Baby girl just discovered the wonderful world of kiddy rides, even without the actual riding, which makes it more like a kiddy seat. I haven’t had the need to slot in coins yet since she’s contented just to sit on the stationary rides and pretend. Ah, sweet ignorance, how I will miss you when you are gone.

In any case, the garish colors and the fact that Barney looks like he was caught in the aftermath of Chernobyl doesn’t seem to faze her – brave one, that girl. She was all like “Waaait a minute, is this Barney or is it not? All this thinking is making my head hurt.”

She was also happy that Tru wasn’t there to monopolize the buttons and driving handles because every time he’s around, he’s the default driver and she gets relegated to the passenger seat. This time, she had Thomas all to herself, without being nagged at not to disturb the train driver.

And then halfway through, there was this kid who ran up with a coin in his hand and I had to cover both her eyes and her ears so she couldn’t see the other kid’s ride actually moving. Because you know, kids learn awfully fast. The moment they see another kid’s ride moving and singing, Pandora’s box will be well and truly open and they’ll be demanding for a ride that moves.

I’m hoping that day doesn’t come so soon.

I don’t know about you but sometimes (like 3,000 times a day) I run out of stuff to entertain the kids with because they’re thoroughly sick of playing with their advanced techie vtech toys (which is the point I go on and on about how we never had all these toys and had to make do with five stones and zero point). So instead of running out and buying more toys, we improvise.

Their favorite so far is what I like to call the basket train, where I put them in my laundry basket and push them around the house. The good thing is that I get to entertain both kids at the same time so the madness is contained. But it’s admittedly a lot more strenuous for me because I’m like a coolie while they clap and yell “faster mommy, FASTER!!”

5 minutes in, I park them at a corner and tell them they’re not supposed to get out because the train is waiting for more passengers. So they sit inside quietly doing their huggy stuff while I sneak away for a breather to sip my coffee.

Fair trade, I think.

My all action boy is a playground fanatic. The moment I mention the word playground, he jumps up and down on the spot and grabs at my shorts, as if yanking it off will help him get there faster.

I try telling him that it’s a bad move because people who don’t wear pants are usually arrested but he seems to think that “arrested” is a fancy word for “fun and exciting“. I suck at explaining words because I end up making it even more confusing with words like “incarcerated” and he just stares at me blankly like “are you done talking, momma?“

It doesn’t help that I don’t know the Mandarin word for playground so it’s not like I can talk in code to the husband. Sometimes I try to mouth the words and Kelvin is all like “What, I can’t hear you!” and I end up having to whisper it loud enough for the neighbors to hear anyway so I just give up and wear tighter belts to make sure my pants don’t fall off instead.

But I secretly kind of like the jumping though. It’s a typically Truett thing to do and the day he’s too cool to bounce on the spot is the day I have to choke back the tears a little bit.

This is me trying to go for an artistic shot. I kept asking Tru to give me some emotion and this is the best he could come up with. I’m afraid I passed on the bad-posing gene.

This pose with Mickey, he did all on his own.

When I found out I was having a boy, I knew I was in for the whole “look mom, I’m a secret agent” ride. There’s something about having testosterone that makes you want to hold a gun and skulk around corners with a half pout. If I didn’t know better, I’d try to pin the blame on Playhouse Disney’s Special Agent Oso, which is basically a story about another useless secret agent but you and I both know that tv only exacerbates a condition that was already there in the first place.

What I didn’t expect was how fun it would be to watch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWhxeDYTRwg

PS. I know some parents don’t allow their kids to play with guns, even water guns because it promotes violence. I don’t have a defense to that except that squirting water at someone else square in the face is strangely therapeutic. He’s got tons of squirties in the shape of smiley faces but it’s like he knows it’s way more macho to hold a magnum. I’m just glad we believe in gun control.

In the beginning, way before the T-1000 was developed, there was the T-100, a more primitive model. He was a lot smaller, and less advanced. Which explains why he spent all his time looking for food in the water.

But when the world is in danger, he picks up his trusty Winchester 1887 and fights for humanity’s survival.

He knows no fear. Or any other emotions for that matter. That’s why he needs to wear his shades at all times, so people can’t see him cry.

He often looks like he’s on a very important and deadly mission, but he’s actually looking for more food in the water. Some call it an obsession.

He’s always there in the shadows, waiting for the next time humans need him again. Basically, he just sits there when he’s not off looking for more food.

That’s probably why Arnold had to step up as the next cyborg. This one wasn’t very good.