Lots to catch up on after last week's abbreviated post. I'll try to stick with a few highlights (or perhaps lowlights, given the way this week started.) It was a nasty cold, but we're both on the mend and luckily Edward and John seem to have skipped it. Though I felt well enough to report back to work on Tuesday morning, the fever returned after afternoon naps so by the time John got home from work, he surveyed the living room and said to Edward, "Wow, buddy. You've really trashed the place!" With no energy for playtime and no will to enforce clean-up time, I basically let Edward do whatever he wanted as long as he wasn't in any danger. Things improved as the week went on. We managed to get up, dressed, fed and out the door on time each day, make it through the work/school morning and then get home for naps and playtime. I was in bed by 9 p.m. every night. That's not terribly unusual even when I'm not sick

To expand upon the description of Edward's daycare meltdown from the last post, it was totally out of the blue and out of character. No one at daycare could believe it when they saw/heard it, including the two little girls who are usually in Edward's class when we get there. They stared at him and kept their distance--they'd never seen him like that before. We have no idea what started it. He just had a fit about putting his jacket on when we were leaving home. We thought maybe his teeth were bothering him again so we gave him his "ice bug" (a dragonfly shaped teething toy we keep in the fridge.) He cried for three blocks in the car until we rounded the corner and saw a recycling truck AND a yellow (school) bus. This was exciting enough to stop the tears. Then the rest of the drive we had to look for more recycling trucks and yellow buses. When we saw several more buses, he wanted to know why there weren't recycling trucks with them.

I probably made a tactical error by forcing him to leave the ice bug in the car when we got to school. That got him crying again and led to the dramatic drop-off scene. I kept thinking, "If only you'd done this ANY other day in the last six weeks, I could just stay until you calm down." But I had left Daniel in his car seat in the infant room and needed to get him settled as well before heading off to work. I don't punch a clock, but since I only work four hours, I feel it's important to be there by 8 a.m. when my scheduled day starts. I thought I had Edward distracted and calmed with a tub full of maracas and tambourines, but this was only a temporary reprieve. When he started up again, I just had to hand off to the teacher and tear myself away. I've seen other kids have mornings like that and always felt sorry for their parents while thanking my lucky stars that Edward didn't do that. I would be a basket case if that were a daily occurrence!

We averted another meltdown later in the week through sheer toddler gullibility. Edward was resisting getting undressed for his bath, saying "No no no!" as John tried to pry his socks and shirt off. Even offering for him to sit on the potty, which is usually a sure-fire tactic, didn't work. I had the bath water running and suddenly I had an inspiration. "Edward, would you like to have a DEEP bath?" (tone of breathless excitement.) "Yeah!" So there you go...two inches of water instead of one and we got the bath accomplished. What will I do when he someday catches on to my methods?

Yesterday and today we've had bright sun and 60 degree temperatures--hooray for spring! Even the crocuses believe that winter is really over. Edward asked for his watering can and then proceeded to dump most of it on himself rather than the flowers. Daniel couldn't be out in his bouncy seat too long--without leaves on the trees, there's not enough shade for him. Yesterday he was out longer with us, sleeping in the Baby Bjorn carrier with a blanket over his head. Hats frustrate him by slipping down over his eyes. Even if he's sleeping, he notices this and objects.

John just got home with 15 bags of mulch. We'll see if we can stretch those into some afternoon projects, sprucing up the outside of the house a bit. We've spent the last two weekends de-cluttering the inside in anticipation of another attempt to sell. Fingers crossed for a better result this year!