David was 90% his wonderful accommodating reasonable cheerful self again, and we made it through the week-end with only one knock-down drag out fight. Which is good because we had a hugely fun-filled week-end.

the fashion show

Saturday morning, Rose was in a fashion show at Nordstrom's. It was just for family and friends, and it was very sweet. Of course, the whole purpose was to convince us to buy more clothes, but we had already decided to buy before we got invited to be in the fashion show and we got a 15% discount. Rose, who is shy, did a very nice job walking in front of everyone. Yes, grandparents, I'll get John to post photos.

Debby and John's dance class

We had to rush back from the town half hour north in order to go to our zydeco dance class. This is the same one we took last year. It's just great. A real focus on connection and learning the subtleties of the moves. David and Rose had a play date with grandma where everyone had fun.

The concert downtown

We had to rush back from dance class to get ready for the Seattle Men's Chorus/Seattle Women's Chorus free children's concert. It was in a gorgeous venue downtown. The concert was fine. David asked a million questions in a voice that started out too loud and eventually became an acceptable whisper. I was just happy he was engaged and didn't have to go out to the lobby. Rose seemed to enjoy it but later said she had trouble hearing the words. Me too. The miking wasn't good enough and if you didn't know the Broadway showtunes, which I did, it would be hard to follow. The best part was chatting with the performers in the lobby afterwards.

playing in the car

This was not a scheduled activity. I was supposed to take my nap, and the kids were supposed to go to a party. I did nap, but the kids decided they'd rather spend 45 minutes playing horsey in the car. Fine.

spending the night at Mommom's house

For only the second time ever, David joined Rose in spending the night at grandma's. It was all the kids could talk about for days. David said he wanted to spend two weeks there. It seems to have gone very well. David went to sleep 2 hours late, and I forgot to pack their snacks. But they got their nails done and had a wonderful time.

Sunday things calmed down a little bit. Mid-morning I brought the kids back from mom's. We got to talk to the grandparents in Egypt. The boy across the street invited David over to play and Rose and I eventually joined him. And then I rushed David through the art project of making a birthday card, and we went off to a birthday party. I think this was David's first non-family birthday. It took a few minutes to get over his shyness, and then he lead everyone in a game of Simon Says. Simon says stand on your head. Simon says stand on your body.

Of course, being two hours short of sleep and coming off the cake and ice cream high, he started to melt when we got home. Rose had the pleasure of Miriam and Ariana coming over, and I eased freak out boy into bed. I did not pull open his shade, which he desperately wanted me to do, but I did concede that he could wear a pull-up instead of a diaper, clothes instead of jammies, and his blue bathrobe to bed.

Cross your fingers for tomorrow's trip to school.