Another Autumn Sunday

With a gorgeous Autumn day at our disposal, I just couldn't resist taking the boys to the playground after church again.  I threw together a simple snacky lunch in the morning so that we could stay out as long as possible.  I thought it was going to be colder than it turned out to be, so that was an even more pleasant surprise.  I love this groove we are in (and the cooperating weather) that we go to the 9am service, then hang out for almost 2 hours at the playground with a picnic before heading home for rest time.  Unfortunately, there are some negatives.  Koen is in this really tough phase where I can tell he's trying to figure out how to play with others.  He's not great at it all the time.  Today was definitely an example of that.  Sometimes I think he's that kid that parents don't want their kids playing with.  I was hovering at first and caught myself nit-picking at his behavior, but I knew I was crowding him and I needed to let him struggle and work through it on his own (even if this meant he wasn't the nicest kid there).  I tried to leave him be and just check in every few minutes to make sure he was doing OK.  I just don't know how to explain to him how to play well and have fun, but not be mean (he's bossy, pushy and has no problem leaving out the odd ones).  He was sweet at some points even coming to tell me that he was making a new friend, but then there was the kid that he kind of tried to alienate and wasn't very kind to (later some how after the kid was sort of mean back (and I didn't really blame him) they actually started happily playing together, I have no idea what happened there, Koen had been in tears earlier about this kid).  Koen and Tavin had some good times together and then Tav was a pretty happy camper most of the rest of the time until the end of our stay when he got pretty tired.  Here are the pictures I got of us enjoying our Sunday playground time.

I love these brother pictures...

I try to capture sweet Penn so that there will be pictures of him in these outings with us.  He's such a trooper, just along for the ride as usual (and looking super cute of course).

Tavin always pretends to nap in this spot.  "I nap who, Mommy."  ("Who" is how he says "here").

Tav loves these twisty things.  Koen didn't join us on them today.  He was too busy playing with the boundaries of good social conduct on the main playground.

Look at these chunky cheeks!  I kept using the camera to see if his eyes were still open.  He loves the BabyBjorn and watching his brothers.

That's it for the playground pics.  We got home in time to feed Penn at 1pm.  Then Tav went down for nap, then Penn.  Then I would like to report that I'm still doing well with letting Koen stay up while unpack, clean up and prep for the evening.  He doesn't go into his room until about 2:45/3pm now.  Big adjustment for me, but it's going well and I think it's good for Koen.  After his rest time, I get him up at 4pm and then wake Penn up a few minutes after that for his feeding.  After that Penn and Koen usually have a little special time together.  Today I got this great picture of them.  Penn is enjoying checking out the exersaucer we are borrowing from some friends.  Koen was having a blast entertaining him in there (maybe a little too intense for Penn).  Such an interested big brother though, I can't complain.

Well, that's pretty much it for today.  After Tav got up we spent the post-nap/pre-dinner time in the backyard flying paper airplanes (big hit!).  Dinnertime, then bath time, bed time for Tav, then feed Penn, then bedtime for Koen, then for Penn.  Phew!  Now, some me time.  Ahhh...  All in all, a great Autumn day.  (I did leave out the dozen direct disobedience issues from Koen, but in the balance of the day it just didn't seem blog-worthy, I'm over it and ready to tackle tomorrow by God's grace and with His strength!).