Year 2, Day 70: Divide and Conquer

I realized this morning that each of the 4 Johnson adults that live in Indy had 1 of my kids with them, literally in 3 different states!  Jared and Benaiah were in Ohio for an e2 event.  Gary and Justin were in Nebraska for another speaking engagement.  Leah had Keturah for a sleepover, so they were out running errands this morning.  And Abishai and I were at home getting ready for the day and playing.  4 adults and 4 kids, scattered everywhere!  How did we ever survive in Canada without the Grandparents' help?  By relying on friends or not doing as much as we do now.  Or I took the kids with me to things more often.  But what a privilege to be near Grandparents again.  It is a blessing that I don't want to take for granted.  And oh my goodness, I think Abishai really missed having his one on one Grandma time last Monday because several times today he ran over to her for hugs!  And he screeched (until Keturah shared her very blue lollipop with him) when he had to get in our van instead of Grandma's car.   As Jared says, "He's SOOOOO CUUTTTEEEEE!!!!!"  And he's stir crazy tonight because he only got a 1 1/2 hr nap today between things.  Leah had him this evening so I could a Lilla Rose event with a hair stylist friend.  Only one other person showed up, but, she bought a couple of things and I got to talk to my hair stylist for a couple of hours, too.  Yeah for "me" time!

I haven't heard from Gary and Justin today, but yesterday they went to an aquarium and walked under those tunnel type fish tanks!  They also stood in an area with big bats flying around!  Fun!  I wouldn't mind seeing bats if I knew they were there. I did see a bunch of bats in a cave when I was younger, maybe in my childhood or maybe as a college student.  I can't remember.  They aren't bad creatures, but if they are flying at you they can make you jump, just like any other flying creature, bees, wasps, birds, flying grasshoppers/locusts, etc.

I'm going to be done with this quickly because it's time to "spring forward" tonight and I have several easy tasks things that need to just get done tonight.

Working on how to use these cool velveted racks I got at Aldi's.  I didn't use them today, but they look neat!

The scarf holder holding a scarf!

Might be a good way to showcase just a few flexi's at a time.

Abishai wearing dinosaur pj's in a dinosaur cloth diaper, asking to watch/play the game Overwatch.  Thanks Justin and Benaiah for getting him hooked!  Or maybe he just knows that it belongs in the PS4.  We watched RT, or Robot Trains (and the theme song is in my head!) and Thomas and a short Lego movie we borrowed from the library that features the I-Rex from Jurassic World.

When I was changing Abishai's diaper, I commented on how blue his face and tongue were, so I took a mirror and showed him.  He got VERY upset that his face and tongue weren't normal colors!  But he wouldn't let me take away the mirror!

Mom, clean up me up!  It's wrong!

But he did willingly show me and Daddy his blue tongue.

Trying to fill Dad's shoes already.

So, I was doing stuff this morning and I hear Abishai comment "wa-we vroom" from the other room.  I found him wiping his cars off on a kitchen towel, but he had laid it in the laundry room (because I was in and out of that room several times today).  I'm not sure if he had actually gotten his cars wet from his sippy cup, or was pretending to get them wet through the carwash, or maybe they had been in some of the soot that is sitting outside of the fireplace and they needed to be cleaned up.  But nonetheless, he was wiping them on this towel he found hanging in the kitchen in front of the sink.  I love it when kid put two and two together like kitchen towel and cleaning up.  Sweet!

How many bowls of carbs does one picky boy need?  I've been pretty careful lately not to have this happen, but the last few days have been busy and I just needed Abishai to eat something and do it quickly. At least this was all from today's offerings though.  He had some fruit and protein, too.  And apparently a ton of goldfish at church, so much that one of the volunteers sarcastically commented, "Do you feed this kid?"  We do try to feed him before church, but it's usually a mad rush from naptime to getting in the car and toddlers eat slowly.  But Abishai does eat a lot normally.  He has to because he uses so much energy, just like Justin, and radiates heat constantly.  If only the rest of us had that energy and metabolism.

Are you comfy enough, Keturah?  When Grandpa's away, the grandchildren always steal his chair!  Plus she has Grandma's Nook and Grandma's favorite blanket.

Blue face from a very blue lollipop!

I tried carrying Abishai up the stairs, but he was insistent that he do it himself!  It's much better at walking and stairs than the other kids were, partly because I simply can't hold him all the time and, we always blocked the stairs in our house in Beech Grove when the other kids were little.  He holds on the railing every time, too.  And sometimes, if he's going down unfamiliar stairs (like in the houses we looked at), he'll still turn around and go down on his belly!  Very safe and neat, at least some of the time!