I left work a little early and picked up


Grace was absolutely fearless. Though she had never met me, she had no problem whatsoever climbing into my arms and heading off to unknown territory in the car with me. And she took right to Julian's toys and was unphased even when Julian took toys away from her. Julian is used to being the smallest (he shares a nanny with a four year old) and therefore usually gets his way when it comes to sharing. So although he is very good about sharing in general, he found it a little disconcerting to have an intruder simply take his toys without him having given them to her. :) He'll learn. Once we found alternate toys for him to play with, he returned to his usual, generous self. Whew! (I got some very nice pictures of Julian and Grace playing together which I'll post later, but maybe not tonight)
Seth and

This morning I had an extremely difficult time waking up, so I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to shul. But Julian was bouncy and happy and I got myself dressed "just in case" I decided to take him up to the Torah Time for kids at 10:15. As it happened, Julian was getting restless, and though he probably would have gone down for a nap if I'd let him, I decided to take him up to shul, and I'm very glad I did. He had a great time at Torah Time, plus I got to socialize a little bit. Amy and I got to chat for a bit while the kids were engaged, and that's always nice. Plus, Seth, Julian, and I ended up with a lunch invitation. Since I didn't have anything specific planned for lunch (we had tuna salad and egg salad and veggies and such), it was a good opportunity. Since Nancy and Eric (our hosts) have two kids, they weren't going to be freaked out by Julian's wandering or restlessness, and I knew Julian would have a place to sleep if he needed a nap. It was a lovely time, of course, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Julian enjoyed wreaking havoc on the house and playroom, but was actuallly pretty well behaved. The truth is, he's an extremely well behaved child (MOST of the time), but I get very self-conscious of his completely normal behaviours in other people's houses. He's a very active child and doesn't sit still for too long (though he did quite well today). Fortunately, Nancy runs Torah Time most weeks (though not this week) so she's used to boisterous children. She put us right at ease. Though Julian could have taken a nap there, he stayed awake until we were walking home (at 3:30). When we got him home, he basically fell asleep in my arms climbing up the stairs and took a nice 2 hour nap while Seth napped and I fought a nap on the couch (the nap won the battle).
Julian woke up a little disoriented, since it was 6 o'clock and he was probably hungry. He's not used to waking up that late. But he ate a good dinner and was a happy, cuddly, bouncy boy until Seth left for shul. At 8 o'clock, Julian gave no complaint whatsoever about going to bed for the night. I had been worried that having taken such a late nap he would refuse to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but he crawled right in bed, smiled when I sang Sh'ma to him, and curled up and didn't make another peep. After shabbos ended, I cleaned the TV room downstairs, did a couple batches of dishes, cleaned off most of a counter and the stovetop in the kitchen, and now I'm relaxing. Love the relaxation, baby. Seth and our friend Ian are downstairs (in the newly-neatened TV room) watching Star Wars Episode IV. I'd join them, but I just can't deal with the messy kitchen. I'm going to do a little more LJ-perusing, and then get to work. Hopefully, I will fall asleep easily tonight.
Tomorrow, Julian's grandfather and uncle are coming to play with him in the morning. The rest of the day is so far undecided. Monday we are going to go visit