Water

8:30 and we have another incident under our belts.  Only 2.5 hours until naptime!

I don't know what it is, but these girls are fascinated with water.  Dayton doesn't seem to be nearly as interested, but I'm not convinced that he's not helping out with the "water exploration" that the girls are going through.

Let me start this story by saying that I hate Dayton's sippy cups.  Sure, they are fine enough for him, but in a house where there are two other babies (or even my one) who are interested inexploring water and how to open containers, these particular cups have no place.  Dayton's sippy cups don't have screw on lids or spill proof tips.  This means he (or Avery, or Madison) can pull the lid right off the cup.  This leaves a full cup of water ready and waiting to be spilled on the floor.  Now, luckily I have learned a few things since Dayton started bringing these cups over...
1- They will get opened and spilled on the floor
2- They may get opened on the carpet
3- Plain water is the ONLY thing I should EVER put in these cups unless I'm giving it to Dayton specifically to lay down for his nap
Having learned these important lessons by having orange juice spill and stain our pack and play, having flavored (and colored) water spill (though not stain) our carpet, and having Avery playing in spilled milk on the fireplace (which can lead to smells if not cleaned up promptly), I am very careful with Dayton's cups.  I ONLY put water in them when Avery (and now Madison) is around, so today's incident was not as bad as it could have been.

When Avery came up to me and asked for a drink, I got her some water.  She doesn't care for the taste of plain water, and tends to make a mess with her cups if I give it to her.  By squirting a few drops of water flavoring into her cup, she gets a little better taste, she drinks water, and I'm not loading her up on sugary juices or too much milk all day.  (Even 100% juices have a lot of sugar, and our doctor recommends no more than 24 ounces of milk/day or she could get too full on milk and not eat.)  Well, when I gave Avery her cup, Dayton got upset and wanted one too.  Unfortunately, the only clean cups in the cabinets were Dayton's.  Ugh.  That's because I avoid them at all costs.  So I fill the cup half full of water, no flavoring, and I give it to Dayton (he and Avery share cups back and forth anyway, so if he wants something flavored, it will only be a minute before she's snatching his cup and he can nab hers).  Well, a few minutes later all 3 babies are sitting on the floor in the breakfast nook.  For a minute I believed that they were playing with Hotwheels, drinking their water, and having a nice little time together.  And while yes, they were playing with Hotwheels, and they were having a nice time, they were most definitely NOT DRINKING their water.  I cannot say who opened the cup, only that it got opened.  This resulted in half a cup of water being spilled on the breakfast nook floor (thank goodness for tile).  That's where I found Madison, sitting and splashing in the water, moving it all around the floor.  Now, while I would have normally pointed at Avery for such a crime, I found out this weekend when Glenn and Linda were here, that Madison is notorious for the same thing, dumping her cup out and playing in the water.  So now, all bets are off.  For the time being, Dayton seems to be in the clear, as I've seen little to none of this type of behavior out of him.  ;)  For now...  :P

This little ordeal prompted me to change Madison out of her (wet) PJ's and into her outfit for the day.  This is one of the reasons you see so many pictures of Avery in her PJ's all day.  Because sooner or later, she'll end up getting dirty or wet, might as well use the outfit until we're forced to change it.  I do enough laundry as it is.

So that's the recent update.  Since I began typing this little update, 30 more minutes have passed and now we're down to 2 hours until naptime.  Dayton already acts like he's ready to nap, he's currently laying on a pillow on the floor here in the living room.  The girls are still going.  ;)  That's all I have for now.  Stay turned for more adventures of 3 one-year-olds and one apprehensive Mommy.  ;)