Just call me Gumby

Because this is UD's spring break week, my day started off a bit different (Normal Thursdays are my day on campus thereby getting me out of O's school pick up). Instead of leaving for the Y at 8:30, we were heading out at 9 instead (gasp!) It really felt weird to not the do the *normal.* And then the phone rang at 8:30. It was my friend Susie, whose husband has been out of the country all week, leaving her at home with 3 kids. She invited us to meet them at the local Children's Museum that is only 7 minutes from our house and that we never go to.

My first answer was, "Sorry, we are headed to the Y and my plan was to shower there. So we can't." And then the little voice in my head spoke loud and clear, "You complain all the time that you rarely do things with friends. You are trying to be more flexible. Poor Susie has been with the kids all week by herself. YOU SHOULD GO!"
So I surprised both her and myself by saying, "Forget it, you know what, I'll shower here and meet you there in a half an hour." I jumped in the shower, got the boys in the van and headed out.

And then I remembered the reason we don't go to this museum.

It's HARD to keep these boys in sight. They are so different and they like different things. Not to mention, Turner doesn't obey. Worth a lick.

But he DOES play in water. And he does it with a vengeance. After 3 minutes he was wet from head to toe. And *then* I saw the sign that said PLEASE HAVE CHILDREN ROLL UP SLEEVES AND WEAR RUBBER APRON. Yep, would have been helpful 3 minutes ago.
When the boys were good and wet we moved on. This hands on museum is undoubtedly cool. And has tons of fun activities. And if I came equipped with my own fleet of babysitters (Susie suggested a leash, I suggested shock collars) the museum would be a great idea.

I mean, where else does Turner get to channel his inner construction worker? The problem (Ha!) ackhem, ONE of the problems is that he doesn't stay at any activity for more than 2 minutes. Just enough time for Quinn to warm up to the activity, and he's off to the next thing.

The good news, I only lost one kid. Turner was in a time out on the second floor of the museum(his 4th one of the morning) when Quinn went down a slide that takes you all the way to the lower level of the museum. I was torn. A kid in time out needs to stay in time out... right? But a kid on the loose a whole floor beneath you takes precedence... right? So I actually stood there frozen, paralyzed for about 15 seconds, running all my options through my frazzled head. Thankfully, Susie went down to the second floor and also sent her 4 year old son on a reconnaissance mission to locate Quinn. I whisked Turner out of time out, ran downstairs, grabbed Quinn and we headed back to...

the water zone. It was the one place they both enjoyed and stayed put.

It was also the place where my sons officially became hillbillies.

They were both so wet, I stripped them down to their pants and let them go for another chunk of time. Until they started pouring water down their diapers. I declared water time over, where Quinn declared it tantrum time. He pitched a full-blown 2 year old fit of all fits. Including laying on his belly, shrieking at the top of his lungs and pounding fists on the ground while kicking his feet. (Susie's kids, meanwhile, followed her obediently through the museum, holding hands with each other and basically being cute and huggable.) yep, hate her.

I put him in time out where he screamed and wailed. In the meantime I followed Turner nearby while sympathetic on lookers gave me sad faces as if to say, "Bless his little heart." Ummm... no! Bless my little heart thankyouverymuch! Unfortunately, they missed the tantrum that lead to the time out.

What I determined from this morning's outing? First, only be friends with those who have kids equally naughty as yours. Second, flexibility is HIGHLY over rated! There's a reason I've remained inflexible over these past 37 years... and I like it there. But hey, flexibility makes for great photo ops and funny blog posts. I guess I can continue to give it a whirl.