1067. Picnic dinner at the arboretum...

1066. with the whole family...

1065. and I didn't have to cook it (thanks to some girl named Wendy.)

1064. Remembering to praise the kids and finding concrete things to say when I do.

1063. Remembering not to get exasperated. The whole family came with me to do the grocery shopping tonight (an circumstance which is normally a study in exasperation.) But I just reminded myself that Lainee is a kid when she kept jumping in front of the cart and "helping" me push (which is funny, because most of the time she was really just riding... but I digress.) Anyway, I was reminded that I would rather have her in my way and be close to her, than to get upset about it, tell her to get out of the way, and give her the message that I don't want to be near her.

1062. Bethany hung out with me on a blanket in the front yard today for a quite a while. I was scratching her back (her new favorite thing) and she was completely still. After that, she decided, for the first time in the day, to be happy, and she just started playing around. I was able to leave her in the living room a little while later without her having a fit that I was leaving.

1061. She knows the signs for "more" and is using the sign for "please" all the time. She uses "please" when she wants something, obviously. Too bad for Bethany that I never know what she wants!

1060. We saw a frog at the arboretum. It was sitting right there next to us and it was pretty big. Just sitting there for us to stare at! Lainee found it. I got to praise her for having a good eye. I never would have seen it.

1059. We saw the biggest turtle too. BIG! And it swam right up to the surface to get the little bit of food we threw. The kids got a great look... including Bethany, who acted as if she was ready to jump in the water after it.

1058. And I saw a chipmunk. Those are my absolute favorite.

1057. And when Bethany saw the dog running past, she got so totally excited. She really likes watching animals.