Today pest control came and we had to leave the house for four and a half hours. It turned out to be a great day, although tiring. First Erik and I had to get everything up off the floor that wasn't furniture and vacuum the carpeted rooms. What with packing lunches for all of us on top of the rearranging, this took all morning!
I had to (sadly) wake Nick up after only a half-hour morning nap when the guy came. He was really happy to be up and on the go at first, but tired quickly. We got snacks from the grocery store, dropped off things at Goodwill, and went to the big downtown library for Preschool Storytime. Parents and younger siblings are allowed in this one, so we all went in and Nick loved the place. There were some great toys around the room for someone his age. Xander's friends JT and Izelle were both there. After stories and an activity where everyone put up pictures of different flowers on a display board, they had free play time. Then clean-up, a song, and bye-bye time. Nick had a great time flirting with the adults in the room but drove away some preschoolers when he wanted to "play" cars with them. The bright spot was he got the big colorful carpet and a bin of cars and trucks all to himself. Elvia very nicely offered to bring both Xander and Izelle to the art time after story time while Nick and I refilled our parking meter. Then we had picnic lunch in the courtyard with JT and his mom, Cheri, and two other around-4-year-olds and their moms. It was nice, but a good thing we had all eaten a bit in the car earlier, because I mainly helped Nick move around in the courtyard and didn't eat a thing. Xander and the boys ran around for a while after eating. They were pretty hyper and a little bit loud, but it was genuine little-boy outdoor activity and good for them.
Then we browsed the children's library, Xander and the boys played a game of Memory, Nick fussed a bit and looked around with me, and we went for a walk to kill more time before heading home. We browsed two used book stores and Xander made his first purchase ever with his own money: a short chapter book on dragons for $1.00. Nick was kind of fussy throughout and had had his fill of food and drinks, so we went back to the car and drove home. We got home only five minutes before the allotted four hours post-pest-spray, and everyone was ready for a nap, so I went ahead in with them. Windows were cracked open, Nick went straight to sleep, I fell asleep on the couch, and from the dead silence in Xander's room I assume he's been sleeping, too. (He started rest time with me reading him the first dragon chapter and him going through the book on his own afterward.)
It was a last-minute plan to go to the library (because it was a last-minute scheduling of pest control) but it was so neatly perfect. Xander got to do art time with Izelle and her mom, who's an artist, and later got to run around and yell with JT and the other boys, which is what they're good at doing together.
Molly comes in tonight. Another exciting event. Unfortunately, I won't have a main dish ready for dinner. Forgot to thaw the meat. So hopefully Erik will bring home a rotisserie chicken to go with boiled dill potatoes, green beans, and caramel biscuits.
At the library, we borrowed a video and an art-filled picture book for Nick ("Signing Time: Happy Birthday to You!" and Baby Loves from the Metropolitan Museum of Art), board books for both kids because I know Xander will enjoy them, too (A Little Kitty and Who Are They?), an I Can Read book (Spider-Man Versus The Vulture) for guess who, and a Boxcar Children chapter book The Pizza Mystery in case Xander likes it. I have such fond memories of my second-grade teacher reading the Boxcar Children books to us.
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