It was Redemption Day. Time to show Oma & Opa that my juvenile delinquents were reformed. We showed up with apology notes in hand and left with bellies full of ribs and watermelon. Mission: mostly accomplished. I’ll have Hazy work on a Bush-like banner that we can hang across Bucky in our bathtub (bonus points if you know who/what Bucky is).

We started our morning off at The Pond. On the way there, this happened. A nice mom would probably pull the shorts up before snapping a photo, but see what I do for you?

Hazy and George love The Pond, but no one loves it more than my middle child, Beatz. It’s the one place where she acts like a puppy again, running around at full jackrabbit speed, playing tag with us, and getting back the glint in her eye.

We made a little more progression in Project Water Comfort.

Then, we were pooped.

This is a good time to mention the new system I’ve implemented. Please comment below if you were the one who told me about this, so I can give you credit. The basic system is this: both kids start with 10 minutes of one-on-one time with me. If they do something especially good, I add a minute. If they do something bad, I subtract a minute. Then, they cash in on their minutes at bedtime. Of course, we usually spend a lot more than ten minutes putting them to bed, but it’s usually family time, not one-on-one time, which is especially valuable. I can’t remember all the details of the infractions, but at nap time, Hazy was at 8 minutes and George was at 6. (We can assume most of them were whining-related.) But because he took a kickass nap, without chatting for an hour in bed first, George got to 7.

After nap time, we went to the pool, and something epic happened.

After this monumental pool success, we had some quiet time, which included snuggling and sticker fun.

There was no crying, no hitting, no “shut up”, and no “you’re not my friend”, so we’ll consider them mostly reformed.

Hazy fell asleep in the car, so she’ll get to cash in on her minutes tomorrow morning. George usually sings for at least an hour before going to sleep, so he’s not gonna get a 50-minute car ride lull him to sleep. We spent a nice 7 minutes reading The Pigeon Loves Things That Go many times and then cuddling. It was heavenly.