It is a day to go down in history: Ava and Carter took their evening bath together. This is so huge--finally, Carter is stable enough to sit in the tub and play while I help to wash Ava's hair or her toes, or whatever else has been chronically neglected for the last seven and a half months. Before, he was so tippy that it was dangerous to have her in there with him, and when he was finished, I had to bathe her with one hand. Tonight, I have finally achieved two clean kids nearly simultaneously.

On an equally fabulous note, we made it through the WHOLE day without a tantrum. Even Carter only cried when he had to go in his car seat or stroller. AND I got to squeeze in some yoga after they fell asleep.

Oh, and I got my eyebrows waxed. Can life get any better?

today i completed phase one of my reorganizing effort, and managed to get all of the art supplies sorted into bins, grouped roughly according to function--thus there is a paper and sticker bin, a painting bin, a drawing/cutting/gluing/etc bin, and a random materials to make into things like space helmets bin. this is a vast improvement over previous method, which was to shove everything into a dresser in an increasing state of randomness. i would try to keep the dresser organized, and it seemed like a good idea, but it pretty much turned into 4 junk drawers. which i hate. i have never freed myself completely from junk drawers, but i do hate them. i am not a person that is 'out of sight, out of mind' -- if there is a mess in a closed drawer or closet, i feel like i can somehow see through it, and it is mocking me. it is basically one of my neuroses. anyway, this successful reorganizing inspired me to launch into phases 2 through 5 all at once, a phenomenally bad idea. this meant that EVERYTHING was pulled out of every drawer/closet/nook/cranny and all over the place. and it was at this point that both kids decided that they needed 100% of my attention. and i needed to get ready for the afternoon's outing, to boot. sooooo...i grabbed everything and shoved it in the pack-n-play, and put it out on the porch. now i don't have a junk drawer, i have a junk playpen. brilliant.

ava went to tumbling today--this was 'big kid's' tumbling, where the mommies were supposed to stay out of the room. this was not up her alley, so i stayed in the room, on the sidelines, while she sat next to me and considered joining in. eventually she could not stand watching any longer and the urge to have fun overtook her. she parted with me and had a great time. but i also was in sight at all times.

i managed to overcome my own separation anxiety, and did not go running after her, but i sure did want to join in. it was SO HARD to let her go off on her own.

after class we went on a walk around the lake. this was a 2.5 mile walk that took us, oh, 2.5 hours. set up the stroller, nurse carter, pack stroller with essentials, dress carter warmly, dress ava warmly, put carter in backpack, hoist backpack on back, realize i am not dressed warmly, take backpack off, put coat and backpack back on, push stroller, go a couple hundred yards, stop, talk to dog, push stroller, stop, get ava out so she can push stroller, go insane at pace and put ava back in, push stroller, stop and talk to mom friend from dance class, let ava out again, suggest that she run, put my gloves on ava, put ava back in, push stroller, realize carter needs an adjustment, take backpack off, adjust, put backpack back on, look at a red fire hydrant and explain the concept, get stumped at how they get the water out and cannot answer where the internal pressure comes from and suggest looking it up, am reminded that i am also supposed to look up why the zamboni is named as such, push stroller, let ava out, hold her hood as she tries to walk backwards, put ava back in, go past playground, explain that it is a pit of mud and we cannot go, watch the skateboarders (who have HORRENDOUS potty mouths), and repeat the in-out routine til we finally make it back to the car. introduce twizzlers and skittles to ava in an attempt to make sure she does not fall asleep in the car on the way home so that she does not ruin her bedtime which is only 2 hours away. it worked. it also conveniently induced a sugar crash at roughly the bedtime hour. three cheers for sugar. make up for it by making her a hummus-avocado-shredded carrot sandwich on 12-grain bread for dinner. this was not as enticing, but she did eat it.

funny part of this is when i told her i was going to make her a hummus and carrot sandwich when we got home, she started poking her leg and saying 'like this?' -- i could not figure it out, and she kept jabbing her leg and finally she said 'like candles?' and i realized she thought that i was going to poke the carrots into the sandwich like candles on a birthday cake. which made me laugh, and contemplate the idea--but decide to go with the original notion of shredded carrots inside the bread.

carter continues to work on his crawling. he has finger foods down, and is constantly hungry. he is just so cute. he will not sit still for anything, and his frenzy of arms and legs is usually accompanied by "dai dai dai dai mmmmmmm ya ya ya blllblbllblllll buh buh buh dai dai dai DAIIIIIIIIIIIIII.

and if ava screams, he screams. and laughs his head off. i look at the 2 of them and think "uh oh..."

I have long suspected that Ava 'reads' from right to left. This was confirmed yesterday as we approached a stop sign, and she said "look, Mom! A STOP SIGN! P...O...T...S...STOP!" With a lot of praise I said, "That's right, S..T..O..P, stop!" But sometimes she follows along while I am reading books with her finger, tracing from left to right. I suppose it will fall into place in good time.

To carry on with the reading writing arithmetic theme, we were working our way through 9 bites of a sandwich, and had managed to whittle it down to 5. At this point I said to her, "you have 5 pieces left. If you eat this one, how many will you have?" (note that she could not see her plate). She looked at me, turned her hands up in the air, cocked her head to the side and said "FOUR!" I swear to god, I fell to my knees while practically shouting "THAT'S RIGHT!" and enveloped her in a bear hug.

Now, I am not constantly drilling my daughter on her letters and numbers, and please do not think that I am cracking the whip while screaming COUNT! But every once in a while, I throw one of these questions in, just to see where she stands. She has been able to add to and take away from quantities up to 3 or maybe 4, but after that, quantity tends to merge into one big blob of a lot. 6 bites looks like 8 bites, which looks like 12 bites, and so on. Compare 6 to 20, and she is obviously able to discern the difference, but it is more in terms of more and less, and not 20 and 6. So, it was really neat to see her apply adding and taking away to larger blobs.

swim class was last night. carter's first time in the pool. he LOVED it. the smile on his face was so cute, and he was just like, this is so great! look at all this water! i can splash, i can drink it, i can dunk my head in it (yes, he even did that), dad can throw me up in the air, and i can sit on the side and play with these cute toys, this is so cool. why have we never seen this before???

ava had to wait for her class, as she had been promoted to the next level--which was 'real' swim class--3 kids with the teacher, who sat them on the side of the pool and took each one in turn. this was not the exciting experience that we had hoped it would be. ava looked a little upset that it was not fun anymore, and more than anything, she looked COLD. so, i might let her go back to the fun class. i mean, in carter's class, they sing, and play, and jump and laugh, and in this one, they do back floats, and reach and pull, and 'don't jump, slide in on your tummy'--all interesting, but slower paced and no singing. she might be a little young for it. also, she might have been more receptive to it if she had not watched carter's class, where all of her other friends were.

she was very happy to go to little dippers yesterday though. and carter enjoyed it too. i gracefully bowed out of the craft project, which was making an easter egg out of wool. i think i still have 1/2 an egg from last year somewhere.

today ava asked me if we could snuggle for a bit while carter was sleeping--and i said "in just a second honey, first i have to run around like a crazy person and get all this stuff picked up" (the house was a mess, a load of laundry needed to get done, dishes washed, toys picked up etc). so, she patiently waited, and i washed and straightened and picked up as fast as i could.

then just as i started to sort the laundry, she came up to me and said "mommy, when are you going to be a crazy person?"

carter went for a follow up appt. today and appears to be on the mend. he is a ridiculous ball of energy.

and of course it is inevitably a good day when "jack's big music show" is the version with "mel's super swell dance party--YIPPEE!" picture a puppet dog, normally a drummer, now being a dj, hosting a dance party with house music. and with all the best moves, to boot. i cannot get enough of it. especially with the character "dancy nancy" -- an actual human that is superbly groovy. i think i get more out of it than ava. she looks at me like i am nuts as i bust a move with carter on the living room floor.

we are all sick, and all running ourselves ragged trying to simply breathe. carter is having a very rough time because, as the american academy of pediatrics would say, he is an obligate nose-breather. not anymore.

he HATES taking medicine, loves that he can actually eat some finger foods, and is scooting all over the place. books are his favorite objects, and he had peter in hysterics tonight as he wiggled after an "olivia" book from the library--he kept grabbing at it and it would slide along the floor and then he would have to wriggle all over again. he covered about a mile circling around the room.

ava was very sad to leave grandma, but ecstatic to see snow.

the plane trip home was as good as it could be. no tears, a few antsy moments alleviated by some carefully rationed treats, and no hassles. we even got to ride in one of those little electric cars that carry people around in the airport and toot their horns at the pedestrians. thus we made a 35 minute layover in newark.

we have not tackled much other than the doctor for carter (he has 2 ear infections now, plus a new cold and is now on a sulfa-drug, vs. the rash-inducing penicillin). i had to listen to a long lecture from the doctor about drug reactions, and throughout the thing i kept trying to figure out how and when to introduce that i had worked in drug safety. in the end, i stayed quiet. it was easier. we also went to the library, i checked out 2 books in a fit of industry, and got ava 3. we also fed their fish, the whole point of going to the library in ava's opinion. today we managed the grocery store without any drama whatsoever.

and then we came home and ava and i made lasagne. a HUGE mess, but a ton of fun.

tomorrow, who knows. perhaps skiing.

Well, we are headed out tomorrow, back to NY. We have to get up at 4 AM again, but I think that will be the hardest on me--the kids seemed to handle it just fine on the way here.

Carter is really growing up--not only is he almost crawling, he had his first finger foods the other day. We went to Chuy's, an Austin institution (it is a Mexican place), and had lunch. Carter was antsy, so I gave him some shredded cheese. WOW was basically his reaction. He was thrilled, and he managed to get a good bit of it into his belly. Today he tried Cheerios, another huge hit.

The crawling is so cute--he wriggles to get where he wants to go when he needs to actually move, but when he has no destination, he just practices getting on hands and knees, lifting his belly off the floor and rocking back and forth, making it look like he is revving himself up for the actual crawl. So far he has not done a face plant, leading me to what is, I am sure, a false sense of security.

Today we went to the Children's Museum, spent HOURS there, went home for lunch, and then went back. This is a really cool place with lots of different exhibits--this time there was a whole room about wind and air, with all sorts of things showing the power of moving air (ie wind), and there was a 'kitchen,' a 'store' (where Ava appropriated the cash register), a doctor's office, a display about milk and cows, a water table room, an art room--really a collage room, a quiet room, a big digger thingamajig, lots of blocks, and lots of other toy type things. Ava got a lot out of it, and did not want to leave.

She fell asleep instantaneously this evening.

So, Ava finally fell asleep last night at 9:30. Two and a half hours after her bedtime. I finally concluded that it was the cough medicine that kept her up. I was seriously insane by that point.

And very hungry.

Let's see...we have done so much, I keep forgetting. We went to the rodeo yesterday, which was a total blast. I should clarify-we went to the livestock show and carnival at the rodeo, but not the actual competition. Ava rode a pony, and we saw herding dogs working, and we saw Elsie the cow of Borden's Milk fame -- who must have had plastic surgery to look the way she does -- she looks just like the cow on the milk cartons, which is not exactly standard-cow-appearance. I know she is a jersey cow, or something like that, but even they are not this pretty. Either that or she had a LOT of make-up on. Elsie had an 'adopted' baby, who was in a pen next to her--the thing was itty bitty, and Ava loved it. I kept grilling the keeper to find out if Elsie really had adopted the baby, as in accepted it as her own, or if it was just a front. He was not fond of my line of questioning. We also saw a bunch of goats and horses, and a petting zoo where there was a baby camel (?!). Then we went on the carosel, a little fire engine ride, and a teeny tiny rollercoaster. Ava adored it all, and we finished up on the carosel again. We drove home, rested, blew bubbles on the patio, and then went to Jo's Cafe. But not before we went to get some cowboy boots for Ava. She picked black over red, and they are SO ADORABLE. Mom also found a pair of boots that she liked, until she read the price tag. Nevermind. SO off to the cafe we went, and Ava had a good time until a dog at the table next to her went psycho on her and growled and barked and snapped at her from 4 feet away. She was a trooper and did not move or do anything, I yelled "AVA!" and just about dove over the table with Carter in my arms, but all was fine. This was, according to the dog's owner, just a warning. Here's a warning for you lady: don't bring your vicious dog to a cafe full of kids, or pretty soon you will have a lawsuit on your hands. I would like to sprinkle this story with a few expletives, but won't for decorum. Just insert them where you might find a vehement adjective appropriate. Anyway, we went home, had the night time insomnia routine, and then she slept til 8.

Today we went to the barn where Mikey the horse lives, and saw his owner Carol, who teaches riding there. The stars alligned, and Grandma was able to take both kids, and I was able to ride for an hour. They put Grandma through her paces, and she really did an amazing job, putting up with 2 kids who wanted their mom. She got Carter to stop crying and entertained Ava with Joey, the sheep dog, who wanted Ava to throw a ball for her. I had a great time, and am forever indebted.

More on that later, as now, I am going to go have a glass of wine.

Ava is better, we had a great day, until now, which finds us locked in an all out power struggle as to whether or not to go to sleep. It has now been 2 hours. I am at my wit's end. She woke up at 6, and has not napped, and it is now 9 PM almost. And the crappy thing is that I have not been able to eat my dinner. I was supposed to eat AFTER she went to bed.

Ava is up to 102.7 degrees. This is very high for her, as she rarely cracks 101. She is lying on the couch, sleeping fitfully.

Carter is gooey again. I hoped to take him off the benadryl, but apparently he is not finished with the snot. Plus the antibiotic has him pooping up a storm.

Basically I bounce between the 2 kids, administering medicine, hugs, new diapers, tissues, nursing, and thermometers all day. THANK GOD I have Grandma, because she is walking around after us, disinfecting everything and making sure I have something to eat. Neither kid is really consuming anything, so at least we do not have to go all out for meals.

I finally understand the reason why parents push so hard for antibiotics, even when unnecessary. Carter spent less than 4 hours on amoxicillin, and he was a new kid. He went from puffy, red, watery eyes and crying every time he coughed to clear-faced and reasonably well-disposed. He still coughs, but he does not suffer when he does. It is hard to see that kind of effect and not wish for it every time. And it was prescribed for an ear infection, which is currently hotly debated--the argument is that most ear infections are viral in nature, and thus do not need antibiotics. But this one wasn't, and I now know that if your kid is suffering, and if there is something that might make him better, you want it, despite all of the concern about creating drug-resistant-super-bugs. My concern now is to determine what is going on with Ava--is it still just the virus, or does she too have a secondary bacterial infection? She is not complaining of sinus pain or ear pain, so I am not inclined to think it is bacterial yet.

Grandma has escaped to Best Buy to find a portable DVD player. Hopefully by the time she is back, Ava's temperature will have gone down since I dosed her with Tylenol, and we can go for a little walk outside. It is lovely out.

Ava is really sick now. She is coughing like crazy, has a fever, and is just blah. She was ok this morning, but deteriorated around noon. She slept for 2 hours this afternoon, and fell asleep at 7 this evening. Unheard of.

On the other hand, Carter is back to normal! He is practicing his talking again, loves to splash in the tub, and is working really hard at crawling. He can now get anywhere he wants to in a room, but it is just not via a straight line. He uses a combination of rolls, scoots, push-offs and other impossible to categorize movements to get to a desired object. Babyproofing is going to get into full swing soon.

I got my hair cut today, and now I am almost a hip Austin mom.

Ava went to the macrobiotic place a few days ago and played while Grandma and I ate, and she was all by herself on the playground and having a total ball, especially when I showed her where the toys were, notably the big digger. A few kids joined the scene, and went about doing their thing, but soon there were enough for her to take note and get curious about them. They were older, probably 6 or 7, and were familiar with the playground, and doing stuff that Ava thought was great, and she basically shadowed them for a while, watching and picking at her fingernails and occasionally mimicking them. They went down the slide, she went down the slide after they were finished. But she CLEARLY wanted to be invited to play. But they were preoccupied with themselves, and she was such a little squirt--finally she came over to me and asked to be picked up and said "there are much kids here tonight..." It was odd--I think she both loved it and disliked it. She liked being taught by example, but she was a littly intimidated by the big-kid play, and was not quite sure why they did not play with her. She definitely needed a bit of a snuggle.

We don't have to worry about that now though, since she is in quarantine. Poor kid. She did get to make gingerbread people with grandma this morning though. AND she got to wear Grandma's toe-sox. No end to the excitement over that.

Well, let's see...there is so much that happened in the past 4 days, I have no idea where to start. On Saturday we woke up and got ready to go to SeaWorld, and left just in time to coordinate the 1.5 hr drive with Carter's AM nap. The drive down was uneventful, marked only by my profound culture shock. I-35 between Austin and San Antonio is basically a 60 mile stretch of sprawl. Nothing but big box stores, gas stations, and fast food. And not just WallMart and Target. EVERYTHING. Name a store, and it was there. Living in either cities or the middle of nowhere tends to make one believe that capitalism is simply a neatly defined economic theory, with the very easy, albeit controversial give and take equation that is presented in books and school and the press etcetera. Oooooooohhhhhhh noooooooo. Capitalism is a raging beast, gobbling up everything in sight. America is very distressing from this perspective. I am not going to weigh in any more than that on my personal views of the free market and what should be done about it, but boy oh boy it can be ugly. I just can't believe that there is so much stuff in the world, and that people WANT it. Anyway, hopping off my soapbox...

Oh. Remind me to tell you about the churches here in Texas. One word: HUGE

We finally arrived with full bladders and all Ava wanted to do was to see Shamu. So, off we went, but Shamu likes his privacy in San Antonio and there was no viewing tank. You had to wait for the show. So, Mom had to backtrack on a few promises right off the bat. She was content with the explanation that he was sleeping, and we would come back for the show. We did, and it was great. I am such a sucker for the dramatic music--the emotion was all heightened for the big arrival of the star, and then up in the air he jumps, right in time for the big crescendo, and whooosh, they all swim in and start doing neat things and the music is going really fast fast fast and they are jumping everywhere and suddenly they all jump out onto their little platforms in unison and everyone claps and cheers and I am sitting there in tears. It is so exciting, and I fall for it hook line and sinker. Ava did too.

We saw a ton of stuff that day, Carter particularly liked the penguins, he laughed and laughed. After 5 hours at the park, we finally called it quits and left for the hotel. We bailed on swimming and just settled in and ordered dinner, and Ava was so excited to have another picnic on the bed. I got the kids to sleep and then was awakened in the middle of the night to a hacking cough and whimpering from Carter. He was hot, and obviously sick. I dosed him with Tylenol and we all slept fitfully after that. In the morning, we debated what to do, and I finally decided that life would be pretty much the same whether we left to drive home or went back to SeaWorld--he was going to be held and walked around, and why not take him outside in the fresh air. It was not sunny, and it was nice and warm, and I had a hard time thinking about disappointing Ava, so we decided to stay. I put him down for his morning nap, and Ava and I went swimming in the hotel pool. Grandma got us little floaties for her arms, and she HAD A BLAST. She was laughing and laughing and jumping and spitting pool water at me and splashing and swimming and just simply the happiest kid in the universe. Then we sat in the hot tub, which blew her mind. She wanted to get back in the big pool, so I capitulated a bit, standing in the shallow end, and she quickly decided she was cold. So we went back upstairs to Carter and Grandma, and he was refreshed and we went back to the park. We basically did the same things as the day before, except that we hit the little kid play area. We got to go on a mini-ferris wheel, and we went on the tea cups 2ce. She adored them, and I loved them too. It was so fun to watch her grinning from ear to ear across the teacup from me as the world spun around her. It might as well have been a movie.

Carter slept the whole day in either the stroller or our arms. We got back to the hotel early, Carter crashed, Ava and I went swimming , and then we ordered room service again. I got the 2 of them down and settled in to watch the oscars. Carter proceeded to have a rough night--his coughing really was deep and gooey, but when he woke up he was not feverish, despite being off the tylenol for 8 hours, and he was pretty chipper. We packed up, and headed towards Austin, first stopping at the wild animal drive-through park. This was really neat, especially for Ava, and more than a little nerve-wracking for me. Grandma had done it before and was prepared for a giant ostrich to come attack the car, but I was not. Several antelope-like things decided her red BMW was a good antler-scratcher, and a zebra decided to bite the lovely exterior of her car, but she never batted an eye. Great sport. Everyone's favorites were the zebras, even Carter. There were giraffes in the fenced-in area where you could walk up to their cage, and there was a baby giraffe that was one day younger than Carter. SO CUTE. I decided that I really like giraffes.

Once home we settled in, and Carter deteriorated. The cough became really horrible, and he was clearly feeling like doody. He would cough, and then he would wrinkle his eyebrows, and because he was losing his voice a teeny tiny eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh would come out of him. And his nose started running. He was one big gooey gob. Grandma took Ava to the park and I stayed to put him to sleep and then went online to look up dosing info for benadryl. While on "askdrsears.com" I read the "Call your doctor if your child experiences the following symptoms" part of the section on the common cold, and decided that I would call my doctor. They informed me that since pneumonia was circulating in Saranac Lake, and since I was the one that was sick before leaving, I should have him seen. So, we scrambled to get an appointment for the next day, and then tried to get through the night.

This morning he was seen, but not before Ava spiked a fever. He does not have pneumonia, but he does have a sinus infection and a secondary ear infection and is now on amoxicillin, which is terrifying to me since Ava is allergic to penicillin. I know drug allergies tend not to be genetic, but it is still scary. Just having the stuff in the same building that she is in is scary. So, they both are on the tylenol/benadryl routine, plus he gets the antibiotics, and a healthy dose of diaper cream. She did ok today, coughing and losing her voice like Carter but playing pretty happily, but at the very end of the day she lost her mind. I was not sure why she was crying, it was a sudden transition from fine to absolutely terrible, with no warning, and when I asked, she looked at me and sobbed "I .. don't .. feel .. good." Oh, the heartache. They were both asleep at 6:30.

More on those Texas churches tomorrow. Holy smokes. Between consumer-land and the churches and SeaWorld San Antonio, I now understand how it is that we have the president that we have. America is very big, and very red.

Today started at 5:45, so that means we are getting better at central time. We played for a while here, and Ava started a paint project that rapidly became a finger-paint project, and then she and Grandma went for a little walk, while Carter slept. The stroller is such a novelty to Ava by this point in the year, since she cannot really go in it at home right now, that she is more than happy to go roll around. When they came back, we packed up and went to the zoo. I have to say, the Austin Zoo is a pretty cool place. I was impressed last year, and continue to be so. First of all, it is a sanctuary, and thus just brimming with good karma. All of the animals have a story too--most of them were rescued from people who learned the hard way that a tiger is not a very good companion animal. There are some impressive animals, lots of big cats, 3 bears (haha), a ton of monkeys and lemurs and then an array of oddities and a billion birds. For the second year running, the chickens were a source of fascination for Ava. The peacocks were great, and then of course there was the petting zoo. It is not really a petting zoo--rather it is a place to feed deer and goats through a fence. And pigs and sheep and some antelope-y looking cute things. There is a pen to go in and pet some animals, but I am not keen on it, so I never even mentioned it to her. She liked the pigs a lot, and I confirmed for myself that they may taste good, but if you witness a real pig you might not want pork for a while. The goats were ridiculously aggressive, and I was the hero of the day when 2 women and their stroller-bound kids were accosted in the actual petting area by some huge goats. The goats looked as if they just might march right onto the strollers, and the little kids were scared, not to mention in a very vulnerable position, and so I went running up to the fence saying "I have food!" "Yoohoo! Goats! Over here!" They abandoned the kids and came over to me and I distracted them while the moms got their kids out of there. Score one for Erin and quick thinking. I can't do it most of the time, but apparently I do have a mommy-brain. The other neat thing was that one of the tigers was having its cage cleaned by a keeper, and the tiger was outside pacing and roaring in a very dramatic way and Ava thought that was really cool. She kept trying to get me to roar, but when you have a sore throat it is a tough thing to do. Carter laughed the whole time. He was in the backpack, and was just thrilled. I think he loved being outside the most.

Then we went home and bathed.

Ava found it hysterical when I threw our sandals (flip flops and rubber) into the bath after we got out. But really, they were just gross. Then we went to Casa de Luz, a macrobiotic restaurant+yoga studio(s)+community center+montessori school+playground etc, and Ava played on the playground while I indulged in a delicious (truly) macrobiotic feast and yearned for a similar place in the adirondacks. Carter held up until the very end, and then 7 PM rolled around and that was it. So we went home and they both crashed.

Tomorrow we go to San Antonio and SeaWorld. Ava cannot wait to see Shamu.

Carter can go forward! If presented with a desirable target, in this case blocks, he can alternate his hands and feet and haul himself along the floor without picking up his torso. It is a bit "dying of thirst in the desert"-ish, but it works. He is very happy with himself.

We hit Old Navy. Ava was outfitted for the summer, with a variety of 3 for $15 matching and coordinating items. Love it. Easy as pie. I looked for myself, but decided against attempting to be fashion-forward, and chose instead to live vicariously through my daughter. If her wardrobe is any indication, I am one flamboyant chick.

I did not mean to end the previous post so abruptly, Carter woke up and I had to sign off.

I think I forgot to mention that Carter can lift his belly off the floor now--he gets up on his hands and knees, looks around with glee and then collapses back down. Sometimes he just puts his head down, and then pushes up with his legs so that he is in an inverted V with head and feet on the floor. He thinks this is pretty clever.

His eyebrows are not located at the same distance from his forehead--one is lower than the other. It is pretty cute, as this means that when he raises both eyebrows, one inevitably goes up higher in an "oh, you don't say" type expression.

I am desperately sick. Well, not desperately, but not feeling too hot. Cold-type thing, with some rather productive coughs and sneezes. Both kids appear to be fine.

We are all slowly recovering from our travels. Ava and Grandma made gingerbread cake this morning, and now they are painting while Carter sleeps. Grandma had the idea of the century when she scraped out all of the eye shadow from a little Clinique compact, and gave it to Ava with the 2 little brushes--Ava now is constantly "putting make-up on."

Did I mention the plane was hot? Like brutally hot?

Oh, and Carter LOVES the baby swings at the playground. LOOOOOOOOOVES them. Big smiles.

Phew. What a day for the Days. Make that days for the Days. We left Green Pond at 9 AM yesterday, ran errands, drove to Plattsburgh (they slept for that part), took the ferry across the lake--a source of predictable fascination for Ava, had lunch at the little restaurant on the VT side of the Lake Champlain Ferry Co., and drove to downtown Burlington. Carter was not a big fan of that last leg of the trip, but once we were at the Echo Aquarium he was very happy. It is amazing what a few fish and some bubbles can do. Ava ran around the aquarium, absolutely thrilled. We tried to watch a movie about a sea turtle, but she could not sit still, nor could she remember her 'quiet voice' -- "MOM, WHY IS IT DARK IN HERE? I CAN'T SEE!" and so on. She settled in for about 5 minutes, and then announced "Mom, I'm all done." So we left. We made one more trip to the starfish, and then left for the hotel, where Carter was thrilled to be let loose on the rug to roll around. We ordered Domino's Pizza and ate it on the bed, prompting an expression of utter disbelief and wonder from Ava. Between the picnic on the bed and all of the little items that come in a wrapper in your standard hotel room, she was so excited. Then we settled in and fell asleep, only to wake up at 1 AM. I am not sure what woke her up, but she and I were awake. Nor could we fall back asleep. I am not sure why she could not, but I know I could not because I knew I was getting up at 4 AM, and with every minute that passed, I was just increasing my misery the following day. I think we drifted off at 2:30. 4 AM arrived with an explosion of hip hop from the alarm clock, jolting us all awake. We were all surprisingly cheery, and I managed to get us out of there in 35 minutes flat. Carrying 2 kids and 4 bags downstairs is not easy. We drove to the airport, parked, grabbed the shuttle, and checked in. So far so good. Security was relatively seamless, and off we went to the gate. (An important aside: I had put our coats in our checked bag at the last minute, after we were safely inside the airport, within visual contact of the lady checking us in). They called us for boarding, and God bless Continental, they allowed us to pre-board, a rare luxury these days. And through the first door we went, only to be confronted with a wide open door, out onto the tarmac. Neither kid had a jacket, gloves or a hat. Carter had a hood on his sweater, thank god. It was 5 degrees out. I stood there, looking at the open door, and looking at the Emergency ONLY door, and just could not bring myself to go through either one. Finally a woman in a very warm outfit motioned for me to come out. I said "nice of them to mention we would be going outside" and she was shocked that they had not done so. She was extremely nice and carried Ava up onto the plane while I got Carter out of the backpack that had to be checked. Amazingly, Ava went with her and then to the flight attendant who got her seated. She never looked back! I guess the excitement of getting on the plane completely masked any stranger danger she normally would experience. The first flight was unremarkable-Carter slept and Ava was a bundle of excitement. The only issue was that the plane was a sauna, and within 5 minutes I was drenched in sweat. Having forgotten to pack deoderant (duh), this was a little embarassing. We landed in Cleveland and found out that we did not have to leave our gate, as we would reboard the same plane. Fortunate, since it was a little jet, and Ava could actually see out the window. I completely rendered the point of staying at the same gate useless though by walking about 5 miles through the airport in search of Starbucks, carrying Carter plus, oh, 30 pounds of carryon stuff. It was good for Ava though, as she got to stretch her legs. We found the Starbucks, had an exchange with the world's least helpful person, and walked back. For the second leg of our flight we were in the very last row, oddly comforting--it was nice to know that there were only 4 people that we could really irritate--the guy next to us and the row in front, vs. having a whole row of people behind us. Carter slept for the first 40 minutes, was awake for an hour, and then started to really fuss. Ava had not yet slept. 4 AM and still going strong. She was so antsy that I thought she would just implode, and so I stood up, said "lie down and go to sleep" -- I had to repeat that for about 10 minutes, rather forcefully, while Carter cried, and then she suddenly crashed. Along with Carter. They slept the rest of the way and I bacame the smelliest human to ever fly Continental. We met up with Grandma, drove home and I immediately washed up, changed clothes, and drank a pot of coffee. Ava was beside herself with excitement. We had lunch while the piano tuner tuned the piano, very interesting, and then I put Carter down while Ava and Grandma made whipped cream and strawberries. Finally, we went for a walk, to the park, played for a bit, came home for tubbies, dinner and bed. It is 7:21, and I am headed in to join them. I cannot believe that I made it through the day. Tomorrow we hit Old Navy to buy some short sleeve shirts and shorts for Ava, as she does not fit into anything from last summer.

I am sure we will go back to the park too--Ava is much improved on the playground equipment--she really has become a little girl, and I am not as fearful of her on the stuff as last summer.