Wednesday: The longest day ever!

Wednesday was the longest day but in a good way.  Here are a few short stories from our very busy day at home!  It started with everyone being up around 5:30am.  I am not sure why the kids all woke up early, but it was probably because I was hoping they would sleep in.

Wednesday morning Joel went flying out of the house barefoot and in his pjs.  I gave Joel a coat and found some boots for him and then Vince and I quickly put on shoes, coats and ran after Joel.  Cecilia was napping and we had awhile before she woke up.  Joel was at the dirt pile next to the barn when we got outside and quickly ran to the dairy barn (his new favorite spot!)  The dairy barn isn’t my favorite spot due to the fact it isn’t the safest spot for kids to play (we keep a lot of junk in the dairy barn) but it isn’t that terrible when I don’t have Cecilia with me.  Then I can keep 100% of my attention on Joel and make sure he stays safe.  Joel was in the dairy barn jumping in a puddle.  He couldn’t have been happier!  After about 20 minutes I was able to convince the boys that playing in the sandbox, playhouse and trampoline wasn’t the worst thing in the world.  The best part was I was able to do a little bit of weeding in the flower beds.

Teddy

Around lunch time friends of ours came to visit with their two kids who are 3 (Claire) and 1 (Teddy) years old.  To my delight Joel was really nice to Teddy and liked running up to him and “talking” and then running off to play by himself.  I was a little worried he was going to get mad if Teddy played with any of the toys.  Vince and Claire played well together after they warmed up a little bit.  They played doctor for a long time.  Vince was the doctor and Claire was patient.  She was pretending she was having a baby and Vince was giving her “medicine” (grape juice).  I am not 100% sure that Vince understood that Claire was pretending to have a baby.  I think he just thought he was the doctor and she was sick, but I could be wrong!  It was nice having a chance to sit and talk to adults and watch the kids play together.  Joel was actually so tired that he begged to go take a nap!  One reason I love play dates.

Katie and Cecilia

Claire and Vince (he picks out his own clothes lately)

After our friends left Vince, Cecilia and I were outside playing. (Joel was still sleeping.)  Vince was playing with the hose and I told him he had one more minute and I was going to go sit on the swing with Cecilia.  The basement door and hose are on the side of the house and the swing set is in the backyard.  After a minute or so I yelled to him to turn off the hose and come join us.  He yelled back and it sounded muffled.  I waited a few seconds and Cecilia and I went to investigate.  We walked back around the house to see the door to the house open, the hose stretched out into the basement and water running out of it at full speed.  Vince was standing at the bottom of the basement stairs jumping in the water.  He was really proud of himself!  I turned off the hose and asked Vince what he was doing.  Apparently he wanted to make a giant muddle puddle in the basement.  Which got the typical “Do you think that was a good idea or a bad idea?”  He thought it was a good idea.  Clearly!  Otherwise he wouldn’t have done it and been so proud of his idea.   I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t a good idea to flood the basement but I don’t think he agreed at all.  He did tell me he won’t do it again and I hope that is true.

Watering the basement

After the water incident we went to play in the sandbox and Vince’s wet pants got covered in sand, so he took them off.  I volunteered to go get him new pants when I was inside changing Cecilia’s diaper and checking to make sure Joel was still asleep.  I guess I was taking too much time because Vince came inside to find me.  I went to put his shorts on and he told me he had pooped.  The conversation went like this:

K: In your pants?

V: No, outside

K: What?!  We need to wipe you.

V: No you don’t

K: You already wiped?

V:  No, I don’t have to! (as he bends over and shows me  his butt to prove his point).

K: You really do need to wipe.  Get in the bathroom!  I am not happy!  You can’t poop outside!  Where did  you poop because we need to clean it up?

V: Well, Maisy ate some it and I told her to stop and she did

K: (Trying not to visualize what he just described) She what?  Why did you poop outside.

V: Well….I just needed to go

K: How did you even do that? (mostly to myself and not wanting an answer)

V: I just did this (as he squats to show me what he did outside)
K: Is this really happening?

I didn’t even know what to think.  I called my mom and Brad because I just had to share.  When I asked if Brad if kids really do this he replied “yours do!”  I actually just ignored the whole mess outside and waited until it was almost bedtime before I went out and cleaned it up.  I was in denial!  In his defense he does get to pee in the yard and the dogs, cats and horses poop outside, so I can see where the confusion could occur.

Brad got home from work early, which means the sun was still up, and he suggested we saddle the horses and go for a ride around the yard.  Great idea, but with 3 small children (and a couple horses that have hardly been ridden this year) I wasn’t really sure how it was going to work.  Between a stroller and an iPhone we were able to make everyone happy while we saddled horses.  My horse, Hank, can be a little weird about being tied up and he is really hard to catch if you don’t have a bucket full of grain, especially at the beginning of the year when he hasn’t been worked with very much yet.  I joke that he doesn’t have his “brain” on until he is saddled and bridle.  Brad thought he would be nice and spray the horses with fly spray.  Great idea, other than the fact that Hank hates fly spray and you need to go really slow with it around him.  Well, I thought Brad remembered that so I didn’t say anything and I just pushed the stroller into the barn and away from the horses.  It was perfect timing because about the time we reached the barn Hank was freaking out and breaking his lead rope and falling over trying to get away from the fly spray.  A bucket of grain and he was quickly caught and a perfect angel the rest of the night!  Brad and Vince rode together on Croc.  Joel and I rode Hank and Cecilia slept in the stroller.

It was almost 9pm when we finally got back in the house and started bedtime!  It was a very long, fun filled, strange day and I was a little sad when it was finally over.