The Toddler Invasion

As my readers know, I did daycare for 4 years.  The two little peanuts I watched are my absolute favorite 2 and 4 year old toddlers in the whole wide world.  They are the funniest little characters who continue to steal our hearts in our weekly visits.  Many a humorous blog post has been written about them, such as…Goats in Bathrooms, Kitchens, and Jumping on Chairs, Belly Buttons and Boogers, and My Mommm Said Sooooo.

They stayed with us this weekend while their Mom ran a 10 dog team in a sled dog race.

And, oh the fun we had!

From coloring (new art for the refrigerator), to playing with babies, to farms and doll houses…to animated talking with us and/or between the two of them.  At one point Tim and I laughed as the youngest was telling her older sister something…very loudly.  She reminded us of drill sergeant!

We had snuggles, silly meal times, Doc McStuffins shows, and crazy baths.  Sweet little ‘I love you’s’, loud ‘I’m donnnnnne!’ yells coming from the bathroom from the 2 year old (followed by me running to grab the toilet paper), and nice little talks.  We discovered that we have ‘old ears’ while the many reminders of ‘let’s use our inside voices’ were spoken.  Elena would ask “Do you have a headache?”  “No”, I’d say, “just old ears”.

On Saturday, the girls got to go to Space Camp for 5 hours at a local church with their new daycare lady – our friend Tara – where they got to look at the stars, and sing, and make moon dust/treasure jars, and shoot rockets…all while I got to go home to take a nap! 🙂

On Sunday we went to watch their Mom finish her race.  Nicole fell asleep somewhere between our house and the 10 blocks to the race finish and continued to sleep throughout the festivities.  (I guess we wore her out!)

Elena and I walked the finish area waiting and waiting for her Momma to come in.  There’s a whole new appreciation for the many layers of clothes we were wearing when the wind chill brings the temps down to -20’s.  Tim stayed with Nicole at the car, until we started to get cold, then we joined them.

Tim then took a turn on lookout and as soon as he saw Jen coming in, he grabbed Elena and raced her to the finish line just as her Mom crossed.  Elena climbed onto the sled for the last little run to the dog truck.   Then, given the choice of going with Mom to the awards banquet or going back to our house, Elena announced “I WANT TO GO TO PATTY’S HOUSE!”

Guh…these girls.  Have I told you lately how much I love these little girls?

Their sweetness, their sneakiness (as they try to convince you they need another cookie), their hilarious antics, and their angelic faces while they sleep.

When Momma came to pick them up, the little goobers who usually jump up yelling and running to Mom…just sat there…playing with their dolls…and said “Hi Mom”.  Poor Jen.  Here she was, missing her girls after doing a 65 mile race, asking them if they’re ready to go home and they both look at her and say “NO”.

I’m so glad they still love it at Patty’s House…

I hope you had as much fun this weekend as we did!

Patty O

…Full disclosure:  Yes, I was exhausted (happily)

…and yes, I had a big glass of wine on Sunday night after they went home! Whew! 🙂