Mud pies.

This morning was a groggy, stumbling blur.

Somehow we all got fed and dressed and the kids headed out for a birthday party while the baby and I mopped the floor and then sat for a while.

The sitting didn't last nearly long enough before he decided to gag and puke his lunch again.

Before you go feeling all bad for him, let me fill you on the gag reflex that is running through this family.

I've always thought my gag reflex was pretty terrible. I can barely brush my teeth without wanting to barf a little. I have trouble drinking things too fast, or with certain smells, but I don't typically yack.

But the streak of throat discomfort in this gene pool is serious.

T can barely swallow a pill. Any pill. It's horrifying to watch.

And so the two boys have inherited this inability to swallow things, sometimes even things they like. Monkey really likes the rice dish that he upchucked on my leg last week. And today it was a lentil soup that he is quite fond of. He ate nearly the entire bowl but then that last bite just caught him the wrong way, he coughed, he gagged, he soiled his chair.

And of course the chair is a woven wicker number, nothing easy to clean or salvageable. It is currently against the wall, soaking in every cleanser I could think of, awaiting judgement day.

Both grandmas made appearances today, albeit short ones. I was too busy trying to stay awake to even care when Mom E fed Monkey a banana and blueberries even though he's already had two servings of fruit today. Whatever happens in his diaper happens. There is only so much I can do.

The kids kept me busy until dinner time with requests for library books. I read all twelve of the ones we have out now, ending with their new favorite character, Pig Pig. Pig Pig is a mentally deficient pig whose mother suffers from eighties hair syndrome. In our newest story he wants to make and sell mud pies.

So naturally I told the kids that we were having mud pies for dinner and that set off a screaming session to rival all other loud noises.

But the kids did so well with their actual dinners I just had to brag about it a little bit here. I've mentioned how much progress we've made with meal times. Tonight they all came when called, began to eat and then when E made an appearance, hesitantly entering the kitchen and testing the waters before joining us at the table, THEY ALL KEPT EATING and no one pulled any shenanigans.

I don't know if this will be a repeated behavior in the near future because I believe a lot of non-dinner related factors were at play here, but still, it was amazing to not have to chase E and T out of the room because the kids only eat when they are not visible.

Monkey gobbled up his food, gagged on some zucchini, which he loves, drank some water and ran upstairs to play with Mommy.

The other two finished in a timely manner and didn't even argue when I said we were not having dessert tonight because they had enough junk at the birthday party.

An all around successful day!

I was asked to stop spoiling the dog though. It's funny how I'm not a dog person at all and yet he can talk me into anything. He just sits on the floor at my feet and looks up at me with eyes that say, "I see no reason why I shouldn't have another carrot. I mean, they're good for me. They're good for my vision." And he's right, they are. And no one else eats the carrots anyway, so I don't see the harm in letting him have one or six.

T gives him a lot of carrots too.

Really what E is worried about is the amount of times I've been letting Willie out every day. He's used to one potty run in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night. But on those cold days last week we could barely get him out the door once, let alone twice. Since the weather has been friendlier this week I've been letting him out every time we pass by a door and he's soaking it up.

E doesn't want him to grow accustomed to a life of luxury only to have a blizzard come destroy everything. Especially not with all the new rugs he's been bringing home.

So.

I guess I'll just go back to reminding the kids how much they want a cat.