New Jersey!

I took a field trip to New Jersey last weekend to spend time with my bestie, Stacey. She so happens to be the mother of twin three year-old boys. She also so happens to be pregnant with twin girls, due in October. My favorite part of the weekend was her boys deciding to like me and be my friends. Victory! Apparently they're going through a shy phase and she was initially concerned they may not even look at me let alone speak to me. But I am the kid whisperer (and the raccoon whisperer). I get along swimmingly with kids 99% of the time. I'm not sure what happens with that 1% but I have to assume, they are probably jerks.

What I noticed most about my time with Stacey and the twins (and her sister Tara with her 1-year old daughter) was that...we say a lot of the same things. I have three dogs, she has two rough and tumble boys, there are a lot of parallels.

We both spend a lot of time asking - "Do you have to poop? Because it smells like you do."

Along with repetitive classics such as, "Get off that!" and "That's not a toy!" "Get down!"

My favorite moment was, after watching Tara clean ice cream sandwich off her daughters face with her own shirt (Brilliantly done though! She kept the ickyness on the inside of the shirt so you can't see it! Well played Tara!)
Stacey turned to me and said matter-of-factly,  "Never touch my hands."
Because, you know, we know where they've been and it's not a pretty picture.

Our trip to Kid Junction reminded me of taking my troop to the dog park. The rules are essentially the same - keep an eye on your guy, make sure they're within shouting distance, and if they make a mess (organic or otherwise) it's on you to take care of it.

I like seeing that, if I chose at some point to become a parent to a human child I wouldn't be totally out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty sure I would be a good mom to a little person but, honestly, my ovaries felt nothing. And there was a lot of cuteness. I am always listening to hear if my uterus is trying to communicate with me about the creation of a mini-me but I swear to God, it was crickets in there. Little crickets at that.

My family (pre-Shamus) Note - everyone is smiling and looking forward to naps later.
Because doggies love sleeping as much as I do.