Battle Royal

Time's flying by here at the Hoss household. We've been busy taking advantage of the fun stuff available for kids to do in our area.

We had a fairly uneventful, quick, and (if you pretend Will didn't have one tantrum after another and blood dripping from his teething mouth) enjoyable Wild Animal Park experience this last weekend in the San Diego area. Because we were traveling with our two dogs, and were on our way home from a nice two-night retreat to Rick's parent's house, we made it a quick visit. We were without stroller because there was no room in the truck, which allowed Rick and I to get decent workouts from toting the tots on our shoulders and packs on our backs.

Thankfully, Nate's got the whole theme-park routine down and is excellent at waiting in line and gingerly moving from one event/area/ride/critter to another. Will hasn't quite figured out the taking turns deal and he had a hard time (aka fits) when we had to leave the gorillas, lions, etc. I felt pretty bad that we had to leave the gorillas, too. They were pretty amazing.

Yesterday Nate had one of those, as his teacher said when I arrived, "not a very good day at school." He hit five children across the face and one with a car. Thankfully, the teacher said she was able to intervene and slow the force of the slapping car. I asked her if he thought it was funny when he hit them and she agreed he had. She thought he was just tired and a bit out of sorts. Hmm... we've got a little devil! He was upset about receiving a time out and took a nap in the afternoon. I'm afraid he's aspiring to become a pirate. We'll have to really focus on helping him get this evil side under wraps.

I've had a heck of a time finding a spare moment to write lately. Possibly because I'm doing things like cleaning up Nate's hidden, smooshed poop pile that was under the tipped over file box under the desk this morning. I don't know what overcame him. I don't know if he's ever done a random pooping like that. And, after cleaning up the bloody footprints throughout the house and down the stairs (for a second day in a row) from our dog, Hannah, who enjoys licking her feet to a pulp in her free time, our hand-held carpet cleaner pooped out when it came to the poop. Isn't that typical? And poop stains like crazy. I never knew that before kids. Could have been because I had chosen to not go poop on the floor for so long.

Will and I had a lot of fun playing at the beach yesterday morning while Nate was at school. We're fortunate to live so close to such lovely beaches. We joined my pal, Kimberly, and her son, and Will's buddy, Daniel. I treated myself to my favorite, an iced venti decaf sugar-free vanilla breve latte at Starbucks on the way down, just to top off my happiness factor. The boys were adorable and incredibly well-behaved. They looked like little sandmen, all covered in the beach that stuck to the spf 50 lotion lathered all over their little bodies. It's never fun to get all that sand off, and really not fun to have a sandy diaper changed, but it was well worth the opportunity for exploration, excitement and relaxation for us moms.

Will had a check-up for his tube surgery for his ears and the report was excellent. He's been such a trooper wearing his earplugs in the bath, etc. He's been spilling out a lot more words and they're becoming clearer, as well. If it wasn't for his terrible, swollen, bloody teething, I'm sure we would notice he's feeling much relieved. Will's become a great kisser and hugger and he has an incredible ability to fill our hearts with love. When Nate was throwing a fit last night while we had a picnic dinner at a nearby park (I ate the string cheese he wanted), Will was taking turns hugging me and Rick and leaning his head against Rick's forehead. He is a great kiss-blower and has a remarkably peaceful, gentle nature when he's not hitting or bulling others over.

In fact, I can hear Will dismantling my bathroom. I better put on my cape and save the house from the next battle royal (pronounced roy-Al for those of you who didn't watch WWF in the 80's).