So at 5 PM on Tuesday, Ava had an attack of jealousy over a piece of string cheese that I was giving Carter (as if there are not 5,000,000 other sticks of string cheese in our frige), and so we packed it in and went to the playground. I decided to take them to Lake Clear School playground, which has a huge field and is usually deserted and is reasonably close. We drove Peter’s Tahoe, as my car is at the garage getting an oil change. When we got there, I noticed that there were 2 cars already parked, and a few kids on the playground already. This is unusual. More often than not this playground is completely deserted. And that is one of the reasons why Ava likes it—no kids. It is not that she always wants to be alone, but she does sometimes. So, I even asked her if she wanted to play or not, since there were other kids there and our expectations were not completely met. Well, obviously that was a silly question. I mean, who is going to pick door number one, with a bath and bedtime behind it, when you can have door number two with a playground behind it, kids or no kids. I parked the car, turned it off, pulled the key out of the ignition ever so slightly so the dinging thing did not go off when I opened the door, shut the door and went around to the back to get the backpack out. I opened the rear door, got the backpack, shut the door and then heard the sound of the locks clicking. I was remarkably calm as I reached over and tried the door handle. Nope. Locked. And then the other handle. Locked. And the other. Locked. And then the other. Locked. And then with one to go, the panic began to rush through my blood. And it too was locked. Both kids were in the car which had just spontaneously locked itself. Somehow the rear door triggered this random security measure, and now they were locked in there, with the keys and my phone. And the windows were all shut, and the car was sort of in the sun. I have never felt so helpless in my life. All I could think was please let the people here have a cell phone. I pressed my hands and face against the glass and told Ava that I was just going to run over to the playground and talk to the people over there (about 100 yards away), and that I would be right back. I had no idea how she would react, because she did not know she was stuck, and to her, this would just look like a denial of playtime plus an unacceptable distance from mom. Miracle of miracles, the parents there did have a cell phone, and let me use it. It was weird, because I knew them and had not seen them in a long time, and so my panic was punctuated by pleasantries: “does anyone have a cell phone, my kids are locked in the car, oh, hi, how are you? Oh god, thanks.” I managed to get Peter, who managed to get the garage tow guy to come out, and within 20 minutes the crisis was resolved, but not before Carter had lost his mind and Ava was on the verge. I have to give it to her, she held it together. The garage tow guy was superbly nice, and he had this crazy handlebar mustache that defied gravity and this was a nice thing to think about as her tried to access our car since I could barely stand the crying coming from the other side of the glass. Carter was looking at me like “WHY are you letting me sit here???” Afterwards, Ava had a ball, and so did Carter, and all I could do was think about the possibility that this could have happened when no one was there. There are no houses nearby. And then I would have had to break the window with a rock.

One a lighter note, Ava skied all by herself again today. The first time was over the weekend. I looked out the window and saw Peter skiing in front of her, which meant that he had taken her little reins off. And she was doing great. It is really neat to watch her gain command of her own body. Explaining it is hard, but she is so much more coordinated than 6 months ago. Back then she could run and play and get on the playground equipment and so on, but she was still clumsy. Now, she is aware of her body, and can listen to me tell her how to do something, and she can carry out the instruction. Her balance is really improving, and best of all, she can really do the twist with flair. The other morning, she came into the bedroom where I was putting away clothes, and said “mommy watch me shake my tushie! Tushie tushie tushie!!” So funny.

I think Carter’s first word might actually be Ava. He sits in his high chair and says ‘vavavavavavavava.’ This is really cute. He still is not crawling, but is nail bitingly close. He has put a foot and a hand in sequence, but then he gives up and does his little scoot. He also is figuring out how to give me a raspberry on my tummy, and he finds this to be outrageously funny. It is funny how much I trust his coordination compared to Ava’s. I do no think this is merely a first child/second child thing, ie that I was overly solicitous of her , and I am thinking it is not strictly a gender thing either. I just think he is a bit tougher in personality than she was. He clunks his chin, and he shrugs it off. This would NEVER have been Ava’s reaction. He eats big ol’ pieces of food like a champ at 8 months, and I was still slicing Ava’s blueberries at 14 months. She was gagging on them. He would probably consume a sandwich if I let him. But lately he is just as needy for the snuggles as she was—and he is able to communicate that with outstretched arms or by clambering into my lap all while nuzzling his head against me like a little goat. Very endearing.