I shout to the crowd.  Taking the boys by myself to the park yesterday morning makes me feel PROUD.

Yes – the above sentence is taken, almost verbatim, out of a children’s book titled The Way I Feel, by Janan Cain.  I highly recommend it to parents and kids alike.  And yes, I realize Malin does this by herself on a frequent basis but this is the first time I’ve gone solo to Forest Park – playground and water area by myself which adds a bit of complexity.  I’ve taken Nicholas and Dexter to the animal farm there by myself, no problem.  But throw in some water and wood chips, and things get interesting.

The day started very similar to every other day – getting up way too early.  This was followed by no interruptions though.  Hmmm – how strange.  I was able to get up, get ready, eat breakfast, read, and almost fall asleep in the chair before Nicholas and Dexter woke up at 7:30am.  They were all smiles in their cribs this morning and then as soon as we made it through a banana pancake breakfast, things turned sour.  Dexter would not stop crying.  Where had our happy boy gone?  No one wanted to get their swim suits on and no one wanted to get into the van to go to the park.  It was a struggle just to make it out the door – but I persevered.

A bunch of moms with twins were meeting at the park at 9:30am.  We left at 9:30am but needed to stop at Fred Meyers to exchange a pair of water shoes for Dexter.  Fred Meyer has a couple shopping carts that are in the form of race cars and the boys love to drive them.  The last time we were there, Nicholas picked the YELLOW one.  By the time that trip was over, Joel and I were ready to shoot ourselves.  That YELLOW cart had bad wheels and made a horrible racket when pushed.  Guess which cart the boys saw first as we pulled into the parking lot.  Yep – the YELLOW one.  (Why am I screaming the word YELLOW each time I type it?  It’s because the boys don’t say the word, they YELL that word.)  Anyway, it was a good thing our trip was short and the only thing we were buying was shoes.  When we left the store to go back to the car, I ran with the YELLOW cart causing the boys to laugh hysterically at all the noise we were making.

We finally made it to the park around 10am.  Nicholas waited like a good boy as I got Dexter out of the van.  Dexter wanted to bring his monkey blanket with him.  I said no.  That led to another melt down.  At this time, Nicholas had had enough with patiently waiting and headed straight for the playground and water area.  Dexter wouldn’t budge and would not be consoled.  So, out came the bribe I was saving until we left.  That stopped the tears and me managed to finally catch up to Nicholas.  I was impressed with Nicky’s confidence today.  He repeatedly wandered off on his own.  Thank God I put them in bright green hats today so I could keep an eye on them from a distance because Nicholas and Dexter pretty much remained apart most of the morning.

I was able to squeeze in a little chit chat with another twin mom, Jenelle, which was good, because I like Jenelle and she took over watching Dexter for me when Nicky decided he’d had enough of the water area and took off to play on the play ground equipment.  Thankfully, Dexter sat peacefully the whole time I was gone, eating his bunny crackers.  After playing with Nicky one on one physically, but mentally divided, I managed to entice him back over to the water area where he sat and had a snack while Dexter jumped back into playing around shooting streams of water.  After a while, Nicholas joined in.

Not only does Jenelle have twin boys the same age as Nic and Dex, but she also has an adorable 4 year old daughter, Payton.  Payton loves Nicholas and Dexter.  She gladly took Nicky by the had and they walked all over the water park.  Payton’s brother did not want to play in the water so she was happy to lead Nicky around.  She tried to do the same with Dexter and at first, he complied.  It was about the time that Nicky decided to run off again, when Payton and Dexter passed me walking after Nicholas.  Dexter looked up at me with eyes that said “Mom – why are you letting a stranger walk me away from you.  Don’t do this.  Don’t leave me.”  Those eyes made me stop.  The next thing I know, Dexter is running towards me in fully cry mode with a bewildered Payton trailing behind.  I scooped up Dexter and kindly said “Payton, would you go get Nicholas for me, please?  He’s over there.”  Nicky had no problems walking back with Payton.

At 11:15am, it was time to quit with the water, and play briefly on the play equipment before heading home.  This time, I watched Jenelle’s boys as she rounded up one, and then the other.  When Jenelle and kids waved goodbye and started to leave, Dexter followed them.  It was Nicholas’s turn to throw a fit and not want to go.  I had to bribe him with the promise of chicken nuggets in order to get him to move.

We finally made it to the van.  I got Nicky in his seat and walked around to get Dexter strapped in.  No go.  Dexter turned to me and said “Poo”.  Crap – back to the back of the van for a quick poopy diaper change and finally we were off.

Well – we made it home in one piece.  The boys napped and I was exhausted.  There was the afternoon and evening left to go.  We took the easy route – we just played in the backyard. 

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