Deja Vu

Last night I had a dream that out-of-town friends visited, arrived earlier than expected, and our house was strewn with toys. In my dream, I had to carry Natalie around as I welcomed them and tried picking up the toys at the same time (aren't we always embarrassed and in impossible situations in our dreams?) When we arrived home today from CHOC therapy followed by a great lunch with Brenda and Allison, the house looked just like I remembered it in my dream...littered with toys that didn't get picked up before we left the house. I really don't remember the house being such a mess when we left it.

This morning as we were getting ready for our regular morning walk, Lukas announced that he didn't want to take a walk. I knew I couldn't let him dictate when I get exercise, so we went anyway. He refused to get on the stroller, thinking that he could get me to stay home that way. I carried him until we were just past our house and then put him down and asked him to get on the stroller. He refused again, so I walked and he followed me, screaming and crying. I stopped every 50 feet or so and asked him to get on the stroller. He refused and screamed and cried. We did this for one mile...not very efficient exercise for me, but quite tiring for him, since I think that's the most he's ever walked in one stretch. Then on the third lap around the block (each lap is 1/2 mile) he finally decided to get on the stroller. Of course, we meet our elderly Vietnamese neighbors on the walk every morning and this is the first time they've seen this out of Lukas. I think they thought that I wasn't letting him sit on the stroller. He refused to look at them as they passed (they don't know that in America, when you're walking, you're supposed to face oncoming traffic, not walk with traffic, so we meet each other several times along our walk).

Whew! Usually Monday mornings are easier because we don't have to be out of the house so early, but today was tough. Now I'm waiting for the sheets to dry (somehow they didn't dry all the way) so I can take a nap, and then we'll tackle cleaning up the house when Lukas gets up from his nap.