Bonding and Poop Dodging

Picture taken AFTER hosing down

The bigguns are at a sleepover. As I type this, I'm sure they're on a sugar high, zoned out in front of Saturday morning cartoons. I'm guessing they're in heaven, and I'm not too dishonest to admit that I am too!

Max and I had some sweet bonding time yesterday before Ryan got home. He seemed so big as we walked into the house alone. He was happy and hyper - probably thrilled to have Mommy to himself. We sat side by side on the floor, dancing to iPod tunes, sticking a million stickers on paper, playing Play-doh, and analyzing the Common Core State Standards. (Both parties didn't participate in all events, but they did giggle at each other frequently throughout). We cooked sloppy joes together. Then, Ryan and I got to have an entire conversation at supper with only a few interruptions! Bed time was a breeze.

And, even though I didn't get my wish that Tiny would sleep in, Saturday morning has been sooooo peaceful. We headed out to the porch to enjoy the cool time of day (6:40 a.m. - ughhh!). I graded papers and wrote lesson plans (and so it begins...) while munchkin squirted poop with water guns. Yep. As much as I love these guys:

and I really do love having a fresh supply of these:

...we also get a healthy dose of something else from the hind ends of the chickens and ducks. I'll spare you the picture, but you can see a small sampling in our priceless back to school pics (nice, huh?) This week, especially, they've decided to hang out on our porch while we're gone. So, Max and I had to step carefully this morning. He decided to help "hose off" the deck - something he's seen Mom and Dad both do this week, though you couldn't tell they did if you were looking at the porch. 

When he tired of the clean-up doody and had a little jaunt on the trampoline (with no big brothers to knock him off balance), he asked for his matchbox cars. I'm sure the porch would've made a great obstacle course, but I didn't relish the thought of him scooting around all that nastiness, so we busted out the hose for the third time in four days (it's been that bad!) and cleaned 'er up. I turned off the hose and came back just in time to see him slurping water off of the porch. I'm really hoping he doesn't get salmonella--partly because that would be really miserable for him and partly because I'm guessing severe diarrhea might interfere with the whole potty training roll we've been on lately!