Pink is not just for girls

This morning started out rough. Everybody was crying at everything. It didn't help that every time Natalie picked up a new toy, Andrew just had to have it too. And he was not subtle. He would proclaim that he wanted it and then take it away from Natalie. She was left crying and screaming. Even in the car he was grabbing stuff from her.

I had to laugh later as I thought about myself "lecturing" my three-year-old as we were driving along about how to ask someone if you can have something and then dealing with it if they say no. But I think some of it may have miraculously sunk in--he seemed to be trying to ask and not take.

It did make me laugh to see later in the morning that somehow Andrew had convinced Natalie to take his broken pail and he was using her non-broken pail. But she didn't seem to mind, so neither did I.

So amidst all the crying and bickering this morning, I was getting us all ready to get out the door by 8:45am to get Andrew to a little sports class he has on Mondays. We somehow pulled it off and were actually going to be on time when I noticed that there were no "reduced speed" signs in front of the schools. Oh yeah. No school today....no class today. We turned around and drove home, but I knew this was not a morning for us to be home. We all needed to get out.

Luckily I called my sister-in-law, Diane. She was planning on heading over to her in-laws' house and invited us to come. That may sound a bit strange, but the house sits on about an acre with a trampoline, great swing set, sand and lots of grass. They were planning on playing outside, so we headed over to join them. And it was great. It was so fun to visit with Diane. I really admire her and it was just what I needed to talk with her. And the kids played and played and played.

James was in his car seat and was cooing and smiling at me, so I pulled him out. I had already changed his diaper once since we had been there, but I guess once was not enough--there was poop all the way up his back. Hardly any of it made it into the diaper. How does that happen?!

But it could have been a lot worse. Luckily, I had another diaper. And I had a plastic bag to put the messy diaper in. And I had a grocery bag to put the poopy clothes in.

AND I had Natalie's pink sweater to put on him and a blanket to wrap him up in. And I even had my camera with me to get some pictures of my little boy in the pink sweater. The pink still doesn't make him look like a girl. This one is all boy. And even better, these days he is all smiles!

If you look closely at these pictures of James, you can see how he scratches his head. Nails are short, but it doesn't matter. I'm trying to keep a hat on him to see if that will help. Poor guy.