Wait for it.... Wait for it....

Have you heard of the movie "The Fantastic Four"? I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed the Cranktastic Cohort yesterday!! Oh my goodness!!! Kailin woke up around 5 (as usual) and then proceeded to wail in her doorway and open and close her door (we'd asked her not to come to our room in the morning anymore in an effort to stop her from slamming our door (which is adjacent to Colby's)) until she woke her brother at 5:15. 5:15 is TOO EARLY for Colby (and the rest of us, but that's another story!). So he was cranky. Kailin is always cranky because she truly needs to sleep later. When Twin Two arrived, it was clear that this might be an ugly sort of day.

Normally, Twin Two fusses as his mom is walking out the door and is all smiles and giggles and happily waving by the time she's backing out of the driveway. Not yesterday. He fussed and fussed and fussed. Hmmmm..... He felt a little warm to me, but he'd just been in the car with a jacket on. I waited awhile... he still felt a little warm, but he'd been running around. The Twins went down for their morning naps and I dealt with my Impatient Princess. When the Twins awoke, Twin Two still felt really warm to me, so I took his temp. 100.7 A quick call to his mom to okay some Tylenol and off we went. Everyone ate a great lunch, so hooray for that!

The Cranktastic Cohort was winding up to full Crankticity when I deemed it time for immediate deployment of the Nap Initiative. I had the Twins down for naps when the phone rang. "We have a realtor who would like to show your house this evening between 6:30 and 7:30." Excuse me? Did you say TONIGHT - as in - FIVE HOURS FROM NOW? AND did you say 6:30 to 7:30? You did???? $#*^!!!!! "Ummm.... could you see if they might be able to come between 6 and 7 instead?" Of course they could not. They did agree to try to come as close to 6:30 as possible. Okay, I'll take it. Put Kailin down for her nap and hear that Colby is still awake in there. Normally, I'd be annoyed by that, but he will actually sleep until he needs to sleep and also - it meant I bought myself some more cleaning time.

We don't have regular interest in our house and although we should keep it mostly clean just because you should and we should keep it extra clean for showing purposes....we've neglected it as of late. Of course all of this would go down on a day when Steve is going straight from work to the dentist and then to dog training. Of course it would! I busied myself cleaning the downstairs and managed everything I could get done with the kids sleeping upstairs about five minutes before the first one woke up. Hooray for small miracles.

Twin Two was up first. He felt warm again, but it was only 45 minutes or so til he went home, so I decided against medicating again. Twin One followed shortly thereafter. I brought them downstairs and discovered that Twin Two was quite clingy. After a short while, he ventured off my lap just in time for Kailin to wail her way down the stairs and climb up. I snuggled her until she requested a snack and then got granola bars for everyone. Kailin and Colby snarfed theirs down with gusto. Dawson snubbed his at first, but gave in to peer pressure eventually and requested some. Colby toddled over to the table where our tv is and then lost his balance and whacked his face on the table - it was hard enough that I thought we might have blood and/or tooth issues. He toppled over and in the process, brushed past Dawson who pretty much just sat down a little hard. Colby hopped back up and went about his business. Dawson went to pieces. He cried so hard that he choked himself and gagged. Thankfully I made it over there in time to make sure he didn't choke and to catch the majority of what came out of his mouth. That was 3:45. He did not calm down again until he went home at 4:15. Poor kid. Needless to say, between him crying and sputtering and Kailin and Colby fussing and wanting to be picked up...not so much cleaning of any kind got done. As soon as Dawson left, I herded my kids upstairs and cleaned like I've never cleaned before. Let the dogs up. Fed the kids. Fed the dogs. Wiped down the kitchen counters (which were finally clear of debris after I took some loads of stuff upstairs after the kids got up). Unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. Dogs back downstairs. Kids back upstairs. Cardio vacuumed (I was one seriously Sweaty Betty). Put kids in their jammies. Herded kids and vacuum back downstairs. Got kids milk and packed diaper bag. Herded kids out the front door and into the Jeep.

We all went to McDonald's for ice cream. Both kids delighted in it and I was thrilled that I'd thought of it. Not only did it occupy them for awhile, but it was a great family moment (it would've been even better if Steve had been there). Kailin even tried to share her cone with Colby (who was sharing one with me). She really only managed to smear his coat with ice cream as she entirely missed his mouth - but her spirit and effort made me proud and I didn't care about the coat. On our way out, a woman there with (I presumed) her grandchildren stopped me and said, "Your kids are..." at which point I waited for "adorable. Are they Chinese?" or "beautiful.... where are they from?" or "so cute. Are they your kids?" Well I waited and I waited, but what she said was, "Your kids are so well behaved!!" What a pleasant surprise! I thanked the woman and then her grandson held the door for me and I said, "Wow! That's really gentleman-like for a young guy!" and she said, "He makes Grandma proud!" What a lovely interaction! I wondered anyone in the McDonald's thought I was a nut case for having my kids in there in pajamas or wondered if I didn't know that the outfits my kids were wearing were in fact pajamas and not outfits at all. ha ha.

The fun ended. As soon as I loaded the kids into the car, Kailin began asking a series of incessant questions and fretting about every single answer. Colby just plain wailed. For half an hour I drove around like that before I just said, "I'm going home and if they haven't been there yet, I'll sit in the car at the end of the block until they leave...." Luckily, they'd already been here, and I snatched the kids out of the car and put them both to bed!!! WHAT A DAY!!!!!

Today will be better - I've already decided.