A first or two

I was totally planning to serve leftovers for dinner. I cooked every night this week so the fridge is full of Tupperware and ziploc. Jay worked Friday night so we decided to take Saturday easy (lazy) but I did do seven loads of laundry. 

When he was up and moving around he asked if I wanted to go out to dinner. I was indifferent but he wanted to go somewhere decent so we decided to call Kabuto and see if they were packed or if we could get in. I was shocked that woth GHOE and furniture market and BBQ festival that there was anywhere to eat in NC! They got us a 7 o'clock and I set about getting little people ready. 

As I was curling my hair I had a crazy idea. Both Lila and Jay had late afternoon naps and Hayden begged all day to do something fun. What if we took them to a movie after dinner? Lila has never been to one in the theater and Hayden hasn't seen one in ages. Why not?

We arrived at the restaurant and were literally seated immediately. Never happened. I took it as a good sign. I took Lila to the bathroom on what would be no less than eleven trips during dinner. Two year olds are tricky. We ordered and waited for the show. 

It didn't occur to me how scary the big fire might be to Lila. Hayden loved it at her age. Lila did NOT love it. She cried. And cried. She finally got it under control and we were all able to move on. 

She loved the steak and chicken and rice so I guess it made up for the earlier terror. They accidentally brought out birthday ice cream where there was no birthday so my kids were the lucky recipients of a sweet treat! 

We left dinner and headed to the movie which was close by and I tried to prepare Lila for sitting for 90 minutes with the promise of goodies and fun. For four of us with large popcorn and drinks it was about $30. If we're being honest, that's pretty cheap for a family outing! 

We went to see The Book of Life and it was pretty good. It kept Lila's attention for the most part and had good music and great animation. It was different than the Disney movies we usually watch but we all liked it. Lila really liked the pig, the popcorn and dancing in her seat. Towards the end she got a little restless and bounced between me, Jay and her seat but otherwise did pretty well. I'm ready for another go at dinner and a movie!  

Potty progress, and other things Hayden

I swear Hayden grew 3 inches while I was gone! I was in Mainz Kastel for training for my job and Jay & Hayden were left up to their own devices from Sunday to Friday. I came home early Friday afternoon, stopped by the house and Jay & I went to the commissary and to pick up Hayden. While he recognized me and hugged me immediately, it was clear that I had missed out on some serious boy bonding time as Hayden ran straight to his dad. It was strange to be without either of them all week, and school was exhausting so it was nice to get home to my boys.

Hayden is making leaps and bounds in the potty department! He went poop on the potty every day this weekend and is getting really good at telling us when he needs to go. He usually pees at least twice a day at home, and sometimes at daycare. We are so proud of the progress he's made and are continually amazed at what he can do.

He's working on multi-syllable words, phrases and practicing what he already knows in the vocabulary department. He's got "not nice" and "go 'way" down pat; we tell him something was not nice when he's being ugly to Oscar or us for instance, and he tells us to go away when we're keeping him from getting into trouble, also known as something he wants to do. Typical toddler behavior, but man if it isn't still cute! He gets better by the day at using utensils to eat and big boy cups in his chair. Where did my baby go?

Last weekend we took Hayden to "his" first movie, as in, one that was for him and not just one he tagged along for. We went to see Toy Story 3. Hayden has a Toy Story toybox and dinosaur flashlight, so we figured he'd recognize the characters. I think he enjoyed about the first 45 minutes, shouting "Ah-guh" (Oscar) when he first saw the dog. After that he just wanted to play in and out of the doors, crawl on the floor, etc. so we left a little early. But not bad for our first attempt at a movie with our almost-two-year-old. He loved the popcorn though!