good times

We had visitors this weekend from Houston.
My Brother/Sister-in-law, our niece Marilyn, and nephew Andy all came to visit. We hit the Children's Museum after a breakfast of dinosaur pancakes. Then we headed to "Freddy's" which is a restaurant that encourages people to bring their dogs and kids to romp around in the sunshine. We got the coveted table on the playground so we could enjoy watching Andy and the other kids without getting up.

Tony had a run-in with a twelve year old who was a bit long in the tooth for the playground. This kid insisted on picking up a bigwheel truck and throwing it at the other children. One of the tosses landed uncomfortably close to Alice's highchair so Tony told the kid he had to be careful around the baby. The kid affected an insufferable mimicking whine and repeated, "Be careful around the Baaaaaby". Tony and I exchanged a glance wherein we came to a joint decision not to rip the kid a new one, as we were entertaining guests.

Don't worry, a few seconds later the little charmer actually tossed the truck into another boy his age and was mortified when a table full of parents and grandparents turned on him. Where his family was, I couldn't say.

Anywho, after lunch we headed back to the homestead for playtime:



Here is a picture of the girls gently getting to know each other:


This video shows more interaction. Notice that I tell Tony to stop Alice from accidentally choking her cousin via Marilyn's bib. Tony said he heard me but wanted to see what would happen. Notice also the wooden toy in Marilyn's hand. A few seconds after this video stops Alice takes the toy and uses it to smack Marilyn across the chops. Sigh.

Alice's Aunt Karen and Uncle Toby were very understanding and assured us that babies don't know what they are doing and nobody cried so all was well.

Still, you hate to have your kid pummeling other children. Least you think I am overreacting, Andy was punched with a metal toy car a few minuets later. That got a big laugh from everybody. Including Andy, who is a good sport and sweet little boy.

Andy was in fact the biggest hit of the day. Both Alice and Marilyn love to play with him because he engages with them and lets them play with his toys. He even let them claw at his face, though we all try to discourage that. While Alice was delighted by Andy, Marilyn is his biggest fan. In fact she is using the word "brother" pretty often when she sees him. Here is a video of what Marilyn did when she saw Andy playing in the backyard.