I said, "Well, it turns out this one likes to collect human stuff too and she didn't want to part with them."  Claire just scrunched up her face and said, "If I ever see that mermaid, I'm going to tell her to give them back!"

So...as we were fishing on the pier, we managed to pollute the bay yet again, but this time with not one but two fishing rods!!!  Claire was the first to cast her whole rod into the bay. The result was copious tears followed by a plea for me to snorkel again. And then she borrowed Will's and accidentally threw his in too. (She was way more upset about losing hers than she was about tossing poor Will's.)

At bedtime she asked me if I could swim out there and get the fishing rods back.  I told her I couldn't, 1. because there are lots of jellyfish in the water and I would get all kinds of stings, 2. because the water is too murky for me to see that deep, and 3. because the mermaid who got her flip flops probably already has them in her secret cavern.   I then launched into the song, Part of Your World, from the Little Mermaid when Ariel sings about having, "gadgets and gizmos a plenty," and "who's its and what's its galore. You want thing-a-ma-bobs? I've got 20! But who cares? No big deal. I want more!" Of course I substituted the words for the gadgets and gizmos, etc. to be all the things we have lost to the water. Claire sadly chimed in and sang the rest of the song with me as if the lyrics somehow gave her closure to the situation and an endless hatred for mermaids.

I hope everyone else is having an a great week!
Love,
Bethie