Weekend Intelligence: Pop and Walk

Since the daycare and schools were closed for Battle of Flowers, I took that Friday off to spend with the kiddos. Seriously, Texas is looking for ANY reason to close up shop for the day. I wouldn't be surprised if kids will get the first day of school off as a holiday in the near future. LOLs and lack of sleep, BBQs and Corn Poppers: this weekend had it all. And let's not forget the return of this classic tag line: So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights.

I swear Clara has found a way to break free of the need for sleep. She sleeps maybe 3-4 hours at a time, and then is up for hours. This includes overnight and means she's up well before the crack of dawn most days. D still had to get to work on Friday, and shortly after she left, Clara got up to let me know "Momma gone!" D:! She was upset! I spent the rest of the morning chasing the kids around and generally just trying to keep the house from falling apart. We got a chaotic lunch in with D over near where she works. As crazy as they are, she was happy to see them and get away from work for a few.

We were invited to a Saturday BBQ that one of my wife's coworkers was hosting. After watching Colin school 3 grown adults at Texas Hold 'Em and a massive potty training failure courtesy of Clara, I was voluntold by my lovely wife to go get the grilling started. I didn't mind, really. Truth be told, I get nervous around large groups of people I don't know or don't know very well, and being the 'Grillmeister' at a BBQ is something of a social crutch for me:

• People are prone to be friendly to the cook - something about subconsciously not wanting scorched food.
• I have something to talk about with random people. "So, I see you have a fire there? Yup. Fire sure is hot. Yup."
• I like alcohol, and if there is going to be alcohol, it generally gets to the people around the grill first. See first item in the list.
  
• If everything else fails me, I can just be too absorbed in the act of cooking to really interact with the crowd.

Luckily for me, only the first three of that list applied. People hung out and brought me a beer, we chatted it up and had a great time. Sooo much food, I hear that there was quite the spread of leftovers.

Sunday morning started with a BANG. Literally. See, Clara was doing her "I don't need sleep" thing, and decided that it would be an excellent idea to get her corn popper push toy out at 6 in the morning and start running around the loft with it, laughing maniacally and running into walls and doors.

My door.

Did I mention it was B.F. of early on a Sunday morning? Just making sure. Anyway, she ran headlong into the bedroom door with the corn popper while screaming/laughing at the top of her lungs. And through all of this, D didn't budge an inch. Not even a skip in her snoring. I opened the bedroom door as Clara was backing up and preparing another charge. Very surprised that her unholy ruckus would wake anyone, she took an off step back and fell over. I don't think she'd ever been hauled to her room so quickly. I set her on the changing table and had a few words with her:

"Clara, what is wrong with you?!" I asked in a forceful, yet whispered tone.
"I dunno!" she replied, also whispered.
"Clara, what is Colin doing?"
"Colin sleeping."
"What is mommy doing?"
"Momma sleeping," she said as she started to grin. She liked this game.
"What does daddy wish he could be doing?"
"...sleeping?" she whispered nervously. This one stumped her, apparently.
"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU SLEEPING!?" I asked as loud and forcibly as a whisper would let me.

She jumped down off the table and into bed, I tucked her in and she let me sleep for another hour or so... I figured I'd just go get donuts and start the Sunday Morning routine, then snuggle with D for a bit until it was time to really get up. Didn't work out so well: the whole sleep deprivation thing over the course of several days at the hands of Clara meant I didn't just snuggle, I crashed until 11. Clara cried about something, prompting D to launch from bed in a frenzied panic, going off about how late it was. Suuuuure, NOW she hears Clara... -.-; Somehow, we still managed to salvage the day - did our shopping, got the kids their summer haircuts and knocked some laundry out before calling it a weekend.

I could use a day off to recover from my weekend. A work week will have to suffice, I guess.