October 23

Two (surprisingly) unrelated things:

1. Daisy just got her third molar.

2. Girl is trying to kill me with her napping situation. She'll only nap for thirty minutes at a time before she wakes, screaming. If I don't rock and hold her until she falls back asleep, she'll just. keep. screaming. And then? When I get her back to sleep? IT'S ONLY FOR ANOTHER THIRTY MINUTES. Like I said, she's trying to kill me. It's been two days in a row like this, and I'm not sure what to do.

Today what I did was give up after three attempts and let her be awake. (I may have also had a small glass of wine. Don't judge.) Then as soon as Caleb woke from his nap, I loaded them into the car and we headed out to a new park. After a gloomy few days, I figured we needed to take advantage of the sunshine and gorgeousness and fresh air. Plus, my mom joined us. Grandma time seems to make everything better - for all of us.

The park was a hit! It is brand-new, and really thoughtfully designed.

Most parks seem to have gotten rid of their merry-go-rounds, but this park had one - and it was topped with climbing nets! Unfortunately, it was really hard to spin. I had quite a workout getting the kids up to a respectable spinning speed!

I know Caleb looks sad in this picture, but he wasn't. This was actually a pretty big deal: it was a tall (taller than me) climbing rock. I showed Caleb how to climb it, then walked away. He's always been too afraid/nervous/hesitant/timid to do things like this. But when I turned around, there he was at the top! It was amazing! Even a month ago, Caleb would never have tried something like this. I hate to say it and sound like a weirdo, but I really think that his new confidence (or, normal level of willingness to try things) can be attributed to our new diet. Since we've changed things up, Caleb has been significantly less fearful about normal things. It's an amazing, and unexpected, benefit.

Caleb said this marimba-type thing was his favorite part of the playground.

Daisy loved the butterfly. She saw another girl sit on the butterfly's head, and immediately insisted that Grandma put her up there, too.

Of course, if Daisy does something, Caleb has to do it too. 

(Did you notice that both kids are wearing Cardinals shirts, despite the fact that our Redbirds lost the National League Championship Series. Caleb chose his own shirt today, and Daisy had a different shirt on, but asked to wear her "Fredbird" shirt. Not even kidding.

Once Daisy vacated the butterfly, Caleb was free to pretend it was a motorcycle and it's antennae were handlebars. Then he informed me that he was pretending to be our (motorcycle-riding) neighbor, and I could pretend to be his wife and ride behind him. Where does the kid get these things? Who taught him that wives ride behind? I need to start teaching him that wives get their own bikes...

This was Caleb's other favorite part of the playground. He called it the tire swing, though it was clearly more saucer-like.

These were large chimes with attached mallets. Another big hit.

And Daisy met a sweet little girl just her age. She smothered her in kisses. How funny that the little girl looked just like Daisy...

OK, so maybe it was her reflection. Daisy didn't mind. She was happy with her new friend.