Clapping

Meg is clapping. Well, clapping is sort of a stretch, but when you clap at her, she smiles and brings her hands together. I think Bjorn and I spent half an hour going back and forth with her this evening practicing her new trick. It is beyond adorable.

Andy, on the other hand, had a monster of a meltdown earlier today. We started off the day with good intentions. The four of us took off for Great Country Farms in Bluemont, Virginia. It was about an hour from our house and had come highly recommended from a friend. The visit out there was good. We rode the hayride (although it was more like a wooden-seated ride) to the pumpkin patch where Bjorn picked a nice big pumpkin for carving and Andy picked a small green one, you know, since green is his favorite color. We watched the pig races. We fed the goats and the peacock-esque animals. We ate kettle corn.

On the way back, we stopped to get a late lunch and Andy exploded. It started over soda. He first said he wanted juice, then soda, then soda in a specific cup. After his outburst, I dragged him outside (gently, of course) and explained that if he kept crybabying, we would leave. He caught control of himself and we went back in only for it to take about 30 seconds for him to do it again. Clearly, the guy was exhausted. We got him out of the car where he proceeded to shriek, cry and attempt to kick and hit me at the very thought of having to leave the restaurant. Once we got home, I had a talk with him. He said he was sorry and then laid down for a three hour nap and woke up a changed boy. We have since talked about how it's not nice to act like a jerk (I'm not sure if that's the right word for it, but I used it anyway) and because of earlier, no TV tonight. That didn't make him happy initially, but he's now quite content working on his puzzles.

I swear, just when I start to feel like I've got a handle on these guys, they do something to throw me off and keep me on my toes.