Abe left on a work trip today and the kids had the day off of school. Under normal circumstances, this would be a terrific day, through and through. I love having the whole day with all of the kids, and Abe stayed home an extra two hours in the morning because he’s been gone so much, so that was awesome. But we now have a baby, Clarissa, who refuses to sleep. She no longer naps, and she protests bedtime to the point where I am taking her to the doctor tomorrow. I fear she has given herself laryngitis from screaming. Also, not only does she stay awake all day, but she is craaaaaazzzy all day long. I thought Ammon was a handful–and he totally was!–but I really do think Clarissa has him beat.
(When they fight, she CERTAINLY has him beat. She takes no prisoners…pulling out his hair, grabbing his face, pushing him, hitting him–and she is STRONG, by the way–and through it all Ammon just cowers and screams in pain.)
Anyway, after I spent the morning chasing Clarissa around the cul-de-sac and prying her off of neighbors’ power tools, etc., she finally threw one major fit (after about ten other ones) wherein I didn’t catch her quickly enough as she pitched herself backward onto the street. Her head hit first and I was TERRIFIED I would pick her up and blood would be everywhere. Thank goodness she was fine.
I will admit my next thought was, “Hallelujah. For sure she’ll sleep after this!” …and I promptly went in to feed her and attempt to put her down for a nap.
No such luck. She played and complained for an hour in her room, after which I called it quits, fed her lunch, and piled everyone in the car for a trip to Red Butte Gardens, per Mary’s request.
We did Mary’s activity because: Mary lost her first tooth today!!!!! She is so proud of herself, and her smile is seriously the cutest thing ever. She was eating and apple I had peeled, and out popped her tooth! She and Lydia ran in from the porch squealing and delighted.
So with that excitement propelling us on, we drove to Salt Lake and spent a couple hours in Red Butte. During that time, I will add, Clarissa was completely insane and tried to pitch herself into the pond, the fountains, and off the ledge of the children’s garden. None of my other children attempted this so I never even realized there was a ledge there, but lo and behold there is. And Clarissa found it. And screamed in protest when I dragged her away, as she screamed when I dragged her away from every other hazard she discovered. She also drank water out of a standing pool of water that had collected in a bucket before I could run and stop her, and so now I fear she has worms on top of her laryngitis.
Other than that, it was a wonderful outing. The sun was shining, it felt like spring, and all of the kids said it was the best day ever. After we ate dinner at Whole Foods and then drove home. I will add that Clarissa DID NOT SLEEP IN THE CAR EITHER. I thought that was a feat beyond belief, but again I assumed it meant bedtime would be a snap. Wrong again!
When she started screaming at bedtime, I got the other kids all tucked in and basically ran out of the house to Barnes and Noble to calm down for an hour. I got some things for Mary from the tooth fairy (because the first tooth is special) and I got a book for me.
Here are the pictures from the day!
