We try a babysitter

And not just any babysitter; this was my parents. The plan was this: we'd take the monkeys up to my parents' house, hang out for awhile, then M & I would go out to dinner while my parents fed the kids and put them to bed. Sounds like a solid plan, right? Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!!! It turned ugly on us.

First off, Z was in no mood to go to bed at bedtime. I don't think it was the fact that we weren't there so much as it was that she was in a different room than home. She & B were supposed to share a room at my parents', but Miss Z was doing so much screaming that poor B couldn't sleep. Apparently it took three or four tries to get her to go sleep. When we got home after 9, B was up reading books with his grandma. 9:00 is way, way past his bedtime. We got him to bed right away, and then got ourselves to bed at a decent hour. We had to stay up a little later than we wanted because there was a backyard wedding two doors down with a really bad band that wouldn't stop butchering Pat Benetar covers. As M said, no one should sing Pat Benetar songs except Pat Benetar, and even she shouldn't be doing it after the 1980s.

It got bad, and I mean really bad, after that. Z cried twice, causing me to leap out of bed each time, run across the hall, and quiet her down before she woke up B. Then Kenai escaped from our room, and I was afraid he'd go to the bathroom somewhere in my parents' house in the middle of the night, so I got up and chased him down (not as easy as you might think -- imagine a slow-speed chase in pitch darkness, me on tippy toes & frantically whispering at the d@mn dog, trying to avoid waking everyone up). Next it was B's turn. He woke up at around 4:00 (just as I was going back to sleep after the slow-speed dog chase), screaming at the top of his lungs that there was something scary in their room. That woke Z up. B went right back to sleep, but Z kept fussing.

After two more runs across the hall, we threw in the towel. M crawled into the bed where B had been sleeping & stayed in that room with Z (she was in her pack-n-play), and I hauled B across the hall to sleep with me. For the rest of the night, M had to go "shhhh" every ten minutes, while I was repeatedly squeezed, snuggled, and kicked in the kidneys by pointy little four year-old feet. I had to sit up & move him back to his own side of the bed twice. I actually really like sleeping with B, but I'm never going to claim it's a good night's sleep. Z woke up for the day sometime between 5 & 6. When B woke up at 7, I went to relieve M of Miss Z, and the kids and I got up for the day.

Sounds like a bad comedy, right? Welcome to our lives. Today wasn't exactly a stellar day either, considering none of us had much sleep. There was a lot of crying, and it wasn't all the kids. Needless to say, I don't think we're babysitter-ready afterall. Sigh.

On a more positive note: both kids started swimming lessons yesterday & they both did really well. Apparently Z goes completely limp and totally relaxes when she floats:

On the way to swimming lessons we passed a yard sale. M and I both spotted what you see below at the same time. I ran over there with Z while B started his lesson and snagged this for $1. He's been wearing it almost constantly ever since, most of the time with a bike helmet too:

I've always loved it when I see other people's kids dressed in stuff like this while they're out grocery shopping with their moms. I think it's hilarious. B wore it to play on the playground, walk the dog, and grocery shop this weekend. It makes me smile.

I actually hit the yard sale jackpot this weekend. We scored a train table that wheels under B's bed for $5, a fancy-schmancy hose reel for the backyard for $2, a push broom for another $2 (I may be more excited than you think I should be about these last two, but they're things we've been needing and haven't wanted to spend the money on new), and best of all, a new (to us), very nice, much bigger patio table for $20. Score!

And just to show you both our kids look good in green:

Last but not least, Miss Z. Her receptive language has been getting better really rapidly lately. Yesterday she kept going over to the dog bed & plopping down in it. My mom started saying "Night-night," and every time she did, Z would run over to the dog bed & lie down. Mom got her a pillow, a blanket and her panda, and after that we couldn't keep her out of the filthy, furry dog bed. She'd go over there and say "ni-ni" until someone covered her up in her blanket, then she'd wiggle with joy, clutching her panda. Silly bao bao.