Meggy on the run
Megan and Maribeth, nearly 1
We used the LCD projector from Allan's workplace to watch DVDs -- or "wall movies" as the kids call them. I fiddled around with Allan's Dell for a while before giving up entirely and using my PowerBook... Maddy kept swatting me because I was ruining her Winnie the Pooh trailers by messing around with dialogue boxes. The child is really impatient and cranky, so tread lightly with her when there's computer equipment within her reach!
Getting the kiddies to bed was a real challenge. There were simply too many non-parental units around for amusement, and all calls for bedtime were met with a chorus of "No!!!!!" Melissa, as the eldest of the Ms, has her stalling tactics down pat; her trademark (at least with me) is, "I'm thirsty. I need to get some water." Then she dawdles, and chats endlessly to you while she's doing it. I mentioned vaguely something about her needing a haircut, and she jumped at the chance to stretch things out as much as possible and postpone bedtime. She wanted to take a shower "like a grownup" and use the bath brush... if I relent, it's something else. Next thing I know, it's 9:30!!
While the kids pretended to be sleeping, I showed my dad and Sophie videos on my PowerBook, projected onto the wall. My earliest digital videos were from 2002, but my Canon A30 had no sound and only 10 seconds or so of video, so I skipped to 2003. Wow, did we ever laugh... before the kids went to bed, they saw the little movie I made called "Maribeth, Baby of a Thousand Expressions" and they giggled uncontrollably at their favourite clip, a video I made of my friend's rat Stella. They love the music and sing along to "da da da"... they must've seen it a thousand times, and yet it never fails to amuse.
When Allan and Cheryl came home, I had to leave right away to return my co-op car, but Allan mentioned before I took off that their last night out without the kids was Valentine's Day, nearly one year ago!
