A tally of the summer

(Will posing with our award-winning dill pickles, sweet pickles and salsa. Aunt Vicky and I came home with a blue, red and white ribbon and there were no outbreaks of food-borne illness - yeah! Everybody wins! )

Labor Day weekend is just around the corner and summer is officially winding down. It has been a busy one. From camping trips to wedding extravaganzas, the Pauley's have been on the go. I feel like Summer 2011 gave us a quick preview of what future summers with two kids will be like. This year, we were able to go on a few adventures and really have some fun, without having to drag along all of the detritus that comes with babies (giant diaper bags, pack-n-plays, etc.) Naptime still plays a big part in trying to schedule our day but we can push the fun out until about 3:30 p.m. before it really starts to get scary (i.e., tantrums, screeching and general attention-drawing behavior). However, when 2-yr olds crash, they do crash hard. (Reina in our pop-up camper this weekend following 45 minutes of "I'm not tired!" "I don't want to take a nap!" "I'm NOT SLEEPY!" Really?)

So here's Summer 2011 by the numbers:
Camping trips: 3

Camping trips where one or both of the Pauley children had a fever: 2
Icepacks: Too many to count, see also "Goose Eggs" (I was actually just talking to another mom of a 4-yr old boy about this very phenomenon. Will always has a bump, scratch, bruise or a how-do-you-get-that?-lump on his beautiful forehead. What's going on? Am I raising a bighorn sheep? Is he using his forehead as a battering ram?) Trips to the ER/Urgent Care: 2 (See also, Goose Eggs and Potential Concussions)
Doctor's visits: Not as many as last summer
Tantrums: today?
Birthday parties: 3
Fake tattoos applied at birthday parties: 1 Pauley parents who hope this is the only Mickey Mouse tattoo that adorns his body now and in the future: 2

Trips to Water World: 1
Pauley kids who would prefer to permanently reside at Water World: 2
Races that Bronco Baby Mom ran: 2
Races that Bronco Baby Mom didn't finish last: 2 (yeah! Progress!)

Hours spent training Trigger to be a bird dog: 1 million (okay, probably not that many but it felt like it when both kids were whinnnnnnnnnning and Bronco Baby Mom was home by herself)
Hours Trigger spent acting calm and quiet: approximately 13 immediately following his trip to the vet to get "tutored." It was an awesome 13 hours.

Minutes Reina spent at Aunt Vicky's reception before spilling something on her pretty white dress (Reina's - not Vicky's - phew!): approximately 2 1/2.
Minutes Will spent interacting with the rest of the party at the reception before becoming engrossed in Lego Fireboat building: approximately 2 1/2.

Relatives who spoiled Will and Reina with lots of toys and undivided attention: all of them
When Will wants relatives ("relatins") to come back and visit: immediately. And bring more Lego's.

Books that Reina has identified with and incorporated into her daily mantra that include the words "mad at mama, I was so mad, and me too" in the title: all of them (I've actually had to hide the "Llama llama mad at mama" book because it gives her too much ammunition to be mad at me for various real and projected injustices. She chooses to ignore the happy moral of the story that everyone can get along and have a good time when the work together. She just likes to be mad at the mama. So, the book is currently lost.)

Antelope who live right outside our backdoor: numerous, including our good friend Banjo. Banjo is a buck who we have seen every Summer since we moved in three years ago. He was right behind our fence one night and I was trying to get him to look up so I kept shouting "Banjo!" Reina chimed in with the "Banjote! Banjote!" She likes to add extra letters on to existing words (antelopes, popcorns). Now I can't call him anything except Banjote.
So there it is in a nutshell. A summer filled with a lot of special memories, a few tough days and two smiling Bronco Babies. I can't wait to see what the Fall brings.