My niece is visiting from Houston, and she and my girls have been tearing up the house, changing into priness dresses, coloring with Sharpies and fighting about Barbies (even though we have at least 30 of them). After sitting on my couch watching them whirl around me, I decided to quit acting like a tornado victim and leave the house.

The plan was to go visit one of the Smithsonians that stays open late during the summer. Not a big deal, right? Ha! Going from 2 kids to 3 isn’t what I thought it was. I forgot about the fact that they feed off of each other’s energy and get progressively wilder as they multiply.

I also forgot about a few other things:

A Stroller
When I take the metro, I never want to bring a stroller. It’s a pain; when you metro with a stroller, you either have to walk extra blocks to find an elevator or risk your child’s life by taking the stroller up and down the escalators. However, not bringing a stroller is worse.

Zana either sprints from block to block, forcing me to chase her so she doesn’t run into traffic or sits down to pick flowers every few steps. I always end up carrying her, which is especially fun when it’s 90+ degrees out. Then she screams because she wants to get down, and sometimes (on lucky days like today) she throws a fit and smacks me in the face. Then she gets her way because I have to put her down in an effort not to smack her right back (man, that takes a lot of restraint). After a “saw-wee Mommy,” the cycle begins again—sprint, flower picking, scoop her up. [Read more…]