much ado about nothing

We've been busy this week but no one particular activity seemed like an interesting blog entry. I mean, not compared to the suspenseful and stunning cliff hanger/nail biters I usually write. So this is an entry about nothing particularly entry-worthy.

At a park this week the girls were having a fine time climbing on this and that. There was an obvious transportation theme at this place, with trains and firetrucks and even a huge airplane to explore.


So at the airplane a cute, friendly little boy (about 3) started talking and playing with the girls and when we left that area to move on he went with us. So I started looking for his parent but no one around seemed to be paying attention to him, no one was without another child they were obviously watching.

So...strange...hmmm...on we went. I asked the boy where his mom or dad is and he said, "They're at work."
"Did a grown-up bring you here today?"
"No."
"Is a grown-up here with you?"
"No. They're at work."
Looking, and looking as the kids played, and still no one I could identify as being with this boy. I wondered how long I should wait until I really become concerned. Not yet I figured. What were my options? Maybe John won't notice one more kid at home. After about 20 minutes, and with my cell phone in hand, a man walked up, chatting into a wireless headset. "Joseph!" And snapped his fingers. "Let's go!"

Later in the week we visited another park with some water fountains. Turns out Kate and Allison weren't very interested in running through the fountains that day, but they were engrossed by using them to fill buckets which they then carried over to the lawn to water. Over and over again.

A minor milestone this week: I got rid of Kate and Allison's high chairs and they joined the rest of the very semi-civilized at the kitchen table. Erin was out of a high chair long before this age but I guess I've just been lazy. Or maybe I was waiting for the twins to get past the stage where they make "puppets" with their food.



It was just easy to keep using them and we always had the bonus option of turning the chairs back to back when they wouldn't stop annoying each other. And having your sisters within kicking range at the table didn't sound like such a good move, really. So why rush it. But they have been using utensils pretty well for months and sometimes they even manage to use them to eat rather than for jousting or drumming. So it was time for the chairs to go, and since both of them were used when we got them, they were really, really, worn and not able to be sold. So I loaded them in my car and while out on an errand I stopped at John's office to dump them in his company's dumpster.

Kate: "Hey Allison, do you see your chair?"
Allison:" Yeah, it's back there!"
Kate: "Hey mama, what you doing with my chair?"
Me: "I'm gonna throw them away today."
Kate: "Hey, Mama! That's not nice for my chair!"


They're still using sippy cups, though. The twins with uncontained liquids is a move I'm really, really not looking forward to.