I went on a girls overnight with my book club and Two Fish took the girls to the children' museum on a "Daddy date." I love that he is taking time to take them on special activities. I'm sure they will remember it someday with They had a fabulous time. They played at the water table, built towers in the construction area, rode a plastic horse, planted a pretend garden, played in the child size market and played on the ball track. I end up taking the girls a lot of places on my own throughout the week so it's nice that they get to do some things just with their Dad.
The girls and I went to visit my Dad at work and took a little tour of his office. Red Fish has been asking to see where my Dad goes when he is working so I think it will help her visualize it in the future. She liked meeting all of his coworkers and said that "Pop pop sure has a lot of friends." We went to lunch with my Dad afterwards at Arctic Circle.
We went to the symphony to the Carnival of Animals. There were dancers and it was supposed to be fun but quickly devolved into a complete disaster and we were forced to flee. My kids do really well and are well behaved most of the time when I take them places. This event reminded me that they are four and two years old and sometimes our outings are bound to fall apart. I guess I can't fully appreciate the good behavior without the bad behavior sometimes. We ended up at the Temple and the girls walked around and really enjoyed themselves (and I had some time to stop being mad) so the day wasn't a total wash.
I went shopping with my sisters in law and my Mom last night so that I could get Red Fish some spring/summer clothes and get myself something to wear to my convention next month. It was fun to go shopping with someone above the age of 4.
We had our adoption home check and interviews for the year. Having a social worker come to your house to literally judge your fitness as a parent, based on the cleanliness of your house is stressful. We needed the whole house to be clean and it almost proved to be an impossible task. As soon as I would have one room totally clean the girls would have destroyed another room more than usual.
We've been to the park, dinosaur museum and aquarium as usual aside from last week. The weather is starting to warm up so the girls have been playing outside the last few days although we spent most of last week in bed. Two Fish even had to stay home from work for a couple of days because all of us got a terrible stomach bug. I don't think any of us have been that ill in quite awhile.
We attended a puppet show at the library. The girls loved it.
We've been trying a new way to study scriptures with the girls. We've been reading scripture stories with pictures but I don't think they were really getting anything out of it. My visiting teacher dropped off these cute lists with monthly scripture themes. Each day has a few verses to discuss as a family. I cut up April's list and put it into thirty plastic eggs. The girls take turns choosing one for us each day. So far, I think they are actually getting something out of the experience although Red Fish announced that she would explain tonight's scripture and told a long story and about milk and unicorns and prophets. She might think we are just making up a story after we read something out of the scriptures.
We're also trying out a sticker reward chart to help the girls get chores done and to make difficult parts of the day go more smoothly. For example Red Fish gets a sticker on her chart if she will get dressed for school without complaining. New Fish gets a sticker for staying in her crib during nap-time. Red Fish wants to earn a lego set and New Fish is working toward a buzz light year toy. So far, the sticker chart is heaven sent. Hopefully the novelty won't wear off.
We are taking a break from formal speech therapy for a little while. I bought a ton of stuff to do at home (95% of the work gets done at home anyway) and then we will go back in awhile for an evaluation. It is a little overwhelming to have to whole responsibility of helping Red Fish but sort of necessary right now. Two Fish helps too but I'm really the one who does most of it and is sort of in charge of it. Her speech therapist was in favor of us taking a break and helped me pick out our supplies.
New Fish is growing up so fast I can't believe it. She promises to always be my baby. She is LOUD as ever and talks nonstop. When she really wants something she says: "Puh-weese! Puhweeeeeeese." It's hard to resist the little blond beauty and she knows how give the saddest face in the world.
"Mom- will you show me where my feelings are? I think they are hurt."- Red Fish
Whenever Red Fish is talking about a previous day or time she refers to it as "yesteryear." Yesteryear I was thinking about that... Yesteryear I was wearing that shirt. Etc.
Two Fish: "Do we need to buy a coffee table so we have something to put our feet on in the family room?"
One Fish: "You aren't actually supposed to put your feet on tables. Do you mean an ottoman?"
Two Fish: "Sure that would work if you don't want a coffee table."
One Fish: "I'd like an ottoman but I don't want to take up all of the space we have in there."
Two Fish:" We can just move the couch back farther."
One Fish: "It would be a lot farther from the tv... hey are you just trying to convince me we need a bigger tv?"
Two Fish: "Dang it. Yes."
