The Weekend

Saturday was one of those days when I started off with a big bang - cleaning, doing laundry, throwing away trash (as in, junk I don't need/want), trying to organize - and then sometime that afternoon, I just kind of hit a wall. I think it was about the time Evan went down for a nap. I think my body must have slid into "I need a nap, too" mode.

Anyway, when Evan woke up from his nap, the first thing he said was, "We go to the park, Mom. I go down slide." (Notice he said, "Mom," not, "Mommy" or "Momma." Nice, huh?) So in an effort to appease him (translated into: this way I don't have to listen to him scream at me to go to the park), I took him to the park before we went to go get dog food at PetSmart. It really was a pretty afternoon and we had SUCH a good time. He ran and ran and ran (in circles) and climbed up the stairs to the equipment, crawled through the tunnel and went down the slide about a million times. While we were there, some of our old neighbors actually showed up (as they were at a birthday party at a house next door to the park), so he had a few kids to "play" with (as much as they "play" together at this age). We were there for just shy of an hour and by the time it was time to go, I didn't get an argument out of him at all. He did manage to extract a promise out of me that we would go the next day...

So we went to PetSmart and bought dog food...which turned out to be a bigger mental struggle than I thought it would be. Now that we have two large dogs (thanks to our impulsive decision to rescue a homeless animal that materialized on one of Pat's job sites), I had to think through my dog food purchase. I have been in the habit of buying all holistic dog food for Crash. BUT that is $42 a bag, and, in all honesty, doesn't seem to be doing the job I wanted it to to begin with (which was to REDUCE poopage in the back yard, not create more). After walking in circles in the store for a half hour and carting and un-carting (is that a word?) about six different types of dog food, I FINALLY decided on the same brand I had been using, just a different formula. It is still very high in nutrients and all the things they need, but half as expensive for the same amount, and much easier for my bank account to digest.

After PetSmart, we moseyed on home and had a nice "relaxing" (yeah, with a 2-year-old) evening of some dinner and Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!

Pat came home with an extremely swollen toe that looked very infected, so I had him soak it in really hot water, after which he thought he would try to "pop" it with a needle. That didn't work out so well...basically he managed to puncture the top layer or two of skin, got out a drop or two of blood, and that was it. That hurt WAY too bad! He didn't sleep well (even the sheet touching the toe hurt), and that's pretty much the way Sunday started off...

A typical Sunday starts with a trip to Journey Church - commonly referred to as "Journey Kids" for Evan. We didn't make the trip this weekend. This Sunday started off making plans to find someone to watch Evan so we could get his foot looked at. (Never again will I try to take Evan someplace like that where I will have to sit for a couple of hours and try to keep him entertained so he doesn't wreak havoc and drive people batty...) Much thanks to Liz and Michael for agreeing to keep him and even take him to church with them, even though I pawned him off on someone else for a couple of hours. I just really didn't want their church time to possibly be interrupted because my kiddo probably would have freaked out at a new church, plus, I had NO idea how long it would take.

We went to the Norman Regional Urgent Care Center on Tecumseh, which is brand new. We sat there for about TWO HOURS before we FINALLY saw a doctor who said it was a cuticle infection and told him to soak it and take antibiotics. He said that if it developed a "head" or what looks like a pus pocket, a surgeon could lance it and drain it. Pat was ready to do that anyway, but for the time being, we settled for the soaking, antibiotics and pain killers.

By the time we got Evan picked up and got home, Evan was on super tired overdrive. MAN, was he something else...either a little tyrant or acting SO FUNNY! It took me forever - and a lot of threats - to get that kid down for a nap. Of course once he went to sleep, he was out cold. I ended up having to gently/gradually wake him up or he would have slept until 8:00 and I never would have gotten him to go to bed for the night.

When I woke him up and started talking to him about going to get Daddy's medicine, he promptly started in on me about going to the park. Now, let's keep in mind that it was after 6:00 p.m. and DARK. It was slightly on the chilly side, too. But, a promise is a promise. Yeah, I took him to the park - in the dark. He didn't put up a fight, though, after about 7-8 minutes of climbing up the stairs, sitting in the tunnel and going down the slide in the dark, when I said it was time to go. He was just happy to play! It's so amazing how just the littlest things make kids happy!!! It certainly puts things into perspective. Even when you're tired - and don't feel like trapesing through the park in the dark - give a few minutes and the world is right for the little ones!

After our little foray into the darkened park and a quick trip to Walgreens, we headed over to Liz & Michael's so Evan could get a proper haircut. (Sometimes moms - okay, that would be me - should leave things to those who are trained to do it...) I can't even tell you how cute he looks. And he was SUCH a grown up baby boy, too! I think he was really proud of his big boy spiky hair. And boy did he ever strut around and want to look in the mirror this morning after I got it all fixed! After his haircut he really had fun playing with Addison and all the daycare toys...but most especially Addy's guitar!

MUCH, MUCH THANKS, LIZ!!!