12/8/06 An overcast day

Tonya had to close today, so I had Julian this morning. Well, no dilemma then about attempting to go to the gym. If Katrina were sleeping this morning, I'd be tempted to get some "think" time in (doing things in the office, photos, writing, etc), since it's becoming increasingly rare and difficult -- and necessary.

So instead of working on my mind, I worked on my body, and went to a "Pilates Fusion" class at Supreme Court. Katrina did fine in the gym daycare, sleeping the whole time in the carseat. I always, always feel better getting some kind of workout in.

I decided against attempting Target with all three kids after picking Gabriel up from pre-K. I'm glad I did, because persuading Julian to take a nap took a lot of time, but even better, I suddenly discovered a moment when all three were in a good state.


So I took advantage of the overcast day to attempt a photo session outdoors, and actually got some decent pictures. I have very few of all three together, and this is a pretty good one.

I did succeed in Julian's nap, and then Katrina's also, so spent some time with Gabriel decorating cookies. He got in a snit once when he refused to wash his hands after picking his nose, and stomped around for about 10 minutes saying, "FINE, Mom, I'm not going to help you then." So THERE. Since this was a harmless threat, I answered him calmly and said, "OK, Gabriel, that makes me sad, but that's fine," and it didn't escalate despite his best attempts. If only I could be calm about his other threats or refusals, most of which aren't so benign.

Gabriel really liked the angel-shaped cookies, and chose orange to color them with. He's a lot of fun to make cookies with, as he's enthusiastic and cheerful and constantly says how much he likes making cookies. Today's snot-snit was a rarity.

Last Christmas, the boys got a nice toy from Cousin Aidan: a wooden toolset. A nice innocuous toy, a basic building-block sort of toy that I love. Well, today it got turned into a gun. Though I see no reason to buy gun toys, I'm practical about kids and guns: they're going to make their way into the house one way or another!

Using my still camera, I couldn't resist capturing one of Katrina's gooey cooey moments today, though this doesn't do it justice at all. Of course, I know babies get even cuter and more fun as they get older, and that this clip of her at 9 weeks old will seem a lot less thrilling in even just a few weeks. But I can't help myself. Sitting and just looking at her and smiling at each other is so heartwarming and fulfilling. That's the reward of babies.


12/8/06