We love play dates

This morning we had a play date again at our friend Joan's with Heather and her daughter too. J got excited when I told him we were going to Joan's and then we'd all go to the park together. The kids toys are kept in the kids bedroom and J wasn't shy about making multiple trips in there to pull out a bunch. There was a really cute Elmo puppet book he found "If You're Happy and You Know It" that J wanted me to read to him. I started reading it and the two girls came over to listen too. They all got a kick out of me making Elmo act it out. Then they wanted to hear it again so Heather read it to them. What was really cute was when J went to the fridge where they have a magnetic farm that plays music. He pressed it and started dancing and the girls came in to dance with him. It was the cutest thing, all three of them dancing together and J was giggling. Then the kids heard the lawn mowers outside and they all ran to the door to look out and watch. We went to the park which is just a little walk from Joan's place. The girls took off running together but J wanted "uppy" so I picked him up. He almost went down the big slide by himself today. Almost. The girls both went down and I think that encouraged him but he just didn't quite get the nerve. He still wanted me to go with him. Even with all this happening, we still got to have some good, adult conversations. That's the best part.

The play date was our big excitement for the day. We came home and ate lunch. J was doing fine until he decided to dump his cottage cheese all over. Then he even asked for more! Ha! I hate cleaning up cottage cheese, it is the worst. It sticks to everything and breaks apart and takes forever to get it all. Fun,fun. J wanted to watch a video but he kept changing his mind on what he wanted (Lord of the Beans, Elmo, Thomas the Train). I owed phone calls to two of my sisters so I tried reaching them but not home. I notice I barely spend any time on the phone anymore since so much happens by Facebook or email. I had the hankering for some chocolate chip cookies but just a few, not a whole batch. I found a recipe for a small batch and got J to help me with the mixing and stirring. At one point, he ran off with the spoon so I had to chase after him. He cried for a bit when it was time to go down for his nap, which is rare.

J was really out of it again at dinner tonight. I'm starting to feel like a broken record! He just cried and cried and I finally got him settled and he asked for PB & J and I had it made and got him in the chair but then the crying started all over again. It worked to lay him in his crib for several minutes and he ate fine when he got up. I'm thinking he needs more time maybe from waking up to starting dinner. Maybe he's still half sleepy when dinner comes and needs more time. We'll see. I had a good workout at the Y today doing the elliptical. J was pretty clever getting the Y girls to find his nuk in my diaper bag. He's on a blankie and nuk kick lately. We played outside for a bit when we got home, it was still so nice out there.