Monday at the park

The boys and I had a fun day of park hopping yesterday. In the morning we went to a park in Minneapolis, and brought a picnic/snack along. It's been cool again, so Erik was quite disappointed we didn't go in the wading pool. But he was very proud of himself for a new accomplishment: he crossed the monkey bars by himself! Just a month ago, he was scared even to hold the bars and dangle, but we practiced a little bit on holding on and I held his waist so he didn't fall until he was ready. Then he moved on to this sort of controlled fall where he would reach out and grab the bar and then drop. I heard from others (Joe? my parents?) that he was now using the zip line and doing a couple bars on the monkey bars. Yesterday was the first day I got to see him cross the bars. First he did about three, then he did the whole thing! He was so proud of himself!

After lunch we went to a park just a couple blocks away with a neighbor family that has three girls, ages 6, almost 4, and about 3 months. Erik plays with the six year old, and Adin plays with the almost 4 year old, and it's very sweet to watch. Then Adin asked to hold the baby! So I had him sit on the park bench and I gingerly put her in his arms. I think I held my hand under his arm that was supporting baby's head. He did a good job and was gentle, but just held her for a minute and then was done. I thought it was so sweet that he asked to hold her!

I have noticed that the neighborhood kids stay out playing past 8, my kids' bedtime. So Erik and I discussed trying to have Adin and him stay up later and then sleep in later. He was very excited last night when he didn't have to come in and go to bed at 7:30. They came in around 8:20 and were cooperative in getting ready for bed so they were in bed by 9. However, Erik had trouble settling down and was still peeking out of his room at 9:30. He was awake at his usual time of 6:30. Adin, however, was a more dramatic fail. He was awake ALL NIGHT! Crying and restless and needing constant tending from Joe or me. I guess he was way overtired by his later bedtime. So thank goodness, their daycare was open this week and we had to pay anyway to keep our slot for fall. Joe dropped them off at the regular time and I went back to bed and slept til 1 pm! They will be going to bed at their regular time tonight, believe me!