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   @@@@@     | date: Sat 03 Oct 2026 08:56:17 PM PDT | 
  @@@@@@     | subj: a slide comes home              | 
  @@@@@@     | auth: bbsing                          | 
   @@@@@     | doc#: 000097 ------------------------ | 
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It was yesterday just after my bike ride, I came up out of the
office to get some lunch out of the fridge. Good old left overs,
some chicken, some baked mushrooms, sourcrout, and a few
cheese-its, when I saw out in the back a slide. A little two and a
half foot tall slide. I thought to neat. Then as I took my lunch
in a rush back down stairs I see a basket of giant Legoes,
although they aren't legos, they are MegaBlocks. Hmm more stuff.
This is when I remember my wife saying to the babes last night
"Momma has a surprise for you." 

My wife was lucky her co-worker friend, has children a bit older
than ours, and from time to time she hammydowns my wife stuff
for the kids. 

After work my wife and I go pick up the kids for their last day
at that daycare. We are both pretty dang tired. Last day of the
work week, and we usually give it our all each day. My wife
double so, she has been sick form the diseases from the disease
factory we are heading to pick up our babes at, but she still
had to go to work and do her best to complete some work projects
she's been working on. She is finally starting to get little
whiffs of sent back, its been nearly a week of her loss of smell
due to her nose being completely full of snot. We pick up our
babes, and all their stuff, load them in the truck, hand them
their waffle and drive home. During the drive our son zonks out.
Our daughter as usual alert and chatty the entire way home. 

At home we unload the kids, and mom takes them out back to check
out the slide! I finish up a couple things inside in the kitchen
in preparation for making dinner for the family. We don't know
what we want to eat tonight, a box pizza from the freezer, or
more left overs. Both food choices are not sounding that good.
At my age frozen pizza isn't super healthy, and if we have left
over chicken again, I'll have eaten chicken the last few meals.
Outside looks way more fun so I go out and join them.

The slide is new and its magic. Both kids are super happy to be
out back on the deck with mom. Mom is at the steps of the slide
helping the kids up the slide and positioning them to go down,
so they don't fall backwards, or fall over the side. I see the
kids shoes on the table, and their white socks covering their
feet. Down my son goes, zoom as he launches off the end of the
slide and on to the deck landing on his but. He is so excited!
He quickly gets up and runs back to do it again, each time with
a huge smile on his face. He quickly learns how to climb up, and
sit at the top of the slide in preparation to go down. Our
daughter needs a little help at the top, but then she slides
down, surprised when she gets an extra launch at the end of the
slide due to a slightly upward edge at the end. She launches and
lands on her but. She seems unsure if she likes it. "Yay!" I say
with excitement and a little laugh. She gets up a little slower,
looks at me for confirmation she is OK, then she walks back for
another turn. 

Both kids like the slide, but our son really likes the slide a
lot. He does it again and again. Some times our daughter wants
to go up the slide instead of down the slide. Our son joins in
attempting to climb up the slide, but their socks can't get
enough "gription" while traversing the steeper part of the
slide. They end up pushing the slide around, and find that just
as fun and going down it. They are so excited they run around
the table saying "ah ah ah ah ah" happy about the impact of
their steps on the deck effecting their voice. They play with
the cooler we've left out for months, and the hose. Kitty is a
lot of fun, when they see her in the window. Our son yells like
a screech "Keeeeat!" then puts his face on the glass of the
window where Kitty is. Lots of fun with mom's new surprise
slide. 

Inside mom has the MegaBlocks. She shows the kids the blocks and
they quickly find those a lot of fun. Our son with the
helicopter, our daughter investigates the different color
blocks. They lose interest after awhile as their hunger gets to
them. 

--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday:
Oh the day went by way way to fast. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

Mom was also given some books. She pulled out a huge book "My
First Words." Our daughter loves this book. She opens to the
first page with the kitty, dog, ball, apple, orange, shoes, and
other things, and she points to each one. I tell her the names
of the objects, and sometimes I ask her where is the kitty. She
point to the kitty, and says "kiie." Or "baaa" as she points to
the ball. She is pretty smart. She is paying attention to use
more and more, and looking at us and if we laugh she starts to
laugh. She has a very good sense of humor, much much better than
my own. 

This week at breakfast I've been teaching the kids, not to
throw their sippy cups on the floor, but instead keep them on
their tray so its there when they want to drink from them. I
tell my daughter "on the tray." as I tap my finger a few times
on the tray. She taps her finger on the tray. I tell our son on
the tray is fine. He puts his sippy cup on the right side. They
are both very particular about where the sippy cup most go. It
has to be perfect. They are getting really good at this,

There isn't much food on the floor to clean up these days. At 17
months they've come a long way from throwing food all over the
place. Feeding them is not nearly as frustrating as it used to
be. Sure I got angry and my tone is very serious if they throw
food or throw their cup on the ground. My wife has as well
"Nooo!" she says when they throw food. We both let them know
that isn't good, and when they put the cup on the tray when they
are done we tell them how good it is. They are watching the
different and recognizing we are happier when they behave
differently. Even wiping their faces and hands has gotten
easier. 

-----------------------------
this morning we all went out back to play on the slide and watch
the deer in the yard. Our daughter went down the slide landed on
her but, and decided she doesn't like the slide today. Our son
still loves it. A trip to the park our daughter decided she
wasn't going on the slide that much, when last week she was
going down the slide head first, laying down, backwards,
regular, but now for the moment the slide is not so good. I'm
sure it will pass. 

At the park she was happy to walk from the parking spot all the
way to the play area. Our son did the same. They are little
walkers now, and are doing well listening which way to go, and I
think they remember where the play area is. So we went to the
park and played for awhile. At one point our daughter just took
off on a walk about. Walking pretty far for a little person. One
of the other kids noticed she was all by herself "whos baby is
that?" she asked to the world. I told her "she's mine." The cute
little girl was with her friend taking care and playing with
the friend's little sister who was probably about 14 months old.
The girl says "I thought she was just a lost kid, all on her
own." I told her "I'm watching her to see how far she will go
all by herself. She is pretty far." then I walked off to coax
her back towards the play area. She was off looking at the signs
in the park on near the walking story trail. She saw me and I
told her "come on back this way." she walked back through the
grass getting distracted at the dandy lion flowers, she had to
pick a couple. 

My son with with mom on their own walk about. We all met back up
in the play area. She was carrying him, and said "He is getting
tired." It was nearing their regular nap time. We played a bit
longer, then decided time to load up the kids. The little league
game had ended, and everyone was leaving the park. We had to go
to the next stops .. Groceries to get some vegetables and
bananas for breakfast and dinner the next couple days. 

When we got home the kids didn't want to nap, they had a small
power nap on the way home. So it was back to playing for a few
hours. Snacks in between. Mom and dad are ready for kids to have
a nap so we can have a break.  

------------------------------------------

The kids are getting funner. They are interacting with each
other more, and learning a lot. Our daughter is staring to get
into words, and our son is starting to babble a bit more. He
seems on the verge of getting ready to say more, but we'll have
to be patient.

Mom is getting over some of her sickness, I'm almost back to
normal if there is such a thing for an older dad. 

We were in good spirits today. We were calm, and positive most
of the day. I wonder how we did it today. No work, we all slept
in, and we had a decent breakfast. 



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