Stories, stories

Ohh, we've had a week of appointments.  Mainly for Blake. With one therapy session for Leah.  The worst part of these appointments is that they always seem to be scheduled during naptime and require at least an hour's drive.  Might I add, this is with two kids strapped in car seats that don't understand when they throw their snacks or pacifiers on the floor...I CAN'T jump over the seat immediately and get them.  Autum seriously has no understanding of that...I am beginning to think she does it so she can test how long she can hold one loud shrill scream...I believe 55 minutes is her new record. At least it was last Friday on our way to Wichita for Blake's eye exam.

That was just the beginning.  We saw a new specialist, who I might add did great with my 2 littles.  She let Autum participate in the exam, just like Blake, as her jealousy was becoming obvious with each passing minute of attention being on Blake.  It started with a small whine..."mooommmmy, I do it, I do it..."  Then it turned into, "MOM! I DO IT!"  Then it ended with this, "BOBBY! MINE!"  And a personal attempt to remove him from my lap as we were sitting in the large exam chair.   So the doctor allowed her a chance to look at the light and point at pictures, etc.  Well, we made some conclusions, pretty much ending in us coming back without Autum to do further tests...because it was 3 pm by this time.  WAY past naptime.  I thought we were good and we could get out of there...but the doctor gave each kid a high-five and Blake held his arms up in a hug--which is his usual fashion.  So the doctor just assumed Autum would want the same...she reached in for a hug and Autum cold-cocked her with her famous 'left hook'.  (we warn everyone that she has a mean left-hook that comes out nowhere) The doctor stood up, stepped back, as I tried to figure out what to say or do at the moment.  The doctor told Autum "we don't hit." Which I am still not sure how I feel about, but we left the office and she and I had a chat on the way to the car...but her eyes were already closing to sleep as I strapped her in her car seat.

And to think she was going to be my quiet, shy, laid-back child...

Fast forward a few days. It's Monday morning. Need I say more.  I barely got Leah out the door on time.  Still needed a shower, had 2 kids running around in pee-filled diapers from the nighttime before, breakfast was a scattered mess on the table and I needed to have Blake ready for school in 40 minutes.  I opted for a shower because I had another appointment to be at by 11, in another town, of course.  I plopped the kids in front of Elmo and figured I had at least 8 minutes to get my hair washed.  So I rushed through my shower only to get out and get met with this feeling of "uh oh...its too quiet..." I was planning to quickly dry my hair but my mom instinct took over and I ran to the front room.  I got their to find an empty room, no kids, no noise, no nothing.  That gets a mom's heart rate going...I then noticed the front door was cracked open, so I looked out the front door to see them standing at the end of our driveway, with hoola hoops around their waists...just a singing and carrying on.  You see, it was a little after 8 am...which is when school starts and when people are heading to work...you know the busiest time of day on our street...SO my heart rate went up even more as I realized I was faced with a dilemma...go put on my clothes and then go grab my kids...hoping my yelling would bring them back to the house...or hope my measly towel would be enough coverage for me to sprint across our front yard, scoop up both kids and sprint back.  I opted for the latter, as I knew my yelling would only be met with Autum's adament "NOOOO!"  I held my towel in place, chose not to look either right or left, sprinted to the street, grabbed both kids by the arms and drug them back to the house, hoping I wasn't revealing too many things to the surrounding audience waiting for carpool at the school.  I stepped inside, shut the door, and took a big breath.  And held it the rest of the day as I awaited someone posting the scenario that I just experienced play out, be made available to the world.  Phew...so far, so good.

Just another day in the life of...
PS--Blake is the culprit who I now know can unlock our doors and escape.  I've seen him do it twice.  Little booger.