Last Saturday the girls and I went back to the lake for another round of fun. Nick didn't want to go as he had been several times for P.E. with school, and Noah didn't want to get cold again. Too bad for them. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Blue skies, sun shining down, tons of people out having fun. We brought two sleds, with the intention of me pulling both girls around the lake, and Baby taking turns riding with them. But she had other ideas.
Alexandra screamed like a banshee every time we attempted to have her sit on the sled. It didn't seem to matter if it was with Sarah or Sophie, she didn't like it and she let everyone know it. What did she want to do instead? Have Mommy carry her. Unfortunately, Heavenly Father neglected to give mothers four arms rather than two, so much more practical and I intend to discuss this change should I ever be given the chance. I couldn't pull both sleds and hold her. So then we formed a caravan. I would hold Baby and pull Sarah's sled, while she held on to the rope attached to Sophie's sled. But sometimes she would let go of the rope and then we would have to wait while Sophie scootched her sled back up to Sarah. And of course, Alexandra isn't exactly a newborn anymore. She got really heavy, so I would have to set her down every once in a while, which set off another round of screaming. A few times I just put her on the sled, screaming or not, so we could pick up our snail's pace around the lake.
This turned out to not be such a great idea, as she threw herself off the sled, and face first into the snow. I guess that was better than having fun and sitting up with her sisters. I, of course, being the mother, was kind of immune to her theatrics, but a few passersby gave me "that look". One lady even rushed over and picked her up out of the snow and was murmuring all kinds of sympathetic noises in her ear, all the while giving me the look of death for allowing my kid to be harmed in such a manner. Um, lady, did you see the way she vaulted herself off the sled and into the snow? I had nothing to do with it.
To keep my frustration with the whole situation in check, I called Chris to vent and make sure he knew he owed me big time for taking her on this little outing so he could get some quiet time at home. But it wasn't a good time for him to get yelled at, as he was in the middle of poop. It seems Noah tried to take care of some rather messy business by himself, thus turning a small mess into a giant mess. As Chris described it later, there was poop on Noah's legs, bum, hands, the toilet, the floor, the sink and the bathroom wall. So I quickly got off the phone and let him continue on with his desinfecting of the bathroom.
We finally found a compromise where Alexandra would walk along holding one of my fingers while I pulled the girls on their sleds. Took us 45 minutes to make it around the lake one time, but whatever, we made it. The man with the snowplow was there pulling kids again, but I told the girls that they had already had a turn on Wednesday, and it was the other kids' turn. For one brief moment I got kind of bugged that there were so many "outsiders" hogging up our lake. But I guess that is just the price you pay for the opportunity to live in a postcard.
We were all extremely warm by the end of our walk. That sun combined with a bit of exercise was rather potent. Off came the hats, gloves, and scarves. I even unzipped my coat a little. But the girls weren't ready to go home just yet. We spent another half an hour sledding down the hill by the playground. Baby just sat on my lap, perfectly angelic, the whole time while they played. (Discovered later that she was teething molars and therefore cannot be held responsible for any felonies she may have commited while under the influence of pain) As we were watching the girls play, I heard some far off screaming. It kept getting closer and closer. Soon it was almost ear piercing. Then I saw the source of the screaming. Somebody else was dealing with a temper tantrum throwing toddler. I turned my head so they wouldn't think I was looking at them and just gave thanks that it wasn't me anymore. Ende gut Alles gut!