Easter

I ended up having a great time today. There were a few hours in the morning, though, where the surging autonomy [that's toddler code for evil stage, tantrums, screaming and lots of 'NO, me! NO help! NO mine!'] peaked in both kids. There was a point where H-Mama and I were so DONE with the purposeful hitting, disobedience, not listening/ helping/ cooperating, refusal to sit in time out, and destruction of personal property that I told them "WE'RE GOING FOR A RIDE IN THE CAR" and marched them both upstairs with a grim face and wordlessly changed their diapers & dressed them. They could tell that the patience was gone, and were cowed into good behavior. We visited Auntie Kiko and her girlfriend and went grocery shopping, then home for nap. The rest of the day went so much better.

The good stuff from today? After Pequita woke the whole bed of us up at 6:45 am with a yelling, crying bad dream, it was so exciting to be able to go down and find Easter baskets that everyone was cheered up. They hunted for their Easter baskets and once they figured out what they were doing, merriment ran high. Monito's stomach had been wonky the night before, so we had no candy in the morning. A hard boiled egg and some fruit leather went over well. I had bought a bunch of small toys and non-candy basket fillers anyway, so they had plenty to play with. Monito's favorite toy by far? A new plate and set of nice silverware that is all his own.The kids are playing together really well most of the time now, and spent a full thirty minutes in interactive, cooperative play in their teepee. It is so exciting to have them groove on each other like that; it makes up for a lot of the pummelling that follows.

In the afternoon, we had a couple families over to hunt for eggs. Oh my goodness but the kids loved it. We spread hard-boiled eggs and plastic ones filled with mostly carob- and yogurt-covered raisins. We lost a few eggs to the dogs, who came out with our group and boisterously snapped up the hard boiled eggs. Apparently carob isn't good enough for them. There was pretend napping afterwards. This involves much kissing 'goodnight', covering up, squeezing ones eyes shut and then vaulting awake. Yes, my son is clutching the hose to a shop vac. No teddies for him.