As Good as it Gets?

Let the northerners curse my name for what I'm about to say.

I think I want our cold, murky, winter weather back.

Blasphemy. I know.

The weather yesterday and today was simply gorgeous. Gorgeous for Ohio in April anyhow. The temperatures hovered around 65 and the sun was shining. Beautiful right? So, what in the world would possess me to say I want 40 degree days back again?

Here's a hint:Yep. That one.

Tonight Elaina was out playing with the neighbor kids (how cute! I know! squeal!:-)) and I gave her 2 warnings that dinner was going to be ready soon and she would have to stop playing. When dinner time rolled around, as promised, Eric had to carry her in screaming and crying. She didn't want to eat. She wanted to whine and play at the table and seemed basically incapable of sitting still. [Translate: butt hardly touched the seat.] So.... Mommy and Daddy laid down the law and carried her up to bed. No dinner, no books and no smiles. Definitely no smiles. Will this really be the end result of each day this summer? The child needs to eat, right?

Can I just tell you how much I hate dinnertime already? When she actually will eat food, Elaina has been on a steady diet of only wanting grilled cheese sandwiches. Lunch and dinner. Grilled cheese. Since she's not opposed to pepperoni (right now) so I throw a few slices in her sandwich to cover her meat food group for the day. Healthy, right? Did I mention that I hate dinner time? Oh and Lincoln has boycotted baby food and eats just about anything that we're having. With one exception. He is learning to feed himself while at the same time, practicing his curve ball with his pitching arm. Little morsels of food cover my baby, my floor and the high chair seat like it's his job.

So, back to Elaina the Drama Queen. After 15 minutes of sobbing, yelling and whining, a sweetly innocent young girl appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She said that she needed to go potty. Once her potty break was over, she begged her father into laying down with her for a little bit in her bed.

Eric relayed parts of their conversation to me that went something like this:

Daddy: Elaina, you got into trouble tonight because you didn't eat your dinner.

Elaina: But Daddy, we're family.

Daddy: I know and you don't treat family that way.

Elaina: But you're so cute.

This is the exchange that happened all while Elaina was brushing her little hand next to Eric's cheek and speaking in her most polite can't-resist-me-Elaina voice.

What are we going to do with these kids of ours?