It's hard to keep busy and get out and about during the winter. Yesterday it poured rain for most of the day, but we managed to stay sane because in the morning we had a contractor come by to give an estimate for the sunporch and mudroom - and Jack loves when we have visitors now. He'll say: "Look Mama! A people!" and then I'll tell him it's a 'man' or something like that, and Jack will say "Hi Man!". Declan is the opposite when strangers come by - he immediately wants to be picked up and held, as if he's afraid that this new person is a babysitter and I may leave him. After Declan's nap yesterday, I dragged us all to the gym. I wasn't even too keen on working out (although I'm so glad I did) but it was more the opportunity to bring the boys to an open space where there were some new toys. Both seemed pretty happy to go off and explore when I dropped them off which was really nice.

Today the weather was a bit nicer - still freezing, but having the sun out makes all the difference. We stayed pretty busy - first we had a playdate at Edward's house (Edward is in Jack's class, also has a younger brother about Declan's age, and I really like the mom, Rachel) - so nice to hang out in a kid-friendly house. And as a bonus, they had a bouncy castle in the basement (which Declan was terrified of...) and a riding-sized Thomas the Train on tracks that went around in circles that Jack absolutely loved. He stayed down there even when we all came upstairs. He didn't come up until the pizza arrived.

We got home around 1ish, and Declan went right down for his nap, and Jack and I vegged out for awhile in the basement. When we got antsy, we went upstairs to bake cupcakes - letting Jack pour in the ingredients, stir it up, and then fill in the cupcake papers. While he was doing that, the heating guys came to look at our humidifier on the furnace (it's dead... how much money do we need to put into our heating system to make it work right?) and I had Jack call him "Mr. Joe". And Jack was so excited talking away "Mr Joe! We're making cupcakes!" and when he was leaving "Mr. Joe! We're going to the gym!" but really funny, he would sometimes call him "Uncle Joe"...

We did the gym again this afternoon and the boys did great, I got in a wonderful workout. They ran into the playspace when we got there, and then Declan turned to look at me, and I could tell he was contemplating coming back to me, or exploring some more, and fortunately the lure of push/rider toys was stronger. When I picked them up an hour later they were still playing happily, and the babysitters told me that neither boy cried or got upset at all during my absence. It was a good break because before the gym I was starting to go a bit crazy - Jack keeps yelling "MINE!" when he wants to do something by himself (put on his shoes, open his yogurt...) and Declan was just super clingy after his nap. We were all rejuvenated after the trip to the Y.

Notable parts of today:
(1) Our second day of no accidents with the potty training! we've had "no accident days" before, but these recent successes are refreshing because after a few accidents over the weekend I was starting to wonder if I started it too soon.
(2) Declan and Jack had a good-sized dinner - mac n cheese, scrambled eggs, and pastrami. And just as I was in the kitchen, smiling because the boys had a good dinner, smiling because Jack was being silly and making Declan laugh like crazy, I heard an enormous burp and Jack saying "uh oh. Mama. Look at Declan." and there was Declan, with his dinner thrown up all over him. Sigh. Into the tub (all three of us, since I was still grungy from the gym. The boys were thrilled with the novelty of mommy in the tub with them.)
(3) Really good parts of the day - this morning, having breakfast with Jack while Declan slept in, enjoying my cup of coffee and chatting with Jack; Singing "Here is the Beehive" with the boys - they would laugh like crazy when I would Bzzzzzzz and tickle them. Declan runs away and then runs back for more tickles, but he runs back in a defensive position and already throws himself to the ground in anticipation. Laughing the whole time. It's great.