Tofu Cubes on the Floor

Here are two pictures I took after a night alone with the kids.

It was Monday night, the only night of the week when Chris has to work until 9pm.

The day had gone off without a glitch. I went out for breakfast and the kids were great.

Lily played in the water at the outdoor mall and had a blast. She had a great nap in the afternoon. 4 hours I think it was. Topher was awesome as usual. Then it hit 5:30 and we were in the house, and bored to tears. Lily was getting restless, as was Topher. So the only way I know to 'entertain' both kids simultaneously without going crazy myself is to take a walk. God bless the person who invented the double-stroller. We went on a walk, and it would have been great if it wasn't still about 100 degrees out. But it took so much effort to get the kids into the stroller and ready for our walk that I decided to just rough it out. And as hot as it was, the kids roughed it out too. Needless to say, when we got home to our air conditioned sanctuary, we could not have been happier.

So, here's where the pictures help paint what happened for the next hour. Topher's car seat is in the kitchen because that's the first place we went to after our walk. It's the coolest room in the house, and I wanted to get something nice and cool into Lily's system. She downed her Yo-Baby yogurt as if she hadn't eaten in months. Then I decided I was hungry and would make some dinner.

The high-chair is in the kitchen because Lily likes to be higher up so that she can see what's going on at my level. Don't worry, the high-chair was not that close to the stove when she was in it. I'm not the best mom, but I'm not that bad either. When Lily was tired of watching me, she wanted to be on the floor so that she could 'help out' by opening and closing her favorite cabinet. In the picture it's still open. She didn;t get around to closing it this time. All the ingredients that I used to make my 'Bokum Bap' (fried rice) are still out on the stove or on the counter. You can't tell from the picture, but the sink is full of dishes. Which is why there are dirty dishes littering the countertop beside the sink as well.

Topher's ducky swing is the other large piece of baby equipment that is usually in the kitchen. Bless the person who invented chairs that rock on battery power and have fun animals swirling over-head. Though it is a great piece of machinery, it takes up a bunch of room in the kitchen, and aids in making the kitchen look messy and crazy. And as you can see, Lily and I don't need help making things look messy...

The eating of dinner was just as hectic as the making of it. As you can see from the other picture there is an overturned bowl on the floor, along with a bunch of food. Yes, those little white things are cubes of tofu. Sometimes Lily likes to eat them. Sometimes she likes to throw them. Today was a throwing them day. Of course it was. I wasn't mad at her though, because she managed to throw them into a pentagonal formation, and we have been working on geometric shapes for weeks now.... (I am of course joking.)

The booster seat is our seat of choice for when we are sitting at the table to eat. The high chair that is seen in the kitchen does not restrain our children (Lily or Sungu) nearly well enough. I think it's the tray that's attached to the booster seat that really keeps 'em nice and locked in there. We got one for Sungu for his birthday, and decided to get Lily one too. Eating with the kids has become so much more pleasant since we got those things.

Anyway, other stuff that the camera was not able to capture on the floor- Cheerios- both smooshed and whole, baby porridge (from the Super Baby Foods book), as well as chunks of my patience and pieces of my sanity.

And that was my long evening alone with the kids.