One of Katie’s best friends is getting married this weekend so she twisted my arm really hard (I was yelling ‘yes’ before she finished asking) and got me to agree to spend the weekend with Boopity Boop so she and Adam could revel in the festivities without ceasing or worrying.
It’s been a grand kid week.
Megan started school this week but Xena and Babalouie didn’t so they hired Josie to watch them, rather than stick the pair back in daycare for the last week of sumer. Josie needed the cash, as she’s moving into her new place this weekend.
Twice, she brought the kids into town in the afternoon. On the first day, we met at MJ’s. Her kids started school this week (Boo. No one should start school while the Fair is still going on.) Traffic was terrible so Josie and the kiddles didn’t make it in until Nanner and Bean had had time to change out of their uniform and get something to eat before we stuck Tot and Babalouie in the stroller and we took the parade down the parkway. It had been warm and lovely all day but just as we started out, a big gray cloud showed up and rained on us. The sun was still shining all over and we looked for a rainbow but didn’t see one. We didn’t let a little shower stop us, we walked till we were out of time.
Then Josie brought the kids back to my house where the fun continued until Ty arrived in time for dinner.
The second day, Josie made it into town earlier. She and I took the kids to the lake and we took all afternoon getting around it. Xena and Babalouie walked (ran) a major share of the way. They introduced themselves to every dog that happened by and always asked first if they could pet them. They were very willing to offer up the info that they too, have dogs at home. Xena was full of opinions as to how well (or not) her farm dogs would do, walking around the lake on a leash.
When we got to the bandstand, we got ice cream again. I don’t want to make that a habit. I want them to be excited when we get ice cream, not just expectant. They each actually finished off their scoop of mint chocolate chip this time, which was new.
Back at the house, the kids watched The Sandlot while Josie and I made plans for her place. She was going to be able to get into it in the evening and we wanted to bring paint chips over to see what will work in her bedroom and the dining room.
The apartment building is in a terrific, booming neighborhood. It’s a great big old brick building with four large units. Each has three bedrooms and a sunroom, a tiny kitchen and a large living room and formal dining room with a built in buffet. My guess is that the building is no younger than 95 years old and most likely over a century. Gorgeous hard wood floors with substantial wood work everywhere, ten foot ceilings and a tiny kitchen are all throwbacks to a different era. While I wouldn’t want to go back to such tiny, dysfunctional kitchens, I wouldn’t mind seeing intricate millwork and built-ins make a comeback. As I pointed out to Josie, her new kitchen most likely predated such amenities as refrigerators, so a larger kitchen was not necessary. There’s a back stairway/porch area where the old icebox would have been.
I think the light fixtures are most likely original. None of them are in particularly good shape. They all have vestiges of former beauty. The living room light has a lovely large medallion and several hanging fixtures, all of which look like they’ve been inexpertly rewired and jerry-rigged to keep working. Josie’s bedroom also has a ceiling fixture that looks like once upon a time it was gorgeous but now…it works. All of the fixtures are missing their original and any subsequent globes None of them look to have been properly cleaned in decades, either.
The rooms also look like none of them have seen fresh paint since the Eisenhower administration but the landlord is okay with us painting, so we’re going to start with Josie’s bedroom and the diningroom. The room mates will live there for awhile before deciding if the livingroom needs a new coat (it does.) What they really need to decide is whether or not they care enough to do anything about it. Lots of interior design looks the way it does because no one cares. I think a lot of people don’t know how easy it is to paint a wall but I could be underestimating how much work it is, since I love it. Lots of people hate to paint, which I don’t understand. You can transform the look of a room in one day by slapping on a fresh coat of paint! What could be more fun?
Of course, most people are also afraid of color and have no idea how to find the right one.
I guess it’s harder than I think it is. It just happens to be right in my wheel house.
Anyway, due to unforeseen circumstances, we couldn’t actually get into her place until it was dark out. None of the paint chips we brought along looked great under electric overhead lighting, which is the worst of all lighting options.
Josie will live with colors throughout the weekend and pick something. I told her we’d get it all painted once she’d made her choices. The painting itself won’t take more than a couple of days.
In the meantime, I made my way up to the babies.
I’ve been with them for nearly two hours now and all they’ve done is play. Once, when I left the room, Boopity screamed at me, but since then, I talk to them when I have to go around the corner so they know I’m not leaving.
They looked so cute when I got here that I wanted to do a photo shoot. Boop wasn’t into it: she was far too engrossed in her toys but Boopity was a pro. She struck a pose the second I pulled out the camera and never stopped smiling.
They can sit up now and it was hilarious watching them, toe to toe, playing with their toys. Whatever Boop was chewing on, Boopity would reach out and take from her. Boop didn’t mind, she just looked resigned and picked up another toy. Five seconds later, Boopity would take that one right out of her hand. Then, seeming to notice her sister for the first time, Boopity reached out and ruffled Boop’s hair.
I wonder if that dynamic will change at all when they realize Boop is the older sister?
Probably not.
After tummy time, in which they tried mightily to get up on their hands and knees, I put them in their bouncy chairs. They think their bouncy chairs are the most fun things in the universe! Both of them broke into huge grins the moment I put them in the chair. Then, they bounced like they thought they could make it into orbit while I got their dinners ready.
They ate like champs. They usually do. I had made up their bottles along with their cereal (with turkey and sweet potatoes. Yum.) and they polished everything off as though they hadn’t eaten in weeks.
They played for a while, then I put them in their jammies and to bed, where they fell promptly asleep and slept like angels.
For twenty minutes.
Then they woke up, starving to death. They yelled at me, unable to believe that I would do such a dreadful thing as put them to bed on empty stomachs!! They’d only eaten a cup of cereal and 8oz of formula, was I insane??
I got back into their good graces by giving them each another bottle and letting them watch several episodes of Doc Martin with me. We also played a lot of peek-a-boo.
I’m very happy to say that while eating their late evening bottle, Boop took her revenge on her sister. She finished her own bottle first while I had the two of them lying on the couch beside me. She looked over at Boopity, still working away at her bottle and reached out and knocked it out of Boopity’s mouth. I put it back.
Boop immediately knocked Boopity’s bottle out again.
I started to laugh at the cold hearted, dispassionate way in which Boop prevented her larger, stronger, prone-to-bullying sister from eating her dinner in peace and thought to myself “this one is going to be juuust fine.”
They’re already making each other stronger.