It feels OH so good to wake up after my peaceful Sunday afternoon nap, complete with the sound of pounding rain on the rooftop. I would rather have been woken by thunder instead of projectile spit up sloshing me in the face, but I'll take my sleep where I can get it.

And its a good thing I DID take a nap while Brooklyn and Brighton were conked because now that Brooklyn's awake... the only word I hear is "Mo-o-o-m!" And what is UP with "Mom?" What happened to "Mommy??" She turns two and suddenly she's too grown to say Mommy and Daddy. She's all chirping Mom and Dad. Well I don't LIKE it.

I have to revert back to the ride home from Santa Rosa. I wish I had a video of the trip back, but I'll have to paint the picture the best I can. Our trunk would barely close. Well... it WOULDN't close without me jumping up and down on it to make it latch. We were attempting to carry WAAAY too much crap home with us. PLUS the inside of the car was loaded. The back seat had two car seats with Brooklyn and Brighton and David, my nephew, in the middle. Brooklyn and Brighton had both fallen asleep and David looked like he was on the verge. It was pretty quiet as we melodically bathed in Air Supply. When we stopped at a gas station for an icee, I punched the radio button. (My air supply was ALL run out considering there are only NINE songs and we'd listened to those NINE songs for an HOUR). We drove away again singing to the radio. "All I wanna do is a Zoom Zoom..." came on the radio while Starling was flipping through the stations. Starling cranked up the radio. I immediately got my dance on and Starling and I, like we ALWAYS do when Brooklyn is sleeping, started screaming out the words as LOUD as our voices can go without cracking (and sometimes louder). So there Starling and I were, red faced and BLARING, "ALL I WANNA DO IS A ZOOM ZOOM AND A BOOM BOOM... JUST SHAKE YOUR RUMP!" Starling had the bobbing head and the swaying shoulders and I was in full force shaking it all the way down to my hips, throwing my arms back and forth and flipping my head to and fro. We were caught up in the moment... we were back to our dating days of careless bliss... just a couple of irresponsible teenagers jamming to random songs through our giggles. Then Starling took a glance in the rear view mirror. At his expression I turned. Sleeping Brooklyn. Sleeping Brighton. David, wide awake and traumatized, threw his blanket over his head to shield himself from the racket. We died out laughing. Our poor kids don't know any different.

When Brooklyn DID wake up, she wanted to "read." With all the traveling we've been doing, I've come up with some creative things to do WHILE I drive. One of which is READING. (This probably seems a little unsafe to you, so I safe-ified it). I tell Brooklyn to "Open it up!" Her hands open and become the book. We have several different stories. One story: "Once upon a time there were 10 little fingers. There names were Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, and Dies! And they lived HaPPily ever after. THE END!" and then we SLAM our hands shut, closing the book. We also do the 3 bears. "Once upon time there were THREE bears. A Daddy bear, a Mommy bear, and a BABY bear. They were hungry so they made OATMEAL! Daddy's oatmeal was TOO hot. Mommy's oatmeal was TOO cold. Baby's oatmeal was JUST right and he ate it ALL gone. YUM... Delicioso! The END!" David like this game MUCH better than our singing and he readily joined in.

"How bout I'll read you the three bears?" He asked Brooklyn. "OKAY!" She excitedly exclaimed. His telling of Goldy Locks and the Three Bears was beautiful. But LONG. Every time David would take a breath Brooklyn was slam her hands together, "THE END!" and David would continue. Then Brooklyn screamed, "THE END!" and David would continue. Starling and I were giggling like two kids that heard a toodle in the middle of church. Watching Brooklyn and David interact was hilarious. When story time ended (on DAVID's terms) Brooklyn wanted to catch a frog. (This is another game I taught Brooklyn as a form of distraction. We catch random animals and eat them). I stuck the imaginary frog in my mouth. AND IT TRIED TO JUMP OUT! I stuck my tongue in my cheek and moved it around. David's eyes got huge and then they both started giggling. "PLEH!" I spat out the frog. You would have thought the tickle monster had attacked those two. Then we caught all kinds of other animals... we ate birds, snakes, worms, baby jaguar, and even snacked on some Diego.

We were running late so we had to go STRAIGHT to Starling's Tennis match. So my unmade up face and nappy hair got to meet ALL of his tennis team for the first time. NOTHING like making an outstanding first impression. But on the bright side, at least I'd worn deodorant.

Brooklyn and David played on the playground while Kathryn, my ABOUT to be sister-n-law, chit chatted. Then David said, "Brooklyn needs to go potty." Kathryn and her sweet as a pop tart self volunteered to take her. We all walked into the bathroom and Kathryn put Brooklyn on the pot and then gasped. Brooklyn had pooped. Diarrhea kind of poop. GLOBS of it. It would appear that Brooklyn hadn't pooped in a month and it ALL came out at once. IN HER PANTIES. Poop was EVERYWHERE. Kathryn looked like she didn't know if she should laugh, cry, throw up... I threw Brighton to her and dove in up to my elbows. Luckily there was a shower in the bathroom that I chunked Brooklyn into. I soaped her down, cleaned her off then headed to bath the bathroom stall. Some lady came in to pee and Kathryn said... "Sorry... we had a little accident." The lady took in the scene and hurriedly got OUT of there. David, nauseated and mortified to be sitting in the girls bathroom proclaimed, "I KNEW I should have ridden with Uncle Eric."

It was disgusting. Brooklyn pooped in her panties at church today, also. She's had the runs for the last couple of days and its about to kill me. Her so called "accident" level has gone off the charts and I REFUSE to put her back in diapers. I don't know what this reversion back to trying to hold it until its falling out of her IS, but it needs to pass and QUICKLY. My stomach can't take any more.