Our afternoon started a little off kilter. Just before dropping the kids off at my house, Kara had taken Bentley to get his hair cut. He had not yet recovered from the trauma when he arrived. She suggested I take some trains with us because he'd been expecting to play with them. I scooped up four trains and some track on my way out the door and added it to the toy bag.
When we arrived I took them out for him to play with. He was excited. He sat on the carpet with his little hoard and guarded it. Jackson wanted a piece of track (or maybe an engine), but Bentley was NOT NOT NOT in the mood to share. He started shrieking hysterically whenever Jackson crawled in his direction. My mother was quite amused by the drama. (It was pretty funny.) I asked Bentley if he wanted to set up his track inside the baby pen so he could play unmolested. He jumped on that offer. This is the first time I recall using the pen to keep the twins OUT.
Another unusual occurrence was that great-grandpa played ball with Bentley. Bentley borrowed a couple of the twins' Fisher-Price balls and he started rolling them down the coffee table. Great-grandpa would catch them and roll them back. Bentley had great fun--I hope that great-grandpa did, too.
A third odd event occurred. (I take the camera out to give you a quick sketch of our typical play date at the great-grandparents and it's not a typical day at all.) I forgot to bring along the second play pen. I momentarily thought about putting all three kids in one play pen to nap, but that just wasn't a serious option. I thought about doing naps in shifts, but that doesn't give me any free time.
I decided to try to get Bentley to fall asleep by taking a nap with me on the couch. It worked! He fell asleep after we read a couple of books. He stayed asleep for quite a while after I slipped off the couch and left him there on his own. (If you recall, he'd had a hard morning, so he really needed some down time.)
What were the twins up to while Bentley played with his trains, with their balls, and then napped? They spent part of their time exploring the living room and another part of it confined to the baby pen. Jackson kept trying to escape the living room, but that's not allowed, so he was captured and returned repeatedly. Genevieve attacked the plants by the windows. Jackson read a magazine; the grand-parents have a large stack that needs whittling down and the twins help out every time they come to visit.
I fed them. There are no photos of that because I didn't have enough hands to contain the two babies, let alone one to take photos. To do so would have meant baby food everywhere. Since there is no high chair at my parents' home, it's hard enough to keep them still long enough to shovel the baby food in. I gave up trying to feed both at the same time and fed them one at a time. They took a nap together without too much protesting.
I attempted to get a nice photo of my mom with all three children. I bribed Bentley with a piece of Alpia chocolate to stand still. He took the chocolate, but he didn't stand still long enough for me to focus and click. Jackson meanwhile was doing his best to squirm out of his great-grandma's hold. My mom laughed at my attempts.
It was a good Wednesday. Great-grandma had her time with great-grandbabies and ran her errands. Kara had a few free hours to do with as she liked. She had lunch with friends and then ran lots of errands. I encourage her to stay home and read or nap, but she almost always runs errands. If she stays home, she paints the bathroom or hallways. Silly mommy! Free time is for playing or sleeping, not working.
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