today was a tough day. two things happened: first rose ran away a half hour before she was to go to the vet. and when i say ran away, i mean ran away from me as i lunged after her through the woods, which is not an easy task, as the underbrush is relatively thick. she was remarkably agile, given the huge lampshade collar she has around her neck, and i almost caught her when she pulled a slick move and dodged through a hole in the fence along our southern property line. it was at that point that i bellowed "GOD DAMN YOU!!!!!!" and retreated. the neighbors are now aware of the exact depth of my frustration. and then, since i could not take her to the vet, and the rest of our day was completely free, we all got dressed for swimming. we had about a half hour down at the dock, frolicking and having a good time, when, for absolutely NO REASON whatsoever, a bee landed on my elbow and stung me. i leapt up, tempered my verbal outburst to "GOD DART IT!" and gathered the kids up and retreated for the second time. i left a huge mess down at the dock, because i was not sure where the bee actually went, and if there were more. all i have to say is holy cow, bee stings hurt like crazy. it really is overkill on the bee's part. half of that pain would be sufficient deterrent to would be honey-thiefs. and it does not stop! my elbow still hurts. and to add to the irritation of it all, it is on the tip of my elbow. i look like popeye with that silly little elbow blip that he had. and i cannot see it without the aid of a mirror. which was interesting to ava.

ultimately, it was probably a good thing that it was me. had it been either child, my life would have been awful. neither of them would have known what happened, and would have been so upset. and this prepares me for adequate compassion when it does happen to them.

carter has decided to not nap--40 minutes/day is all i have been able to extract out of him. it stinks. because he is still tired. so, not pleasant. and all he wants to do is escape down the driveway. i put a barrier of the car, the dog crate (obviously empty), and the grill across the main access point, but he pieced together that he could just walk around the house. all day, all i do is redirect him back to the yard, which is apparently a prison. oh, and he refuses to 'sit down to get down' in order to descend the steps. he HAS to walk down them, and will pitch a huge fit if you do not give him a finger to hold in order to do this. or, he will pitch himself down them, which is not a viable option. he is teething though, so hopefully that explains it all. you know--the link between teething and all irritating behavior is scientifically proven.