Today is the WORST.....

"Today is the WORST...." is one of the most common phrases that comes out of Sawyer's mouth.  He used to say it a lot more, and although he's found a lot more contentment in his day-to-day life, "Today is the WORST...." is still very squarely in his repertoire of whiny complaints.  When he says it I smile, because I know where it comes from.  Sawyer has a hard time being a kid, because he has lots of opinions, and when you are a kid, your opinions are about as valuable as a gum wrapper.

"Come on we are going outside to the park"
"Ahhh....I want to stay home and watch TV"
"Sorry. We're going to the park."
"Today is the WORST."

"Sawyer.  You can't wear those leopard print pants to school." (Sawyer has adopted a pair of hand-me-down pants that are too big for Lyla.  Sawyer loves big cats, so naturally, leopard print leggings are the coolest things he can put on his body.  I want him to express himself, but sorry, I can't let him wear too-small leopard print leggings outside the house...for his own good...and my own dignity.)
"Well, it's my body and I get to choose!!  I love these pants!!!!"
"Sorry, Sawyer.  Those are not appropriate for school."
"Today is the WORST."

Lyla is very different from Sawyer.  At four-years-old, Lyla is up for anything.  Lyla is generally joyous and loving.  To Lyla, I am "the best" or "like a star" or "like a diamond."  Sure, she is opinionated too, but when I make her change her clothes, it's just a fight over what she will wear. It's not some existential crisis about independence like with Sawyer.  She isn't left in a mood, wishing that her life were different.  She is just mad that I won't let her wear her sandals in the snow.  She stomps her foot, crosses her arms against her chest, pushes out her bottom lip, and then she moves on. Sawyer broods.  In his mind he unravels a long list of unfairnesses that are or were ever practiced against him.  "If only I could wear leopard print leggings to school...my life would be perfect," I'm sure he thinks to himself.

Anyway...today was an in-service day at school, which meant the kids had the day off.  I have to say, after spending the year with both kids in school, I have mixed feelings about random days off. I've learned to treasure my five hours of freedom each day.  BUT, the morning sky promised good weather, and I felt elated by the idea of whisking us off to some nature paradise away from the city. "Let's go to the beach!"  "How about the Botanical Gardens!?"  "The Natural History Museum??"  Every idea was met by sleepy, sniffling rejections by Sawyer AND Lyla.  They both have colds.  They both went to bed late and woke up early.  They were both in moods.  I couldn't even get Lyla on my side...I knew it was going to be a "Today is the WORST" kind of day.

That's ok.  I know as the mom, I can turn things around. I could tell a potty joke.  I could do a funny dance.  I could have a tickle throw-down. But apparently, I wasn't in the mood either, because I did none of that.  (It's probably because every muscle in my body was screaming in pain as a result of a beach body workout routine I started a couple of days ago. Seriously, I had no idea how out of shape I was until some fitness instructor asked me to do 30mins of squats. Also, I'm off my steady diet of dark chocolate, chocolate chips.)  Instead, we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, packed up a bag for the park, including our tennis rackets, and left the apartment dragging ourselves along.

We played tennis for a while.  Then walked over to the playground.  When we go to the playground, Lyla goes off to play and never comes back.  Sawyer goes off, then comes back for a hug, then goes off, then comes back to say he has no friends at the park, then goes off, then comes back to say he's tired, then goes off... Today Sawyer was particularly clingy, but in a cute, I want to sit on your lap kind of way. We decided to make a video of him doing something cool:

Here is Lyla.  I think we might be a lot alike because I'm pretty sure in almost every childhood picture I have of myself I am making this pose.  I adore her:

Thankfully, Jonathan could meet up for lunch.  Along the walk to the restaurant, we observed some pretty amazing NYC nature, which made us all happy.

Check out these gorgeous roses!

Look!!  A brown pigeon!:

How about this crazy squirrel hanging from a tree eating berries:

When Jonathan is with us, we really feel complete.  He makes us all happy:

Lunch left us all revived, as you can tell by this picture:

We came home around 2:30 and watched TV for a couple of hours.  Well, I didn't.  I let the kids watch TV while I took a nap and cleaned the kitchen. I can do that now...nap, while the kids watch TV.  It's a game changer.  Lyla informed me that for her birthday she really wants everyone to watch this movie on Netflix, which I'm pretty sure must be one of the worst cartoons ever made.  They watched it TWICE:

We finished off the night with Sawyer spending the evening in his room after Lyla came running to me dripping with a bloody lip, scraped face, and scratched neck.  Apparently, the game they were playing required Sawyer to pull Lyla off the bed and across the floor.  Cool game!  Sawyer didn't realize Lyla was injured because 1. he doesn't know when he takes things too far and 2. Lyla is a hold-her-breath crier, which means before she can actually vocalize her cries, she holds her breath until she turns purple.  Ahhhhh......Awesome.

The adorable thing was as I was doctoring up Lyla she panted out through her tears, "I wish daddy was here!"  I always tell myself that she loves me most, but I know in my heart she is a daddy's girl. Thanks ok, because Sawyer is a mama's boy.

School resumes tomorrow...  :)