Go Audrey! Go Cyclones!

Audrey's really crawling now.  She's on the move, and she's so much happier.  Emily is a little annoyed, but we're handling that just fine.

We've had a crazy weekend, and thankfully we still have Sunday left to enjoy!  Friday we spent the day in Ames because my sister won a free lunch for 20 people from the Ames Visitor and Convention Bureau.  We ate pizza outside on a beautiful day on the patio north of Stephen's auditorium, and they even sent a limo to pick us up from Jenny's house!  The girls and I followed in the van, cuz I was leery of Audrey traveling without a carseat, although it was Emily's choice to ride with me.  The best part for Emily - Cy was there!  She was really scared at first, but we ran around with Cy while she held my hand, and then finally gave him a high five right before we left.  She was surprised that his hands were scratchy. :)

That was good warm-up for last night, when we went to the football game, where she saw Cy again!  Members of the Little Clone Club got to go out onto the field to see the team run out before the game, and she got to be up close to the band.  She LOVED it, although once the game started she was less happy to be there.  I got lots of cute pictures of her and Travis together, while Audrey and I stayed in the stands.  Audrey didn't last two plays into the actual game - too loud, too many people - but she did enjoy riding in the backpack carrier, and she squeaked and kicked and cooed all the way back to Mommo and Poppo's house.  We ate supper there, and Travis and Emily came back after halftime.  It was a really nice outing, even if the tailgating experience was rough beforehand.  Travis tried to drop off me and the girls at a place close to the tailgate, but it turned out to not be close at all.  I was carrying both girls for most of a mile-long hike - 25 lbs on my back, 35 in my arms in front. Then once I got there, the music was incredibly loud, and I kept losing track of Emily, and when I did find people that I wanted to talk to, I was so frazzled that I didn't know what to say.  If I ever do get to have a conversation with somebody, it's a max of 15 seconds before somebody else needs me and I have to tend to someone else.  So that was a personal frustration, but as a family it was a really nice outing.

Really, there were other kids at the football game at the tailgate, of all ages, just having a nice time enjoying it all.  My kids don't handle it well, and I know that and I'm totally fine with that.  So why am I expected to keep dragging them into places that I know won't work well??  Yes, other kids are fine with it, but mine are not.  So what??  Can anyone just believe me that I really do know my kids that well?  Besides, I prefer my kids the way they are - why should I try to make them act more like other people's??  Just my little rant there.  I feel better with that off my chest!

Friday night, after the exciting day in Ames, we went on a hayride at my co-worker's house south of Norwalk (a good 45 min drive!).  There was a bonfire and kitties and lots of other kids, and it was a beautiful warm evening with hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting.  It was really, really nice.  I had the same social anxieties / frustrations as usual, but it was still really fun and worth the drive.  We know some really nice people!

This morning, Travis found Emily washing off Audrey's high chair tray in the bathroom sink.  It was really cute - she had the bar of Dial and was waving it over the tray as the water ran over it.  She turned to me and said, "now it's ALLL clean!"  What a helper!  We had a rough go of things for a while, because she had told me she wasn't going to go potty anymore, that she was done with that.  She held it in for so long that... you can imagine what had been happening.  Days we dealt with that, until Megan came to play, and Emily decided she could go, "just like Megan."  I guess the days of me being able to fix things for her are over (that went fast!!).  If it's up to Emily, she's gonna have to work it out herself, I guess, and my help really doesn't go that far. 

Audrey is proving to be a champion eater!  At this age, Emily had already developed her aversion to anything green and/or vegetable, but Audrey will eat zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, and beans of any kind.  She loves squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes, and she just about freaked out in anticipation last night when she saw me cutting up a peach for her.  She loves pears, plums, apples, bread, yogurt, noodles, and even ratatouille!  She hasn't been much of a fan of meat, but either she'll figure that out or I'll just have a healthy eater on my hands.  That's such a relief - even if she does think her hair is a napkin!