How we spent the heat wave

It is thundering and the heat wave is breaking! It has been in the high 90s since Saturday, and has felt like 100+, not that we would know. We have been camped out inside. How did we pass the time?
Drawing

Gus did this completely on his own. Circles are a new skill. Last week he told me he was going to draw a hippo and then drew two circles.

Painting

This was a team effort. Gus worked on the left side while I worked on the right side. Painting caused many tantrums. First I did not give Gus enough paint ("I want bigger paint. BIGGER PAINT!!!!!!!!!"). Later, I had the gall to hang up the painting on the chalk board wall ("No put my painting on the wall!!!!!). It was removed and ripped to shreds and is now in the recycling bin.

Playing ball in the garage

We played baseball, basketball, golf, and a hybrid of all three. And had more tantrums. Also, my fault. Gus would show me where to stand ("Mummy stand here in the outfield") and when I did he would freak out. This picture captures the meltdown brought on by the camera. (I was just trying to capture how cute he looks in my glasses.)

Gus's baseball games are evolving. Now when he plays he has to wear a baseball hat and if they are around, my glasses. He also runs around the bases every time he hits the ball and slides home, which he calls "sliding in to the basement." When he gets up he goes into the hall and pretends to tie his shoes (he does not have any shoes with laces right now) and then heads back to the garage to bat again. Could this be the beginning of some weird superstitious bating ritual, à la Nomar Garciparra?

When I tried to end the game photographed above by suggesting Gus play with his cars while I made supper, he responded, "I have a much better idea, let's play baseball." Where did he learn that expression?

We also took a few field trips.

IKEA

We spend many foul-weather days running around Ikea. It is a playground, obstacle course, toy store, ice cream shop all rolled into one. Gus loves it. Our visit on Monday was atypical, though. Our first stop is always the display of the POÄNG chair being pushed every five seconds or so by a mechanical arm to demonstrate the resilience the frame. It was gone. Gus asked, "Mummy, were the chair go?" "I don't know," I said and then we had this conversation, oh, 500 more times. Gus also likes to run through the curtain displays, but when he rounded the corner to this section, the curtain displays, too, were gone and in their place were half a dozen Ikea employees sorting curtains and hanging new lights. Luckily, the basket of "blueberry balls" was still there. When we reached the children's section Gus was so tired he climbed in to one of the beds, pulled the comforter over him, turned off the little light on the bedside table (if we had one of these he would be up all night turning it on and off) and said "Goodnight, Mummy. Goodnight, Theo." This was the first time he ever played in the model bedrooms. And it did not stop there. He made himself supper, carried it into another bedroom and ate it before climbing back into bed. Add Playhouse to our list of Ikea functions.

This was Theo's most exciting visit to Ikea. He played in the "blueberry balls" for the first time and helped himself to Gus's ice cream (actually frozen yogurt) cone. It was pretty clear Theo liked it. He screamed like a banshee while we finished our cones. If the Baby Whisperer had stopped by, I am sure she would have interpreted his cries as, "Expletive! Expletive! You Expletives! Give me that ice cream right now, expletive!" I guess we will have to cut out the cones until Theo is old enough to eat one, too.



Plymouth Meeting
Today we headed way out to Horsham, PA to donate some baby items and on our way back stopped at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. There is a double-decker carousel there. I thought for sure Gus would want to go up to the top but a tea cup on the first level caught his eye, so we all climbed in and went for a twirl. Gus did all the spinning, though Theo did try to give him a hand.



We also spent quite a long time watching the fountain. As a child I always really liked going to the Wapole Mall because there was a water fountain there. They are pretty mesmerizing. I did not offer up any pennies, and nothing was tossed into the fountain.



And the Aquarium on Sunday with Linh, Dennis, Sophie and Ava.

I'd say we had a pretty nice heat wave.