Easter

It's been a rough few days since all three kids are sick. Nyla started on Tuesday. Bohdin became sick Wednesday morning and Cora joined in last night. It's just a cold and it seems that Bohdin had it the worst. He really looked sick yesterday. He had so much mucus he was throwing it up. He's much better today and we may go to soccer practice. It's a difficult one to skip since it is the last one of the session.

This April has been the rainiest April in history here. According to the paper 13.5 inches has fallen but that number seems way too low. It has been raining for about 10 days. Today may be the first day without rain since sometime before Thunder. An outside Easter egg hunt in the rain didn't seem very appealing especially with the super saturated ground. The Easter bunny had to hide the eggs inside in the basement. It was a last minute decision by the Easter bunny. The kids enjoyed it but it was harder since there were less boundaries. Maybe the Easter bunny hid some upstairs or way over there? Since the kids had been hiding eggs themselves prior to Sunday there actually were eggs scattered around that were found throughout the day. Bohdin was super excited about the tepee and Native American family. Nyla's excitement is more photogenic so her picture is here instead. They didn't receive any candy but did get the two leftover orange creme sodas from Christmas. Nyla said the Easter bunny is getting her a soda for her birthday. I'm going to try to make that happen.

Wildlife

Cora is a huge fan of windows. If the ground wasn't super saturated with rain I would let her explore outside. Our backyard is really soggy right now with the many inches of rain we've had recently. Somebody said we had four inches of rain last night. That's on top of the rain we had yesterday and earlier in the week.

I really dislike Bohdin and Nyla waking up Cora from her nap. Bohdin almost never does this but Nyla does on occasion. I was really mad at Bohdin earlier in the week for waking her up and I think that finally made Nyla realize she shouldn't do it. Cora was sleeping on Thursday and Nyla came up quietly. Cora had woken up a few minutes prior so I told Nyla to come in. Bohdin had sent her up asking for help. We were out of toilet paper downstairs. We headed to the basement and as we went into the main floor Nyla nonchalantly tells me there is a bird in the house. There truly is a bird in the house and it is frantically trying to get out of the dining room window which is closed. After helping Bohdin quickly I came back upstairs to get the bird out. Nyla and I opened the front and back door and I was going to shoo the bird out but Nyla somehow did it quickly and easily. After the bird flew out the door Nyla went out to the front step and waved. "Goodbye bird! Thanks for visiting!", she called after it. I have no idea how the bird got into the house.

Last night Buddy saw a deer in the yard. By the time I came out with the camera it had moved back toward the fence. I also saw two more deer in the neighbor's yard. I hope it wasn't scouting out yummy stuff to eat.





The electrical inspector came by yesterday and passed Buddy's electrical work. He is excited, proud, and relieved. Another phase of the work is complete. The framing inspector has to come by before we can insulate and get the drywall guy in. I was hoping we would have the floors in by Derby but we may be lucky to have the walls up. Cora loves crawling into that space. The sooner it is finished the better for all of us.

Standing

Cora is standing unassisted now. Several times per day she'll let go and stand for a few seconds without holding on.

Bohdin and Nyla have been so excited about decorating eggs that I caved and let them do a few. I think almost all of them are broken by now. It spreads out the fun this way and cheap eggs are pretty cheap. They have done numerous egg hunts the past few days.  The day I took this picture we had a high in the 80s.  The house felt really hot.  Nyla is wearing three shirts and two pairs of pants.  She looked so overheated that I was eventually able to talk her out of some of the clothes.  Yesterday it had cooled down considerably.  Nyla asked me if it was going to be hot or cold which she normally does.  When I said cool she decided to wear a short sleeve shirt and shorts.




We stopped at the toy store yesterday so I could get something for their Easter baskets. Since I'm a sucker I also allowed them to choose one small thing each. Bohdin chose African warriors and Nyla chose a little girl with an inflatable pool toy. She calls her swimming girl. Her kid was excited to come home and meet Square, Crane, and Dancing Princess. Bohdin came up with the name Crane. He said what else would you name a boy from China who now lives in Egypt.

Egg Hunt

There was an Easter thing for kids on post Sunday. We arrived about two minutes too late for Nyla to go with her age group. I was parking the car while Buddy and Nyla rushed to the egg hunt. Buddy described it as a locusts descending on a field. Forty five minutes later when it was time for Bohdin to do his egg hunt I was able to see the locusts. There were over 250 kids in Bohdin's age group that were all released into a small field covered with 5000 eggs. It was crazy. Within 3 minutes that field had been picked almost clean. Buddy and Nyla went behind to find any that were missed. Bohdin and Nyla found more eggs than I expected. It was filled with cheap gross candy.

We didn't stay too long because I wanted to head to the commissary before it closed and I knew Cora needed a nap. The kids had some fun on inflatable things and did a mini golf course. Bohdin said that was his favorite part. The picture below shows Nyla dancing in excitement to celebrate getting the ball in the hole.

The kids gorged themselves on the candy yesterday. They were whiny emotional messes. The Easter Bunny is not bringing any candy to our house this year. I'm keeping the little candy I already bought for some other time.

Bohdin is in the orange shirt.

Thunder

Thunder Over Louisville was yesterday and the weather was not cooperative. It was the coldest day of the month with highs in the 40s and scattered showers. Buddy didn't think it was worth going and neither did hundreds of thousands of other people. Bohdin remembers last year's show and did want to go. Buddy reluctantly joined us. We had to walk quite a way from our parking spot to our viewing spot but we had a pretty good viewing spot without having to be there hours prior. The fireworks were great as usual with a really booming ending. The drive home was easy with hardly any traffic. It was definitely worth it.

Presentation

I asked Bohdin earlier in the week if he wanted to give a presentation on Friday. He agreed so we went forward. The theme was Earth Day so I had Bohdin do a presentation about growing strawberries and hand out strawberry plants to everybody. He prepared a nice report and he did an excellent rendition for Buddy. We all went Friday morning to hear Bohdin give his presentation. Bohdin was going to go third but needed a bit more time. He went fourth instead. This was a very difficult thing for him to do and considering that he did great. Judging it purely as a presentation it was pretty bad. I thought Bohdin was going to have a panic attack. He tried super hard and this was one of the hardest things he has ever done in his life. We're very proud of him. It's a very supportive group so they asked questions and told him he did great. When we walked out Bohdin said it "was a BIG success". I didn't get any pictures since I was standing next to him prodding him to continue. When we were thinning peas Nyla pulled one aside to take to the presentation so she could do her own. On Friday we could not locate it so Nyla grabbed one of the bags on strawberry plants. She was insistent that she do her own presentation. We had nothing prepared but she didn't care. At the end I let her get up there. I couldn't hear very well what she said since I was sitting on the side and almost behind her at that point. People were polite and listened and asked questions. She wants to do it again next month. I think we own pillows so the kids can make giant structures. The other day they threw every blanket and pillow down the stairs onto the landing. It was almost as tall as Nyla. It couldn't stay since it was much too difficult to navigate the stairs. Bohdin was picking his nose in the car and Nyla saw him. She told him to stop picking his nose. Bohdin said she was starting to sound like mommy. At Costco we picked up a new sandbox. The turtle one we currently have is small and doesn't have drainage holes. I think it is something the kids will really enjoy. Buddy has long dreamed of terracing parts of the back yard. Last night he went to work digging it out. I helped a little but Cora started to complain. Bohdin was in charge of the rocks although he complained about it a lot. Nyla was the worm rescuer. Whenever we found a worm she would pick it up and put it in the garden. Bohdin likes to make Cora stand on her head. I'm not a fan of it. Cora tolerates it.

Logic

Bohdin and Nyla woke up in a terrible mood yesterday.  Nyla cried for about an hour.  Bohdin was fine until it was time to get dressed for the library.  He started crying so we just skipped it for the third week in a row.  Today they are in a much better mood.  Before breakfast they did art and now they are building a huge pillow thing.  I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it resembles a giant pillow mess leading down the stairs.

Nyla was thirsty before bed and wanted somebody to hand her the cup of water instead of getting it herself.  She said she couldn't because there were mice on the floor that scared her.  I suggested she ask the mice for help.  When Nyla couldn't do that because the mice had disappeared I pointed out that now she could get the water herself.  The mice reappeared and she could no longer do it.  I told her once again to ask the mice for help.  Again they conveniently disappeared.  I think we could have gone back and forth for ages.  One will never win an argument with Nyla using logic.  She is ruled more by her emotions.

Nyla wants tokens to record tv shows also.  Bohdin will never choose to record Dora for himself.  My preliminary idea was to set up a reward system for her.  I've been having trouble getting her to do things like put her clean clothes away and clean up after herself.  Taking things away has zero effect on her but I think rewarding her with tokens or something to that effect could be a good solution for her.  I don't know how tricky it will be to have two different systems for two very different children.  I explained to Bohdin that I was dealing with Nyla in this way because she is a Nyla and not a Bohdin.  He didn't seem quite convinced but I know if I explained how his system is better he would be fine.  Logic does work on Bohdin.

George

Curious George was at the zoo yesterday so once the torrential downpour ended we went. Nyla wasn't as excited to see George as I thought. She has liked every other character meet better even though she likes Curious George the most. The guy in the suit was not very interactive so that may have had something to with it. It didn't take long to get a picture so we showed our George some of the animals at the zoo. The earlier rain had caused stifling humidity so we didn't stay long. Bohdin was more interested in the plants. We came home with a piece of bamboo, lilac flower, a large branch, and several leaves. They are forgotten in the trunk.

We've been scouring Craigslist for weeks in search of a new table. Our table is too small and doesn't have chairs. Since the baby chair attaches to a regular chair, Cora couldn't join us for meals until we found one. I found one I liked that was the right size for the space and we picked it up Thursday night. Cora liked joining us for meals on Friday but not as much on Saturday. She skipped breakfast and lunch but had blueberries for dinner. It was her first time eating blueberries.

Tuesday night Bohdin and Nyla were in the basement watching a video. Nyla came up with chocolate peanut butter all over her feet. I put her in the bathtub and went to the basement to see what happened. There was chocolate peanut butter all over the floor. Nyla did not have a good reason for doing it beyond just wanting to. I was so mad. Bohdin and Nyla were both crying after I talked to them that night and again the next morning when I made them clean the basement. They have not put so much as a crumb in the basement since. It better stay that way.

Weaning Nyla was way easier than I expected.  She put up some token resistance a few times but I could tell she wasn't putting her heart into the effort.  Once she told me that she wasn't ready for a bike yet and that I hadn't listened to her despite her telling me four times.  She hasn't brought it up in a few days.  I'm enjoying the extra time in the morning.  

Castle

Cora likes to crawl into Bohdin's room which is next door to our bedroom. Bohdin and Nyla followed her in there yesterday and turned on the radio. Bohdin picked her up and made her dance around the room. When they were dancing they went downstairs to build an elaborate pillow castle. Nyla had her pink castle and Bohdin built a castle with cushions and a sheet. It started on the left and wrapped all the way around the back of the couch to Nyla's castle. He was Archer Prince Bohdin and carried his collection of magic arrows (straws) in his pocket. I don't know the entire story. I know Cora was the gardener and I was the cook/queen. All of the fruit made its way into the castle. Soon colored construction paper was scattered across the floor because it was also fruit. Bohdin could not bear to take the castle apart last night. They played in there for a few minutes this morning but I think they are about done with it.

New Bike

Nyla waited about 36 hours for a new bike which was the equivalent of around seven months in Nyla time. She was so excited and impatient. There were a few times when she wanted to back out of the deal but I held strong for her. She and I went early this morning to pick up the bike. At first I thought we would have to order it but a ToysRUs across town had one in stock. Lucky Nyla. She's been using the tricycle and knows how to pedal it okay. I warned her that it would take practice to get good at her bike. Buddy put it together and took her out for her first spin while I put Cora to sleep. She wanted to ride again later with George and I was with her that time. Bohdin joined her on his bike both times.
It finally warmed up again after several days of cooler temps. An order of fruit and berry bushes arrived Wednesday and Bohdin helped me plant the last two things today. Someday somebody will have a wide selection of uncommon fruit in their backyard. Today we planted two gooseberry bushes. I have grand plans to build a cool sandbox for the kids but until that happens I refilled the turtle with two bags of sand. Both kids had a lot of fun playing in it today. Nyla was outside when I was taking this picture but I had her scoot over since she was naked. When we were planting some trees last night Nyla wanted to come outside as well. She clearly needed to pee badly. As she was down on her knees willing the pee to stay in I told her she should run upstairs and pee quickly. She refused of course and said "Come on pee. Let's go see our wormy friends." It wasn't long before she couldn't hold out any longer. After peeing she decided to change clothes. Buddy asked her why she was changing. Nyla responded "I can't wear the same clothes all day long" as if Buddy had just asked the dumbest question ever.