HOTTER'N ME ON A FRIDAY NIGHT...

wearing my Clinique Peach Goddess lip gloss. That's how hot it is in Texas. And believe me, THAT'S HOT. A group of us went to the park this morning at 11:00 am. By noon Avery had melted down to the 19 and a half inches she was born at, and basically the same color red. Ben was a blob of sweat and sunscreen and smelled so much like boy I almost made him walk home alongside the car. It's APRIL 16TH!! What is up with that!? Well, whatever, I have the next 5 months of our lives scheduled. It will be the swimming pool, slathered in sunscreen or just a full body suit, or the library, and I don't care if you're supposed to be quiet in the library. The problem with being so fair skinned, and marrying the only other person on this planet as white as me, is that when I take my kids outside, I can't say, "oops, I forgot the sunscreen." Because that is tantamount to saying, "oops, I just poured scalding water over my child and now he/she is red and covered in blisters and probably going to die of skin cancer by 12". I love using words like tantamount. I can never pull it off verbally, but in writting, I can do ANYTHING. So, added to the oh-so-easy process of getting out the door, is now the sunscreen dance routine fight.

Shortly after I got back home into our cool abode, Jay called for us to meet him for lunch. I loaded the kids back up and headed off to Best Buffet. An exceptionally creative name for a yummy chinese buffet. When I loaded Avery into the car after our feast of potstickers and egg-drop soup, she fell asleep WHILE I was buckling her. That never, ever happens. I don't have kids that fall asleep in their high-chairs, or while watching a movie, or even while laying in bed sometimes. On the way home, Ben asked why we had to go home and aside from the bustling Chinese waiter who clearly wanted the space cleared for more chicken and broccolli lovers, I told him he had to take a nap. He didn't like that answer. And as a solution to that, he started his own version of a game we like to play while we are driving. There is a restuarant here called Taco Bueno and one of the commercials they say, "I say 'TACO', you say 'BUENO'!" I just had that running through my head one day and said it aloud in the car, and thus the game was born. A few days later, Ben needed variety and suggested I say "pocksabo" (popsicle) and he say peanut butter. So we've had lots of fun variations on that game. Well, on the way home, Ben decided on this new version, "Okay mom, I say, 'Do I need to take a nap mom?' and YOU say, 'NO!' Okay, here I go, 'Do I need to take a nap mom?" I knew, as wily as this little boy was with his new games and whatnot, if I said "No" even once, I'd be held to it until he is 30. So I didn't give in. Despite his persistence. But I did laugh very hard, every time he tried. I cannot tell a lie, the boy got his manipulative attributes from me. I just didn't know it could be inherited.