March

March is one of my favorite months in Las Vegas. The weather is top notch, and spring break gives us a chance to catch our breath before Will's band trip/concert season starts. Here's a taste of what March was like around these parts:

-Eve became more confident in her mobility.

The other two kids instictively stayed on the sidewalk and never ventured out to the road, even as toddlers. Eve has no such compunctions. She pretty much thinks the world is her oyster.

If she's running, she's smiling.

-We went on as many walks we could, and played in the backyard as much as possible. I left the back door open as much as possible so that Eve could go in and out as it suited her fancy. Because nothing suits her fancy more than being able to do whatever suits her fancy.

Sometimes it's necessary to show a little tummy in order to properly set up for a truly amazing cartwheel.

Lately Charlie has been exercising his right to stare straight ahead with a surly look on his face. Sometimes I try to smoosh his face into the shape of a smile, but that's really only for my own entertainment. 

So this room we had at Sunset Station was HUGE, very nice, and only $40. Living in Las Vegas has spoiled me for getting hotels anywhere else. For example, I recently booked rooms in Alaska that were probably very nice sometime in the late 90s, and still cost about three times as much.

-We had a few date nights...

Date night is one of the rare times when I look this relaxed and  pleasant.

-I tried, without great success, to be religious with Charlie's piano practice.

Is it possible that anyone is actually getting anything out of this piano practice? 

Putting the final touches on a princess castle, Antonia-style. 

-As spring break rolled around we toyed with the idea of going out of town, but ultimately realized that we would need Will's time off to get some things done on the house before we get renters in the summer. So instead we opted for the ever-practical "staycation", and ventured approximately 1.2 miles from our house to stay at the Sunset Station casino for a night. I feel quite confident that nothing short of Disneyland could have pleased our children more, they talked about it for weeks before and for weeks after. Antonia still asks "When can we stay at Sunset Station again?" just about every time we drive past it. Which is approximately every single day. (it really is only 1.2 miles from our house) I'm totally sold on staycations for this time in our lives when kids are little and car rides are the opposite of fun and most of our trips out of town are to see family anyway. And I cannot overstate the advantage of knowing that if we forgot something, we can run home and get it at any time; anxiety about forgetting something important always takes its toll on my enjoyment of a vacation. Even when I haven't actually forgotten anything (although I usually do.)

Antonia had endless questions about the other people and cars we encountered at the hotel. Were they from Nevada? Were they from somewhere else? Where were their homes? Were they staying one night? Were they staying more than one night? Were they going to the pool? Were they going to the buffet? Why? Why? Why? and Why? 

On the way to the pool, which was huge, and empty. A storm blew in and the weather was a little chilly. Also, the pool was probably only heated as recently as...never.

Evie considered the possibility of entering the water for a good long while before she actually ventured into the icy  depths.

She had a bit of fun splashing, until she fell down and her jacket got wet.

As always, her DIY binkie was there to console her.

Antonia spent all her enthusiasm in a very short period of time...

And then sought comfort in warmth and dryness.

Charlie filled and unloaded his shark water gun at various  targets around the pool area, mostly pigeons--no humans. 

 Eve found these goggles and somehow managed to get herself suited up for some diving. 

As soon as he found out we were going to stay a night at Sunset Station, Charlie begged to go to the buffet. Like the conscientious Vegas parents we are, Will and I went over "Good Buffet Strategy" with him and then helped him fill a plate for round #1. At which point his chocolate milk arrived and he chugged the entire glass toute de suite, then felt too sick to eat anything else. (As he's gotten older, his digestive system as developed a bit of a bias against cow's milk; not full-on lactose intolerance, but more like situational lactose discrimination.) Not to worry, however; Eve ate enough food to more than compensate for the cost of Charlie's uneaten meal. Charlie's appetite was back the next morning when we walked over to the IHOP next to the hotel and he ate a ginormous chocolate pancake. Aside: the nutty whole grain pancakes they have at IHOP are soooo yummy, does anyone know where I could get my hands on a comparable at-home recipe?

There was not a speck of food left on this plate when he was done. There must not have been much actual dairy in that whipped cream...

Eve was inspired by the rockin' tunes playing at IHOP, and busted out her signature move: The Shoulder Shimmy

-Easter weekend we had a really fun Easter Egg hung/party with Lori and Sean and some friends. We Daines-es tend to be social troglodytes most of the time and we appreciate good friends who give us the opportunity to sometimes participate in those recreational activities known as "parties," where we "chat" and "have fun." And also eat delicious food. These poppyseed sliders still haunt my dreams.

We tried to get all the kids together for a picture, but were only successful with the 3-and-up crowd. My kids need a little more time in the sun to fit in with all these cute children of Japanese lineage.

Eve was supposed to have a turn bowling, but instead decided to pull an old classic out of her bag of tricks: going boneless.

I think this look of displeasure was meant to convey that she wished I had plated her up some fruit salad, instead of forcing her to snitch some on the sly.

Is not bow hunting a traditional Easter activity?

"Don't Eat Pete" was a definite favorite of all the games they played.  What's not to love about a game where the object is to eat as much candy as possible before someone stops you?

Quoteable Quotes

Will's Band Student: Mr. Daines, I'm starting to McSweat.
Will: Huh?
Student: You know, when you eat McDonald's and then you start to feel all sweaty...

Antonia: Dad throwed a booger at me.
Me: What?!
Antonia: He put his finger in his nose, got a booger, and throwed it at my head.
(I was unable to determine the veracity of that claim.)

Antonia:  I like to be wet. It makes me feel sweaty.
Will: (to me) Our daughter likes to be sweaty.
Antonia: No I don't. I like to be watery.

(Later, to me:) Mom, do you feel wet in your swimsuit?
Me: Yeah
Antonia: Are you okay with that?

And because I haven't been keeping a journal for Eve as consistently as I did for the other two at this age, here's an update of her developing verbal skills and personality, as of March:

shzz- shoes
bopper- diaper
baby
mommy
daddy
here- as in "here, let me individually hand you each peice of toilet paper I shredded to bits"
cracker
nnkuh- drink
uh-oh
car
ni'-ni'(night night)
go (sometimes used interchangeably with car)
no! no! no!

Saying more words is a big plus, but some of her other developmental milestones are not as fun. For example, lately, wrangling her into an outfit change makes me feel a lot like this:

In general, her personality runs more to fulfilling her own ambitions, rather than making demands on other people, but I frequently run afoul of her requirement that I not leave the room without her, and that also causes some friction in our relationship. Still, I can forgive a lot when she flashes me her trademark squinty-eyed gap-toothed grin, or spontaneously gives me a hug and tenderly pats me on the back.